Parts of a Graduation Gown – Cap, Tassel, Sleeves and Hood

All 12 parts on the diagram

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Bachelor's and master's 5

Mortarboard The usual academic cap in the US. A soft tam can be worn with a doctoral gown instead.
Tassel Its colour can show the subject of the degree.
Gown Black is the colour the costume code recommends.
Pointed sleeve The bachelor's gown is worn closed.
Oblong sleeve The arm comes out through a slit near the elbow. The sleeve hangs below.

Doctoral gown and hood 7

Bell sleeve Doctoral sleeves are bell-shaped, with three velvet bars.
Velvet bars They are black or the colour of the subject of the degree.
Velvet facings They match the sleeve bars in colour.
Hood Its length shows the level. Three feet for a bachelor, three and a half for a master, four for a doctor.
Velvet trim Its colour shows the subject of the degree.
Lining It shows the colours of the school that gave the degree.
Chevron A school with two colours often shows the second as a chevron.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-29 against the American Council on Education's Academic Costume Code (gowns: pointed sleeves for the bachelor's degree, oblong sleeves for the master's, bell-shaped sleeves for the doctor's with velvet facings down the front and three bars of velvet across the sleeves; hoods: length by degree, the binding or edging in the colour of the discipline, the lining in the institution's colours shown by chevrons or division; caps and tassels), archived copy at http://web.archive.org/web/20190630215032/https://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/Academic-Costume-Code.aspx, and against Wikipedia, Academic dress in the United States, text only. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-29 from plain geometry after the patterns described in the Academic Costume Code; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

In the US the gown tells you the degree. The top drawings are a bachelor's and a master's gown with cap and tassel; the bottom ones are a doctoral gown from the front and from the back, where the hood hangs.

Read the full guide

Read the sleeves first

Numbers 1 to 3 are the cap, the tassel and the gown. Numbers 4 to 6 are the sleeves: pointed for a bachelor's degree, oblong for a master's, bell-shaped for a doctorate. Numbers 7 and 8 are the velvet only a doctoral gown has. Numbers 9 to 12 are the hood and its colours.

The hood's velvet trim shows the subject of the degree; its lining shows the school's colours.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of a graduation gown?

The cap (mortarboard) with its tassel, the gown, its sleeves and, for higher degrees, the hood. Doctoral gowns add velvet facings down the front and three velvet bars on each sleeve.

How can you tell a bachelor's, master's and doctoral gown apart?

By the sleeves. A bachelor's gown has pointed sleeves, a master's gown long oblong sleeves with a slit for the arm, and a doctoral gown full bell-shaped sleeves with three velvet bars.

What do the colours on a graduation hood mean?

The velvet trim shows the subject of the degree, such as light blue for education or green for medicine. The lining shows the colours of the school that gave the degree.