College Graduation Hood Colors

What Color is Your Hood?

In addition to the graduation gown, stole and cap there is also the graduation hood.

The graduation hood comes in three sizes to help distinguish the college graduate’s degree, with the smaller hood signifying a bachelor’s degree, the medium-sized hood representing a master’s degree and the large-sized hood representing a doctoral degree.

In addition to various sizes, the hood also comes in various colors. The color of the satin lining of the hood will represent the school of the graduate (it can also just be a standard black color) but the soft velvet border will indicate the field of the graduate’s study.

While there are specific colors that have been established for certain degrees, (defined by the 1893 the inter-Collegiate Costume Code) a few schools may have established their own colors for certain degrees. Below you will find which color the American Council on Education prefers for which degree.
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Agriculture (Maize)

Arts, Letters, Humanities (White)

Commerce, accountancy, Business (Drab)

Dentistry (Lilac)

Economics (Copper)

Education (Light Blue)

Engineering (Orange)

Fine Arts, Architecture (Brown)

Forestry (Russet)

Journalism (Crimson)

Law (JD, LLD, LLB) (Purple)

Library Science (Lemon)

Medicine (Green)

Music (Pink)

Nursing (Apricot)

Oratory Speech (Silver Gray)

Pharmacy (Olive Green)

Philosophy (Dark Blue)

Physical Education (Sage Green)

Public Administration, Foreign Service (Peacock Blue)

Public Health (Salmon Pink)

Science (Golden Yellow)

Social Work (Citron)

Theology (Scarlet)

Veterinary Science (Gray)