Texas A&M is expected to award yet another record-breaking number of degrees at this May’s commencement ceremonies with approximately 9,000 students registered for graduation at time of press.
A&M’s College Station campus will conduct eight ceremonies over the course of four days, beginning Wednesday and going through Saturday, with over 8,100 students expected to receive a degree at Texas A&M’s flagship campus.
The first ceremony will be held in Rudder Auditorium at 2 p.m. Wednesday for students receiving their doctorates of veterinary medicine.
Thursday, students receiving graduate degrees from the College of Engineering will graduate in at 2 p.m., and at 7 p.m. undergraduate degrees from the college will be awarded.
Graduate and undergraduate degrees will be awarded from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Geosciences at 9 a.m. Friday.
At 2 p.m. graduate and undergraduate degrees in the College of Architecture, Science, Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will be awarded. In addition, this ceremony will include the commissioning for all branches of service.
The 7 p.m. ceremony Friday will see graduate degrees from the Bush School of Government and Public Service and graduate and undergraduate degrees in the College of Education and Human Development awarded.
At the 9 a.m. ceremony Saturday, graduate and undergraduate degrees from Mays Business School will be awarded, and the 2 p.m. ceremony will award the degrees from the College of Liberal Arts.
The largest number of degrees will be awarded to students in the College of Engineering, with 1,623 students registered to attend graduation at the time of press.
The second largest number of degrees awarded will be from Mays Business School, with 1,544 students registered for graduation at the time of press.
Lane Stephenson, the director of news and information services for the university, said while there are a record number of graduates, the number is not that much higher and it required additional accommodations from the university and that A&M is prepared to handle the high number of graduates.
Industrial engineering senior Christine Chen said she is excited for graduation because she will now be able to apply her major in her field.
“What I’m looking forward to most is to actually apply my major in real life application,” Chen said. “I look forward to seeing my engineering knowledge actually applied to work and seeing an impact of what I’ve learned — instead of just knowing that it could change the world, I will actually see it making a difference.”
Geography senior Noel Handy said his favorite part from his four years at A&M is the community bond of the Aggie family and a high-grade education.
“I am going to miss the community of people most,” Handy said. “The best friends I have ever had in my life are all here. I feel like it really is a big family, the Aggie family. That and I can’t ignore getting this top notch education. Just knowing that I was able to make it through four years at A&M is pretty cool.”
Katherine Phelan, psychology senior, said she will miss the sense of family and home she’s found here at A&M.
“I have grown more in these short four years than I ever imagined possible, but the time did go by way too fast. I will forever be grateful for the home I found here at A&M,” Phelan said. “It’s something outsiders just don’t understand. Aggies are one of a kind and I am so happy to be a part of this amazing A&M family.”