World Wars Era

World War I

Many Texas A&M graduates served during World War I. By 1918, 49% of all graduates of the college were in military service, more than any other school. In early September 1918, the entire senior class enlisted, with plans to send the younger students at staggered dates throughout the next year. Many of the seniors were fighting in France when the war ended two months later. Over 1,200 former students served as commissioned officers. After the war, Texas A&M grew rapidly and became nationally recognized for its programs in agriculture, engineering, and military science. The first graduate school was organized in 1924 and the school awarded its first PhD in 1940. In 1925, Mary Evelyn Crawford Locke became the first female to receive a diploma from Texas A&M, although she was not allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony. The following month the Board of Directors officially prohibited all women from enrolling.

World War II

Many Aggies again served in the military during World War II, with the college producing 20,229 combat troops. Of those, 14,123 Aggies served as officers, more than any other school and more than the combined total of the United States Naval Academy and the United States Military Academy. During the war, 29 A&M graduates reached the rank of general.

At the start of World War II, Texas A&M was selected as one of six engineering colleges to participate in the Electronics Training Program, a 10-month activity of 12-hour study days to train Navy personnel who were urgently needed to maintain the new, highly complex electronic equipment such as radar. These colleges provided the Primary School, wherein the key topics of the first two years of a college electrical engineering curriculum were condensed into three months. The instructional effort at College Station was developed and led by Frank Bolton, EE department head and future Texas A&M president. At a given time, some 500 Navy students were on the campus, a significant fraction of the then-years enrollment. Students graduating from the Primary Schools then went to a Secondary School, one of which was at Ward Island, Texas (the future location of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi).

Enrollment soared after the war as many former soldiers used the G.I. Bill to further their education. In 1948, the state Legislature formally recognized Texas A&M as a separate university system from the University of Texas System, codifying the de facto arrangement between the schools.