Considering that most graduation robes are black, it's always stunning to see the graduation procession with its splashes of color on hoods and sleeves. Unless you're listening to a really terrific graduation speech, you're probably sitting there taking in the spectacle and wondering what all the colors mean. There's a symbology there, with each color representing a different academic discipline, and some - dark blue, for example - signifying that this person holds a Doctorate of Philosophy, or Ph.D. (Someone with a doctorate that is not a Ph.D wears the color that goes with his specific disipline.)
Universities have their own traditions when it comes to graduation garb - Harvard, for example, puts all its doctoral candidates in crimson gowns and its undergraduates pair crimson hoods with their black gowns - but most follow an inter-collegiate color code set out in 1893 and tweaked over the years to reflect the addition of new majors.
These are the colors that represent the most common majors:
- Architecture and city planning: violet-blue
- Business and accounting: a beige color commonly referred to as “drab”
- Communication and journalism: crimson
- Criminal justice: midnight blue
- Dentistry: lilac
- Dramatic arts and fine arts: brown
- Economics: copper
- Education: pale blue
- English, foreign languages, humanities: white
- Engineering: orange
- Environmental studies, forestry: russet
- Environmental science: golden yellow
- Government, foreign affairs: peacock blue
- History: white
- Law: purple
- Mathematics: golden yellow
- Medicine: green
- Music: pink
- Nursing: apricot
- Pharmaceutical sciences: olive green
- Philosophy: dark blue
- Physical education, physical therapy: sage green
- Political science: dark blue
- Psychology: gold
- Public health: salmon
- Public policy: peacock blue
- Sciences: golden yellow
- Sociology: white
- Theology: scarlet
