<p>W&M Business and Int’l Studies are already well-regarded and seem to be making concerted efforts to improve their business offerings. And as pointed out, the Business school seems to have a strong international studies flavor. </p>
<p>Overall, I think the “rankings” such as they are, are probably pretty fair. I’d call it a “Tier 1a” school (sounds better than “tier 2”); UVA, Georgetown, UPenn, Cornell, MIT, UMich, and even NYU (though my personal feeling is that it’s a bit overrated) all being Tier 1. Many of these are considered “better than” W&M simply because of their size, and the number of alumni, and thus name recognition and resources, overall, are greater and this isn’t something that’s going to change much. But as to the quality of education he’d receive compared to those others? I’d say he’d have nothing to regret should he choose W&M, it may be the best of the LAC’s.</p>
<p>To some extent, it depends on where he plans to work; regionalisms play a part, for example, NYC-centric Wall Street financial houses have a definite taste for the big-name NorthEast schools, while in Chicago, they have different biases. In DC, there’s no problem with recognition. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think W&M certainly offers a much different experience from most of those schools - not “better”, but “better for some”. I’d say it’s definitely worth a visit, and especially so if your son worries about being lost in a very large school.</p>
<p>OOS is difficult, as it’s a state school, and 66% of the admits are supposed to be in-state, but not quite so bad for males. OOS females face daunting odds. </p>
<p>You’ve probably seen it already, but just in case: <a href=“http://mason.wm.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://mason.wm.edu</a></p>