At the age of 17, Bush taught English as a second language and assisted in the building of a school in Ibarrilla, a small village outside of León, Guanajuato, Mexico,[7] as part of Andover's student exchange summer program.[8] While in Mexico, he met his future wife, Columba Garnica Gallo.[8][9]
Bush, who had largely avoided criticizing or supporting the Vietnam War, registered for the draft after his graduation from high school in 1971.[6] In the fourth and final draft lottery drawing, on February 2, 1972, for men born in 1953 and to be inducted during 1973, Bush received a draft number of 26 on a calendar-based scale that went to 365. But no new draft orders were issued after 1972,[10] because the U.S. changed to an all-volunteer military beginning in 1973.[11]
Though many in his family had attended Yale University, Bush chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin, beginning in September 1971.[1] He played on the Texas Longhorns varsity tennis team in 1973.[1] Bush graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree inLatin American studies.[