The undergraduate student body at IIT is about 3,000 and about 30% are international students. The graduate enrollment is about 5,000 and 60% are international students. It has been my experience that many of the international students find positions, at least for their Optional Practical Training period, in the U.S. The Career Center is certainly used to working with International students and the students and faculty are all quite welcoming of international students.
The neighborhood is much, much better than when i started as a faculty member there in the 1980’s. I have personally never had a problem and neither have my two children who have attended IIT. If you are looking for the “college” experience that others have alluded to, then IIT is probably not the place for you. As far as athletics, we are moving to Division III and the major sports teams are soccer, women’s volleyball, men’s baseball and the swim teams. IIT is primarily a technical university and that means that engineering and sciences are dominant majors even though we have other majors too.
I notice that the OP’s son wants to get a graduate degree and so having a solid research experience is essential. being an international student, means that the REU programs are not available to him so it is important to have an on-campus experience. IIT have graduate programs at the Ph.D. level in physics and electrical engineering and there are opportunities for undergraduates to participate.
@PurpleTitan - I think that Engineering Physics degrees appeal to those who are more interested in physics but feel that an ABET accredited degree give them a better opportunity for employment. Alternatives are just plain Physics or Applied Physics and the fact is that these majors are pretty good for getting jobs too. I think it is a matter of taste.
Hopefully this helps.