Convocation

Convocation is the ceremony whereby you are initiated into Columbia. At this point, you have less than four years to go until Commencement!

There's a procession with lots of flags (representing all the states and countries incoming students are from). The University President gives a speech. The Deans of Columbia Collegeand SEAS give speeches. The Dean of Student Affairs gives a speech. Have fun seeing is any of them actually says "welcome" to the class. Family members succumb to heat stroke. Parents bid teary farewells to their precious children, whom they must now abandon to immoral crime-riddled cesspool of heathens and sin that is New York City.

Convocation is not nearly as important as graduation. Some people, precociously embracing the disaffection and diffidence that is the perceived hallmark of Columbia students, don't even bother going. Still, if you're here with your parents, it serves as sort of a formal 'letting go' point for them as they leave you on your own to begin college. They'll be so proud of you!