Student FAQs

Get the most up to date information about Commencement Activities, the Commencement Book, Cap & Gown Orders, and Invitation Letters.

Commencement Information

Yes, students need to apply for graduation as well as register to participate in commencement.

Students who have completed all degree requirements should apply for graduation through their home departments. When those requests are approved, those eligible students will be emailed an invitation to register for the commencement ceremony.
USC Viterbi utilizes Marching Order for registration to commencement ceremonies. You should receive an email directly from Marching Order in the next few weeks with detailed instructions on how to register for your Viterbi Master’s Ceremony. The deadline to register will be Spring 2023.

Only students who have completed their degree requirements in December 2022, or will complete their degree requirements in May 2023 or August 2023 are eligible to participate in Viterbi Master's Commencement Ceremonies.

If you are an out of cycle grad and wish to walk this May, you are encouraged to complete the Out of Cycle form which will be available Spring 2023. Please understand that there is a chance your application may not be approved. Your name will also not appear in the Commencement Book.

For the Viterbi's Commencement Ceremony, candidates will be announced as they cross the stage. By completing the registration process on Marching Order, your name and major will display on the screens when you cross the stage at the Viterbi Commencement Ceremony. When you select “yes” for the ceremony attendance, the Marching Order website will ask you to confirm how your name will be announced. The photographer will also use this registration information to send you photograph proofs.

Commencement Book

Students who graduated Fall 2022, Spring 2023, and Summer 2023 will be listed in the Class of 2023 Commencement Book. Books will be available online and on campus May 2023. If you would like to check your expected graduation date, please check your STARS report on OASIS. To check if your name will appear in the Commencement Book, visit: https://camel2.usc.edu/CommBook/index.html .Students should contact their academic advisor is they need their name corrected.

Cap and Gown Information

Invitation Letters

Letters are not required by the United States Consular Offices in order for family members to obtain visitor visas; however, as a courtesy to our students, OIS does provide a letter template for students who wish to write their own letter to invite family members to the United States. https://ois.usc.edu/invitation-letter/

Diplomas

The Registrar's Office oversees the distribution of university diplomas, in compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Most diplomas are mailed to the permanent address of record, six to eight weeks after a degree is conferred.

Certain activity restrictions or an invalid address will prevent your diploma from being printed until the problem is corrected. Any restrictions attached to your account can be found on the Restrictions link in OASIS which can be accessed through the myUSC portal.

Unless you have made other arrangements, the Degree Progress department will mail your diploma to your permanent address. You may request that we mail your diploma to your local address. When an order is placed with our diploma vendor, the Degree Progress department will pull a student's local and permanent addresses from the university's Student Information System (SIS). No updates can be made after the order is placed. If you would like to verify and/or change your local or permanent address, please update your address in OASIS.

In the event that a diploma is lost, stolen, damaged, or a duplicate copy is necessary, a request for a replacement may be sent through our contact page by selecting the Registrar/Diploma category from the drop down menus. The cost for a replacement diploma is $125.00, and the process may take four to six weeks from the time it is ordered. The new diploma will bear the current names of the officials in office at the time the replacement diploma is produced.

Please include the following information in your request:

1. Full Name while in attendance at USC
2. 10-Digit USC ID number (if applicable)
3. Dates of attendance
4. Date of birth
5. Major/degree for which you are requesting a replacement diploma.
6. Mailing address to which the replacement diploma should be sent.

Information on payment options for this service will be included on the email acknowledgement sent by USC.

If it has been more than three months since you received your congratulatory email, please contact the Registrar One Stop Center (https://arr.usc.edu/records-transcripts/diplomas/) using your USC email account, to inquire about a reissue. Be sure to include your USC ID number. We usually wait 10 weeks for returned mail from domestic addresses, and 14 weeks from international addresses, before reissuing diplomas. Be sure to verify that your mailing address is valid, and that you do not have any activity restrictions that might have prevented your diploma from being printed.

In the event your diploma was damaged in transit, please return it to the Registrar One Stop Center with a clear photocopy of your valid government-issued photo ID, the damaged diploma AND the original mailer (so that we can verify the in-transit damage). If the original mailer is returned, we will waive the replacement fee of $125.

Please include the following information in your request:

1. Full Name while in attendance at USC
2. 10-Digit USC ID number (if applicable)
3. Dates of attendance
4. Date of birth
5. Mailing address to which the replacement diploma should be sent