Lancs students be wary: Here are the worst things that could happen at your graduation

But don’t worry, they won’t happen to you.. probably

10 months ago

It’s the big day. Your whole time at university has led to you getting this degree and you must feel immensely proud of yourself. But first, you have to go to your graduation. And if you’re anything like me, you’re probably plagued with all the things that could go wrong. So here they are, written down, staring you in the face. Reading this might help you realise that even if all of these things happen, it’s not the end of the world. Or maybe you didn’t even think of these things and now your anxiety has skyrocketed. In that case, sorry!

Tripping on stage

It’s the big one. Probably the most embarrassing. You’ve practiced walking in your heels for weeks leading up to the big day, or even opted for flats in fears even a three-inch heel could leave you red-faced and running off the stage. Listen – even if you trip, it’s only your entire family, a whole college of final years, and all their friends and family that are going to see it. Hardly anyone.

Getting bad pictures

It’s your turn for graduation pics, you’ve restyled your hair, checked there’s nothing in your teeth. You’ve got the pictures down, right? Wrong! It’s highly likely you’ll get your graduation pictures back and realise you’re doing a weird smile that you thought you’d perfected in the mirror but now see you look like a goblin. It’s okay – your mum is just going to hang it on your wall and show anyone that comes round for the rest of your life. Don’t sweat it!

Being hungover

It seemed like a great idea to go out to Sugar the night before you had to round up all your family, get yourself dressed up and walk out on stage in front of what looks like the entirety of Lancaster. If it’s not enough to feel sick with worry before you go up to get your degree, feeling like you might actually throw up on your shoes must be one of the worst things that could happen. But if uni has taught you anything, apart from your actual degree knowledge, it’s how to pretend you didn’t get in at 3am last night and don’t feel extremely hungover today. You’ve got this!

No one cheers for you when your name gets called out

This could be one of the most awkward ones on here. Maybe your family aren’t the type of people to cheer loudly as you come out or didn’t want to get their cheers on the video that they took of you walking out. Everyone shows their support in different ways. But there can’t be anything quite as awkward as having your name called out after people yelled and cheered for the person before, only to be met with a few measly claps as you walk out on stage.

Your outfit doesn’t look as good as you thought

Maybe you bought your outfit weeks before graduation, tried it on, looked stunning, then put it in your wardrobe and forgot about it. Maybe you forgot you actually needed something nice to wear for your graduation and stress bought something off ASOS, or worse, grabbed literally anything you could find stuffed in the back of a drawer and though “this will do”. Cut to the big day – you’ve tried on your outfit and realised it’s got a hole on one side, or it’s a little bit see-through, or a bit too short, or too big that you’re at a danger of flashing the entirety of the Great Hall. This is more of a non-problem as the robes will cover up nearly any outfit disaster, so don’t panic! You’ll still look great.

You can’t find your family after the ceremony

There’s nothing worse than leaving the ceremony, ecstatic that all your hard work has paid off and you’ve got your degree, and you just want to celebrate, but you can’t find the people who came to see you. They don’t know their way around campus, you can’t tell them to meet you somewhere, and when you call your parents, it goes straight to voicemail. I can’t help you with this one. Stand awkwardly outside for a bit half smiling at everyone hugging their loved ones, and spam call your parents until one of them finally picks up.