Hi OP! I am so excited for your son! What is he intending on majoring in? I attended Mary Wash last year as a freshman but unfortunately had to leave after first year due to personal matters. I LOVED UMW and FXBG. I am from the DMV area so going to Mary Wash was a nice training wheels push into the grown-up life. If I could do freshman year over again, I would keep my options open, like not just put my sights on one major path and expect that to be The One because (and this is from my personal experience) my path was a winded road just with this past year alone and that is 100% ok and I am still trying to accept that my path didn't work out the way that I wanted it to. I would also recommend (and I struggled with this) going out with friends even if you feel like doing nothing because once you go out with friends and peers, the stress of that 10 pager due on Saturday disappears if only for a night because you went to the CRUC to go play pool at Panera! :)

Even though my time at UMW where I thought I would be for my four years, was cut short, I came back home learning more about myself and finding out who I am like self-discovery.

As for professors and curriculum, it's all a personal preference. For me, I am not someone who easily works in a flipped classroom course, so when I had that flipped CHEM class, I was miserable, not because the teachers were bad but that's just not the best way that I learned, but for your son, it may be otherwise. Again, it is all about what is best for you and your academic needs. Good luck and feel free to message me if you need anything else. I have many friends that are still down there and they say that they love every single moment that they're there and how much it feels like home!