A fair number did it though - they showed up only on exam day
(This was back in the 1980’s).
The 80s were strange on campus. Mind you in grad school we all had jobs. Many had young families, mortgages, ya da.
The year I got the diploma, my family took it as a time of great pride. Everyone was invited. Grandmas, great-grandpas, all the close relatives.
This was at a *small ivy*; same school as Tucker Carlson and Jessie Waters. That year, was the first year that the school did away with its cap and gown requirement. F
The formal, traditional dress was optional. Most of the undergrads decided that it would be cool to wear bowling shirts.
And that is what they did. Bowling shirts. Deep down, I was pretty miffed that this was on display, in front of my very straight-laced fam in attendance.
So the grad students were at the end-o-the-line of recipients. We stood together, berating the younger grads. many of the *liberated* undergrad wimmen also, decided to be naked under their caps & gowns. When they walked across the stage, you could see their bare silhouettes in the setting sun. Big whoops and cat-calls from the crowd.
It was pretty much a circus. I’m sure the staid professors were mortified.
Good times.