Campus Life
Corps of Cadets
The Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University has a long and rich heritage of graduating outstanding officers for the Armed Forces of the United States. From the Spanish-American War through the most recent expeditions in defense of freedom, thousands of Aggies of all ranks, including more than 225 generals and admirals, have served our nation in war and peace. Seven Aggies have been awarded our nation’s highest honor for wartime valor, the Medal of Honor.
The Aggie Corps of Cadets is one of the nation’s largest uniformed bodies of students outside the U.S. service academies. Complementing these federally supported academies are the highly regarded full-time military programs of six state and private universities. These institutions—Texas A&M University, Norwich University, Virginia Military Institute, The Citadel, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and North Georgia College and State University—maintain full-time academy-style military training programs and are designated the “Senior Military Colleges” by federal law. In its support of the Senior Military Colleges, the U.S. Congress has observed, “The quality of the military leaders produced by the senior military colleges is, in part, the result of the rigorous military environment imposed on students attending the senior military colleges by the colleges, as well as the result of the longstanding close support relationship between the Corps of Cadets at each college and the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) personnel at the colleges who serve as effective leadership role models and mentors.”
Established in 1916, our nation’s ROTC program has long been a primary training resource for college students seeking to become commissioned officers in the United States Armed Forces. Most colleges and universities nationwide do not maintain a Corps of Cadets and ROTC programs are largely limited to once-a-week, afternoon training sessions. This is not the case at Texas A&M. Together with its Senior Military College counterparts, Texas A&M University is committed to the full-time military academy regimen as crucial to the ability of its Corps of Cadets and School of Military Sciences to consistently provide substantial numbers of highly qualified, long-serving leaders to the Armed Forces.
The enhanced leadership training and experience received within the Corps of Cadets is essential to the production of Aggie officers of singular character and ability. The distinctive, well-earned reputation that identifies an Aggie officer throughout a career of service to the nation is closely linked with the character-enriching training that has long been part of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. Although membership in the Corps of Cadets is voluntary, all freshmen and sophomore Cadets are required to enroll in either Army, Air Force or Navy/Marine ROTC programs. No active duty military commitment is incurred by participation in the first two years of ROTC training.
After two years, each Cadet has the opportunity to apply for a Commission in the U.S. military upon graduation. Cadets who elect to remain in the Corps but do not wish to pursue a military commission are subject to the same discipline, policies, requirements, training and administration as those preparing for active military duty. The University’s commitment to providing highly skilled and disciplined leaders to the Armed Forces requires all students enrolled in ROTC programs at Texas A&M University to be members of the Corps of Cadets. Additionally, ROTC participants must be Corps members to enroll in Military Science courses.
Freshmen in the Corps normally enroll during the summer at their New Student Conferences but may enroll at other times through the Office of the Commandant. Members of the Corps are guaranteed a room in a Corps residence hall. Prospective cadets should complete a residence hall application indicating they plan to participate in the Corps of Cadets.
Responsibility for establishing policy governing the operations of the Corps of Cadets including organization, training, discipline and administration is vested in the Commandant of Cadets. The Commandant is selected and appointed by the President of Texas A&M University and the Vice President for Student Affairs, acting under authority delegated by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. For more information, please call 1-800-826-8247.