Considering that most graduation robes are black, it's always stunning to see the graduation procession with its splashes of color on hoods and sleeves. Unless you're listening to a really terrific graduation speech, you're probably sitting there taking in the spectacle and wondering what all the colors mean. There's a symbology there, with each color representing a different academic discipline, and some - dark blue, for example - signifying that this person holds a Doctorate of Philosophy, or Ph.D.

(Someone with a doctorate that is not a Ph.D wears the color that goes with his specific disipline.)

Universities have their own traditions when it comes to graduation garb - Harvard, for example, puts all its doctoral candidates in crimson gowns and its undergraduates pair crimson hoods with their black gowns - but most follow an inter-collegiate color code set out in 1893 and tweaked over the years to reflect the addition of new majors.

These are the colors that represent the most common majors:

• Architecture and city planning: violet-blue
• Business and accounting: a beige color commonly referred to as “drab”
• Communication and journalism: crimson
• Criminal justice: midnight blue
• Dentistry: lilac
• Dramatic arts and fine arts: brown
• Economics: copper
• Education: pale blue
• English, foreign languages, humanities: white
• Engineering: orange
• Environmental studies, forestry: russet
• Environmental science: golden yellow
• Government, foreign affairs: peacock blue
• History: white
• Law: purple
• Mathematics: golden yellow

• Medicine: green
• Music: pink
• Nursing: apricot
• Pharmaceutical sciences: olive green
• Philosophy: dark blue
• Physical education, physical therapy: sage green
• Political science: dark blue
• Psychology: gold
• Public health: salmon
• Public policy: peacock blue
• Sciences: golden yellow
• Sociology: white
• Theology: scarlet