Master's Velvet Tams are available in your choice of four, six, or eight corners.

Although historically, most Master's degree graduates wore a standard mortarboard with their gown, many Master's degree holders who are also faculty members are now opting to wear a velvet tam rather than a mortarboard differentiate themselves from their students.

As such, we now offer a Master's level faculty tam, similar to the doctoral tam, but with a plain black tassel in place of the gold doctoral tassel.

Like the doctor's tam, the faculty Master's Tam is available in four - six - or eight sides. However if you do not wish to purchase the Master's tam, we would be happy to send you a mortarboard & tassel, at no charge, with your gown.

Whether you pick a 4, 6, or 8 corner tam has less to do with regulation and more to do with looking your best! Generally, most people seem to prefer the six sided tam, however extremely tall and skinny people may do better with the 8 corner tam since it tends to look more round, and help "fill a person out", while short stocky people may do better with a 4 corner model, since it is sharper and thus makes the person look "less round".

Because these tams are made of velvet, it would not matter which fabric your gown is made from; you could still purchase the tams without fear of mismatching. This differs from hoods which should preferably be made from the same fabric quality as the gown. Also for this reason, many people purchasing Souvenir Quality gowns also purchase these tams as a way of upgrading their look without actually purchasing a more expensive gown. Even if you should upgrade to a more expensive gown later on, you would still use the same tam.

Be sure to indicate your hat size or your head size. Using a tape, measure the circumference of your head about an inch over your eyebrow. the size should be in the neighborhood of 22 to 23 1/2 inches. It should be snug but not too tight. Round size to nearest quarter inch. If you are between sizes, err to the larger quarter inch. A cap size would be something like 6 7/8, 7 1/4, 7 3/8, etc.

Master's Tam