Graduation gown hire

[Yourownpersonaljesus]

To cut a very long story short my DD has her masters graduation tomorrow and has not sorted gown hire as she wasn't going to go and changed her mind at the last minute. She has contacted them but they haven't got back to her. Does anyone know if they keep any spares that they hire on the day?

I mean i'd love to not wear that stupid gown if i could.

But i imagine its NOT acceptable in the contracts between Uni and Hire co - as so many students would not bother if it was optional - hence its compulsory (assuming no extenuating circs)

(my grad is "free" for me but of course i need to pay £43 to hire an ill fitting outfit for 1 hour)

Ditto. DD2 had her Masters graduation last year and there were several people without gowns. This was also a venerable part of London University (LSHTM rather than LSE), Ede & Ravenscroft etc etc. Maybe London is different because it has more foreign students?

For the record, they did have some spares on the day, but wearing a gown definitely wasn't compulsory. DD2 wanted the full rigmarole because she never had a graduation ceremony for her under-grad.

I work in a Russel group university as a lecturer. I know of a number of times where the staff forget to order their gowns so they always have a few spares they can grab so I assume they would allow the students to also get some last minute. I would go and ask

i checked the FAQ for LSE and gowns are compulsory (as of course is to have booked attendence in advance, you can not just turn up, there will be no seat for you and they won't call your name).

info.lse.ac.uk/current-students/graduating-from-lse/ceremony-academic-dress

and for my booking, you could NOT order a ticket for yourself without either ordering a gown - or having to tick to say "i have my own gown already"

Photos you could add on later but not gowns. it was all done in one booking process.

Hi all. Not long home. She managed to hire a gown!!! It did cost more on the day though. She had booked tickets in advance quite a while ago but then decided that she couldn't really afford to attend (gown hire, travel etc). Then a few days ago she looked at her finances and realised she could go after all. It was too late then to pre-order a gown. Everyone was wearing gowns btw! Thanks for all of your replies.

I'm glad it worked out @Yourownpersonaljesus

Glad it worked out for her.

I do think that your experience @Gruelle is the unusual (or possibly unique?) one. I've just counted up and think I have been to 10 graduation ceremonies and I have never, ever seen anyone walk across any of those stages without a gown. It isn't @burnoutbabe who is thinking of a specific ceremony or institution.