Today's ceremony is mainly to issue degree certificates to the students who have graduated this semester, and Lu Qiujian and his classmates are only in their third year, and I don't know why they were also asked by the school to attend.

The number of students in Princeton is not very large, so it didn't take long for the degree certificates to be awarded, "Wow, isn't that Gardson? Haha, I didn't expect to find such a large bachelor's uniform!", Patrice, who was watching the excitement, pointed to the center of the Princeton Tigers on the stage and smiled.

"Principal Tillman should be distressed in a moment!", Lu Qiujian also made a joke, and sure enough, when Gardson came to the stage to receive his bachelor's certificate, he almost bent his waist to ninety degrees, and Principal Tillman stood on tiptoe again, and only then could he turn the black tassel on his bachelor's cap from the right to the left, bending it into a degree conferment ceremony.

When a degree is not obtained, the tassel hangs in the middle of the front right side of the brim of the degree cap worn by the wearer, and in the middle of the front left side of the brim after the degree is obtained. At the degree conferment ceremony, the president (or the chairman of the academic degree evaluation committee) will move the graduate's tassel from the right side of the hat to the left after conferring the degree, indicating that the graduate has achieved what he has learned and can spread his wings.

The color of the tassel of graduates with different academic qualifications is also different, the tassel of the doctoral degree cap is red, the tassel of the master's degree cap is dark blue-black, the bachelor's cap is black, and the tassel of the president's cap is yellow.

At the same time, the color of the degree gown is also different, the doctoral degree robe is black and red, the master's degree robe is blue and dark blue, the bachelor's degree robe is all black, the supervisor's degree robe is red and black, and the president's robe is all red; the drape trim is pink, silver gray, yellow, green, white and red according to the six categories of literature, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine and military.

Seeing Gardson's happy expression on the stage, Patrice was also infected, "Gardson's outfit today looks much more magnificent than his jersey!"

"You'll have it next year, and I'll have it too, but unfortunately we probably won't be able to attend each other's graduation ceremonies!

"I probably won't be able to attend your bachelor's degree ceremony next year!, but I'll definitely be attending your doctorate ceremony!", Alfors said, "I think you'll probably get your doctorate before all the students in my class!"

"Not probably, but definitely!", Samuelson also leaned over, "I think you can get a doctorate in two years at most! In fact, according to your academic level, it is enough to get a doctorate now! The reason why it takes two years is just that it takes time to go through the process!"

"Ha, thank you for your blessings! I will send you an invitation then, but you will have to bear the air ticket yourself!", Lu Qiujian joked with them quietly.

Soon the ceremony was drawing to a close, and President Tillman delivered the certificate to the last doctoral student, strangely no longer waiting to receive it, but she still had a roll of diploma and a red tasseled doctor's hat at hand.

"Has that hapless guy forgotten today?", Alforth looked at the doctor's hat with a yearning look.

"Let's invite Lu Qiujian from the Department of Mathematics to come to the stage!", President Tillman turned his gaze to the area of the Department of Mathematics.

What are you calling me to the stage? What is this for? Lu Qiujian walked up to the stage with questions, his suit looking particularly eye-catching against the backdrop of a pile of degree robes.

"What a naughty boy!", Principal Tillman smiled and raised his doctor's hat, "I've been looking forward to the presentation for a long time, but now it seems that I can't see it on the campus in Princeton! I wanted to hide this away from you, but it seems that they don't agree!", Principal Tillman looked at Wyles and other mathematics professors.

"Well, but I haven't graduated from my bachelor's degree yet, and I haven't taken enough credits for my doctorate!", just talking about his doctoral conferral ceremony, I didn't expect to get my doctor's hat so soon, what's going on?

Of course, he also thought that Princeton might award him an honorary degree for his achievement in solving Poincaré's conjecture, but now it seems that President Tillman wants to give him a formal degree, which is what everyone calls PhD-Philosophiae-Doctor, a doctorate in philosophy, and now also refers to a doctorate degree in academic research.

"There is also a doctoral dissertation path, where students mainly exchange papers with their supervisors during their studies, and when they graduate, they only need to submit a thesis equivalent to the academic level of doctoral graduates, and they can be awarded a degree after passing the defense!"

At this point she smiled, "I believe that your thesis on the Poincaré conjecture is definitely beyond the level of a doctorate, so although there is no defense, the degree evaluation committee unanimously agreed to award you a PhD.

There was a round of applause from the audience, as if the students and professors who had completed the degree conferment ceremony wanted to express their support for the university's decision.

"Thank you, thank you!", Lu Qiujian lowered his head and asked Principal Tillman to put on his doctor's hat himself, and then took the bachelor's robe and draped it on himself.

"Handsome young man!", President Tillman praised, and at the same time issued an invitation, "After you finish your studies at Beijing Normal University, you are welcome to come to Princeton to teach at any time, and there will always be a place for you here!"

"If I plan to come to the United States in the future, then Princeton will be my only choice!", Lu Qiujian could only reply so tactfully at this moment.

"On behalf of the Princeton Academic Degree Evaluation Committee, I officially confer a PhD degree on Lu Qiujian!" President Tillman handed the degree certificate to Lu Qiujian, and after taking it, he quickly lowered his head and asked President Tillman to move the tassel on his doctor's cap from the right side of the hat to the left.

After the ceremony, Lu Qiujian stepped down from the stage amid warm applause and returned to the crowd in the mathematics department.

"Well, that's a lot of money saved on the airfare!" Alfors said, clapping.

Samuelson shook his head, "I said it would take you two years at most to get your PhD, but now it seems that I underestimated you!", he stretched out his left hand and looked at the watch on his wrist, "It's been less than twenty minutes since I said that, and you've got your Ph.D.!"