2001-2002 Undergraduate Catalog General Information - Special Programs

Preprofessional Programs

NMSU offers a number of programs designed for transfer to professional schools through its undergraduate colleges. The programs follow.

Preforestry and Preveterinary Medicine is administered by the College of Agriculture and Home Economics.

Prehealth is administered by the College of Arts and Sciences.

Prelaw is administered by the College of Business Administration and Economics and by the College of Arts and Sciences. Law schools will accept undergraduates who have earned bachelor's degrees in any major. Many prelaw students take some law courses in their undergraduate program. The College of Arts and Sciences supervises a Supplementary Major in Law and Society, which includes courses from a number of departments and several colleges. It is described under "Government" in the Arts and Sciences chapter. The College of Business Administration and Economics offers a number of Business Law courses which can be found under the prefix BLAW in the course description chapter later in this catalog.

Further information will be found in the sections of this catalog devoted to the colleges. (See also the paragraph on Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education under "Student Services.")

Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC)

The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a commissioning program designed to attract, motivate, and train qualified students for military service as officers. The ROTC program is represented on the NMSU campus by the Department of Military Science (U.S. Army) and the Department of Aerospace Studies (U.S. Air Force).

Curricula in the Departments of Military Science and Aerospace Studies are divided into basic and advanced courses of two years each. Enrollment in the basic course is voluntary and involves no obligation. Participation in the advanced course is on a contractual basis and leads to military duty as an officer. Elective academic credit is granted by the university for ROTC classes.

Students with prior military service or Junior ROTC experience may receive credit, although not academic credit, for all or portions of the basic course.

All qualified cadets enrolled in the advanced course receive an allowance of $200 a month for a period of enrollment not to exceed ten months a year for each of two years. Additionally, scholarships, which pay full college tuition, various laboratory, textbook, and incidental fees, and the $200 per month allowance are available on a competitive basis. Army scholarships are available in most academic fields of study. Air Force scholarships are available in technical, nontechnical, nursing, and legal fields of study.

Consult the departmental section of this catalog for more detailed information on the ROTC programs offered by the Departments of Military Science and Aerospace Studies. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the departments directly at 646-4030 and 646-2136, respectively.