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Updated December 9, 2025, at 12:34 a.m.
Family, friends, and faculty celebrated the College’s off-cycle graduates at an annual ceremony organized by the Harvard Alumni Association in Science Center Hall B on Friday.
The event, moderated by class marshals Charisma W. Chen ’26 and Mohan A. Hathi ’26, honored the accomplishments of degree candidates who completed their coursework and graduated in November, or will complete their coursework this semester and graduate in February.
David J. Deming, the dean of Harvard College, opened the ceremony by recounting his experience as an off-cycle graduate himself, saying he appreciated that the extended time allowed him to explore and identify his true academic interests. He said that an off-cycle graduate’s unconventional path grants them a tangible edge when they leave campus.
“My point is that all of you mid-year graduates are entering post-college life with a distinct advantage. You’re interesting, you’re memorable, you have personality — and that goes a long way these days,” Deming said.
“Every one of you has a story that will make people say, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ Lean into that don’t ever feel the need to reason in a way or dimension. It’s your secret weapon,” he added.
Student speaker Arjun Purohit ’25, a stand-up comic, reflected on “the liminality, the awkwardness, and the occasional grief” of remaining on campus for an extra semester — or, as he described it, “being washed.”
Purohit also offered a more heartfelt note before closing his remarks, reflecting on the merit and meaning of stepping away and coming back.
“Our time here is not measured by semester-by-semester enrollment, but by the courage to pause, to recalibrate and to discover the value and magic of this place lies not in perfect continuity, but in the capacity to leave it and still feel called back,” he said.
HAA Executive Director Sarah C. Karmon also addressed the audience, greeting graduates as new members of the HAA and encouraging their continued involvement with Harvard.
In his remarks, History professor Michael McCormick encouraged graduates to express gratitude for their teachers and supporters in their academic journeys and take a moment to reflect on their personal growth.
“Let us stop, look, and listen as we smell the roses, and let us think back to the women and men you were when you set out on the great journey of discovery, of learning,” he said. “How much has changed since that distant moment: in the world we live in, of course, but also in us.”
The event was a second ceremonial ending point for many of the graduates, who had already walked with their classmates in spring. “That felt like the real thing,” mid-year graduate Jack Tian ’25 said of the spring commencement ceremonies.
“This one was nice,” he added.
Without many of his old friends, Tian spent his last semester at Harvard differently.
“There’s a list of restaurants I wanted to try in Boston,” he said. “I can now use my free time and go to a fancy restaurant and try out stuff like that.”
Jack G. Towers ’25 graduated last spring but attended Friday’s ceremony to support a friend. He said that the ceremony prompted reflection on how life changes post-graduation.
“I liked getting to celebrate the people who walked in the spring but didn’t actually get their diplomas yet and have been here for the last four months,” he said. “It’s crazy how life feels when you aren’t looking forward to the end of a semester.”
Off-cycle graduate Christy Zheng ’25 said that the close of the semester, and her time at Harvard, was “bittersweet.”
“I feel really sad to leave my home for the last four and a half years, but also really excited for the new opportunities that are coming,” she said.
