Six ceremonies, one weekend, one arena

DePaul holds its June commencement over a single weekend at Wintrust Arena, the arena at Cermak Road in the South Loop, next to McCormick Place. There are six ceremonies, three each day: an early-morning ceremony at 8, an early-afternoon ceremony and an evening ceremony at 6, each for one college or a pairing of colleges. The table above lists which college is when, and each row notes the time DePaul asks graduates and guests to arrive, an hour ahead.

The College of Law is the exception. It graduates separately, in May, at The Chicago Theatre in the Loop, and its date and time are in the note on the first row of the table.

Getting through the doors

Wintrust Arena’s doors open an hour before each ceremony, and DePaul encourages guests to arrive then. Everyone goes through a metal detector and a security check, and the arena has a strict purse and bag policy; a bag that does not meet it will not get in, so read the arena’s policy before you pack.

Wintrust counts children differently. The arena goes by height, not age: a child under 32 inches tall needs no ticket, and an adult may have one child on their lap. At The Chicago Theatre, for the Law ceremony, the rule is by age instead: under two, on a parent’s lap.

Tickets come through the graduate. If more are available after the RSVPs, they are handed out at each college’s table at the Commencement Pickup event, and only the graduate can ask for them. A graduate who misses the RSVP deadline may not get tickets at all.

Parking and transport

DePaul recommends reserving parking near Wintrust Arena in advance through SpotHero, warns that nearby lots fill quickly, and suggests public transport where possible. Every ceremony is livestreamed for anyone who cannot come, with sign-language interpretation shown on the stage screen.

Where to sleep

The hotels could hardly be closer. The Marriott Marquis Chicago, with 1,161 rooms, stands beside Wintrust Arena, and the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place is next to it; the Hampton Inn and the Home2 Suites share a building on Cermak Road across from the arena. All four are a minute or two away. For an 8 a.m. ceremony with a 7 a.m. arrival, that is worth a great deal.

Chinatown is three minutes west, the Loop and DePaul’s Loop campus about six minutes north, and the Magnificent Mile nine. Midway Airport is about twenty-five minutes away with clear roads, and O’Hare nearer an hour.

We grade the pressure as low. Each family attends one ceremony, and the arena is surrounded by large convention hotels with the whole of downtown Chicago behind them. A major convention at McCormick Place on the same weekend would change that, so book early. That grade is our judgement from the supply and the schedule, not a measured count of free rooms, which we have not taken for Chicago.