Update on 2025 USC Commencement

With the academic year in full swing, we wanted to share an overview of our upcoming 2025 commencement event schedule. We hope this preliminary information will assist graduates and their families as they start making plans to attend.

Main Commencement Ceremony:

This year’s main stage commencement will take place in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2025. The ceremony will feature a special finale appropriate to both the historic setting and the amazing Class of 2025.

In recent years, commencement has consistently attracted more than 60,000 guests and has outgrown all venues on our campus. By hosting commencement at the Coliseum, soon to be the home of three Olympic games, we will offer a truly unique graduation experience and free up space on campus for other treasured traditions including pictures in front of Tommy Trojan, Traveler, and other USC icons.
 
Our experience during the past year of holding major student-focused events in the Coliseum — including Fall New Student Convocation, three individual school commencements ceremonies, and the Trojan Family Graduate Celebration last spring — has proven that the home of USC football will also make an ideal home for our main stage commencement ceremony.

Commencement Week Events:

In addition to the main ceremony on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., we are firming up plans for the rest of the week’s ceremonies and celebrations.

  • The Baccalaureate ceremony will be held on Wednesday, May 14, 2025 in Bovard Auditorium.
  • Individual school Ph.D. ceremonies and our special Cultural and Recognition Celebrations, will take place on Wednesday, May 14 and Thursday, May 15, 2025.
  • School ceremonies will take place across the University Park Campus and at the Shrine Auditorium, the Galen Center, and the Coliseum on Friday, May 16, 2025, with the ceremonies for Marshall and Keck on Saturday, May 17, 2025, at the Galen Center and the Coliseum.

We want all our graduates, families, and guests to be able to savor this important milestone, and we look forward to celebrating together this coming spring. Please check commencement.usc.edu for a full listing of ceremony and celebration times and locations, and for further updates as the year progresses.