Honor cords represent an exciting time in the life of a high-school or college graduate, but for a student, teacher, academic advisor, or school administrator, you have more important things to worry about come graduation ceremony time. If you want great looking tassels that arrive on time, without any surprises, you found them!
Graduation Cords
Graduation cords are long, thin, colored ropes with tassels on each end that are worn around the neck during commencement ceremonies. These cords recognize graduates with academic honors or who have participated in certain groups or clubs, in colors determined by each school or club. Requirements for special merits, including cum laude, summa cum laude and magna cum laude, as well as which groups or organizations may qualify for cord honors, will vary from school to school. If you are unaware of your school's policies, please check with a school administrator.
School Administrators and Special Considerations
From teachers with small groups of students and a few graduation cords to universities with an entire graduating class to recognize, we will make sure your cords aren't something to worry about.
Do your upcoming graduates need honor cords for their graduation ceremony? If you work with an educational institution, you need to purchase a large quantity of cords, or have special purchasing restrictions, don't worry, we've got you covered!
- Pay with purchase orders by entering your official school PO number instead of a credit card.
- We ship internationally.
- Custom orders (500+ units, ETA 60 days) and volume pricing available.
Additional recognition cord colors (other than what is listed on our website) can be arranged for bulk or recurring orders or for extended purchase contracts in cases where enough advance notice is provided.
You can see a complete list of cord colors and combinations a little further down the page.
Honor cords are symbolic of a student's achievements throughout their academic career, from freshman year all the way until the day you receive a diploma at the convocation assembly. either through accomplishing a certain grade point average (cords are often given to university undergraduates who obtained a minimum cumulative GPA in their undergraduate studies), being a member of a particular honor society or club, or graduating from a particular school or department within the institution that grants graduation cords as keepsakes for that degree program.
Cords are available in three styles, including 180+ colors or color combinations. All cords are approximately 70 inches long with a 1/4 inch diameter. Tassels are each approximately 4" in length, making up a total of 8" of the 70" cord length.
How to Wear an Honor Cord
An honor cord is worn draped over the neck like a shawl, so one side hangs from each shoulder. The middle of the cord, or knot if you have double or triple-tied cords, will sit immediately behind your neck. The tassels of the cord hang down evenly on each side. To lock down the perfect look, fasten the cord in place at the back of your gown with a safety pin before heading out of your dressing room.
Customer Reviews for Graduation Cords
What are the Ropes Worn at Graduation?
The ropes graduates wear at commencement are called honor cords. These cords are only a quarter of an inch in diameter and sixty to seventy inches long, with tassels on either end usually matching the color of the cord or rope. Like other academic honors, they are worn to recognize key achievements by students, such as GPA, class percentile, or participation in extracurricular activities.
- Single cord (1 color 1 cord): as highlighted in the image above, we offer a variety of honor cord colors including gold, antique gold, yellow, orange, burnt orange, purple, royal blue, navy blue, light blue, green, dark green (or forest green), bright green (also 'kelly green'), silver, white, black, pink, rose pink, red, and maroon. Some honors societies may have specific honor society cord colors that they use.
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Braided graduation cords (2 or 3 colors, 1 cord): are single cords with multiple colors twisted or braided together. The most popular color options for a braided grad cord are royal blue with white; royal blue with gold; red, white & blue; red with silver, red with black; black with red; gold with green; bright green with white; and black, red & gold. See our example of cord color combinations, below.
Pricing for braided honor cords and single color cords is identical.
- Double-tied cords (2 cords, can be single, braided, or both): any graduation cord can be combined with any other as a double-tied cord. Double-tied cords cost twice as much as single or braided cords.
- Highest-quality cord, money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your purchase for any reason you can cancel your order and return the cords to us for your money back. If the return was for a reason other than a mistake on the part of Honors Graduation for cords or any faulty or defective product, the cost of shipping both ways will be handled by the purchaser. All cords, defective or otherwise, must be returned within 7 days to qualify for our money-back guarantee.
- Cord colors shown above are intended as a guide but may display differently depending on your monitor, web browser, or system settings.
There are two main distinctions between cords; single color or twisted (2 or more colors), and double or single tied. Although there are no formal distinctions or traditions associated with a particular style over another, each school may choose to have graduates use double-tied cords over single-tied. While there is no distinction in price between colors or twisted/braided cords, double-tied cords are generally a more expensive option. Honor student cords are usually used during graduations by members of an honors society, fraternity or sorority, or department/school. Most graduation ceremonies will distinguish their summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude awards with the special honor cord worn around the neck at graduation or commencement events.
If you think you can beat a rate you found on our website, call us, we'd love to talk to you!
Graduation ropes or cords for honor societies & graduates.