Pitt students graduating this winter are preparing to move on from college early, bringing both excitement and grief in their final college days.

Two years ago, Pitt split their spring graduate ceremony into two, which created the winter commencement ceremony to make the celebration more timely. The winter University-wide ceremony celebrates both undergraduate and graduate students together, while the spring University-wide ceremony only celebrates undergraduates, according to University spokesperson Jared Stonesifer. 

The winter commencement ceremony will take place on Sunday, Dec. 14, at 3 p.m. in the Petersen Events Center. Students who earned their bachelor’s degree this past August or expect to in December are eligible to register to attend until 6 p.m. on Nov. 20. 

The winter ceremony is still significantly smaller than the spring ceremony — the 2025 spring commencement ceremony celebrated 3,081 students compared to the 1,176 students that participated in last winter’s commencement. This winter, the University anticipates 1,000-1,200 students attending, according to Stonesifer.

Many students who end up attending the winter ceremony are graduating a semester early, often because of high school AP credits and summer classes. Jess Jobbins, a senior rehabilitation science major, said she is able to graduate early because of transferred credits from her AP classes.

“With [my APs], I realized that if I just picked up at least three credits over the summer at some point, then I can graduate a semester early,” Jobbins said. “And from that, I got to do a bunch of experiences. Part of the reason I was able to graduate early [is because] I did a Maymester this past May.”

A student’s major can also play a role in being able to graduate early. Seth Soderquist, a senior architecture major, said many senior-level architecture classes conclude in the winter.

“All the important classes end in December, so I would only have half a semester worth of classes in the spring,” Soderquist said. “So I took summer classes, and now I can spend less money on another semester and not just be doing random electives.”

Grace Brignola, a senior marketing and business information systems major, said all her credits fell into place perfectly, so she “might as well” save a semester of tuition. 

“I’m just going to stay here in Oakland and work around here,” Brignola said. “I do have a job lined up back home in August, so the financial savings are a bonus.”

The winter commencement only offers one University-wide ceremony, while spring graduation includes a University-wide ceremony and smaller ceremonies from each school at Pitt. Jobbins said the lack of a School of Health and Rehabilitation Science ceremony was disappointing.

“I am grateful that I don’t have to sit through two ceremonies, but I do wish that there was an opportunity to have a smaller SHRS event,” Jobbins said. 

Brignola also said she would miss not having the School of Business-specific graduation ceremony.

“There’s less people graduating in the winter, so it could be seen as more special,” Brignola said. “But they don’t have the business school-specific graduation in the winter, so [graduating] will be a little bit weird.”

Graduating in the winter is a nontraditional graduation schedule, which can put some students into the job market quicker than they expected. Jobbins said she finds this idea exciting because she plans to go to graduate school after graduation.

“I’ve definitely reached the threshold for what I can do educationally,” Jobbins said. “In all my classes, they say ‘We’ll explain this to you, but we’re not going to go into super in depth because you’re going to have to learn it again in grad school, and it’ll be more tricky.’ I understand that my degree requirements are fulfilled, so I’m excited to be done with college.”

Another downside to early graduation, for some, is graduating without most of their friends. Soderquist said he feels like he is going to miss out on some final moments.

“I think it’s sad because every single thing that I do is the last thing — this is the last class that I’ll have with these people and the last party,” Soderquist said. “Socially, I’m going to be missing out because if I go home to my parents in the suburbs, it’s just not going to be the same amount of social activity.”

Jobbins said she doesn’t think the sadness of graduating will set in sooner just because she is graduating early, due to her staying in Oakland and attending Pitt’s graduate school for physical therapy. 

“Everyone always misses being able to live so close to your friends and walk down the street and run into five people that you know,” Jobbins said. “Once all the leases end and once everyone starts to move out and really do their adult plans, I think that’s when I’ll start grieving, but I think that’ll be in line with everyone else.”