Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University is dedicated to the discovery, development, communication, and application of knowledge in a wide range of academic and professional fields. Its mission of providing the highest quality undergraduate and graduate programs is inseparable from its mission of developing new understandings through research and creativity. It prepares students to assume roles in leadership, responsibility and service to society. Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment nurturing the human mind and spirit. It welcomes and seeks to serve persons of all racial, ethnic and geographic groups as it addresses the needs of an increasingly diverse population and a global economy. In the 21st century, Texas A&M University seeks to assume a place of preeminence among public universities while respecting its history and traditions.

Texas A&M opened its doors in 1876 as the state's first public institution of higher learning. Today, we stand as a research-intensive flagship university dedicated to sending Aggie leaders out into the world prepared to take on the challenges of tomorrow.

Located in the heart of the Houston-Dallas-Austin triangle, within a two-hour drive of 26 million of the state’s 28 million residents, Texas A&M's main campus in College Station is home to more than 62,500 students. Another 5,700 are at the branch campuses in Galveston and Qatar and other locations across Texas.

With more than 130 undergraduate degree programs, 170 master's degree programs, 93 doctoral degree programs and 5 first professional degrees as options for study, Texas A&M is full of possibilities.Texas A&M looks to lead by example in everything we do. Our aim is to set the standard as the world-class university of the future by combining knowledge, research, and innovation to create solutions that few institutions have the depth and breadth to achieve.

We’re committed to providing students opportunities to get a well-rounded education that prepares them to become leaders in their professions and in their communities. That means a focus on service as well as academics, and experience tackling real-world problems alongside some of the world’s top professors.

Aggies commit to learning for a lifetime: whatever you dream, you can pursue it as an Aggie. You'll have all the resources of a world-class research university at your fingertips, but we'll still be there to help you find your way.Texas A&M is the state's first public institution of higher education. With a student body of more than 59,000 and more than 5,200 acres on the College Station campus, Texas A&M is also among the nation's largest universities. Our origins, however, are much humbler: we owe our existence to the Morrill Act, approved by the United States Congress on July 2, 1862. This act provided for donation of public land to the states for the purpose of funding higher education whose "leading object shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and mechanic arts."

The State of Texas agreed to create a college under the terms of the Morrill Act in November 1866, but actual formation didn't come until the establishment of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas by the Texas state legislature on April 17, 1871. A commission created to locate the institution accepted the offer of 2,416 acres of land from the citizens of Brazos County in 1871, and instruction began in 1876. Admission was limited to white males, and, as required by the Morrill Act, all students were required to participate in military training.

Texas A&M underwent many changes in the 1960s under the presidency of Gen. James Earl Rudder. Under his tenure the college diversified, opening its doors to African-Americans and formally admitting women. Participation in the Corps of Cadets was also made voluntary. In 1963, the Texas state legislature officially renamed the school to Texas A&M University, with the "A" and "M" being a symbolic link to the school's past but no longer officially standing for "Agricultural and Mechanical."

Since that time, Texas A&M has flourished to become one of the nation's premier research universities. Along with the University of Texas and Rice, Texas A&M is one of only three Tier 1 universities in the state. In 1971 and 1989, respectively, Texas A&M was designated as a sea-grant and a space-grant institution, making it among the first four universities to hold the triple distinction of land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant designations.

While membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary in 1965, the Corps has nonetheless continued to play a key role in the university. The Corps is often referred to as the "Keepers of the Spirit" and "Guardians of Tradition."Texas A&M remains one of only six senior military colleges, and the Corps of Cadets is the largest uniformed body outside the national service academies. As such, it has historically produced more officers than any other institution in the nation other than the academies.

The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened in 1997 on west campus, making Texas A&M one of only a few universities to host a presidential library on their campus. President Bush maintains an active role in the university, hosting and participating in special events organized through the library.