<p>peppermintlounge
I hope you can continue to emphasize to your son the added value of engaged professors. If he is clear and focused about his academic interests, and he’s chosen a place with access to engaged faculty, that is a very mature decision, for very mature reasons. (There are lots of hidden gems of programs and faculty in lots of superficially unlikely places.) Sounds like he might have found one of those programs, and if so, it’s probably known to those “in the know” in the subject area. And that counts! Maybe thinking about it that way will help minimize his disappointment about other aspects.
Congrats and good luck to him!</p>