But that's a non-starter with him. Fully recognizes the academic reputation and the value of it, and he has actually taken a couple of school-sponsored visits to Charlottesville. But it's a cultural issue -- he just doesn't think his personality is a good match there. I think in many ways his interest in William & Mary was based on a perception that it was an acceptable alternative to UVa in that regard. (That and the fact that W&M continues to aggressively court him -- which is something that neither Tech or UVa have actually done to this point.)

He shared the observation previously that Tech is "too big." So part of my aim in February is to demonstrate that in physical terms. Oddly enough, he hasn't been impressed by some of the smaller options we've presented to him (like W&L and Wake Forest). No apparent preference in terms of the urban/rural continuum -- he's looking to move on to a major city after college regardless of where he attends. He has stated a preference for public schools as opposed to private -- not really sure why, but based on the price differential I'm inclined not to argue too much about that.

Current area of interest in terms of study is business -- either finance or management. Mrs. Fiji is a Pamplin grad so we're sensitive to the effect of our personal bias on that discussion. If UVa is truly out of his scope, I'm a bit perplexed as to what useful alternatives I can share with him. I've been impressed by the folks I know who are attached to George Mason, but he hasn't reacted to suggestions about that school one way or another.

On the less pleasant side, there's also the issue of having a fallback in the event that he is not admitted to Tech. Given his scores and record, I would be shocked by such an outcome. But it is a much different place now and stranger things have happened.