@RKmom I totally respect that your S knows what he wants and I understand that paying attention to design opportunities for undergrads is really key for him; it’s great he’s thinking at that level. But just a suggestion… if his school list begins to look too narrow he might want to go back to some of the schools he struck off his list because they have grad students and look at the ratio of MFAs to BFAs / ask about what kinds of opportunities are regularly given to undergrads. There are only 2 grad students in my D’s (BA) program and she has learned so much from working alongside them! I think her college experience was far richer for having had them in the program - they were mostly industry professionals who returned to school for an advanced degree and they were happy to share their expertise with undergrads. She’s not a lighting person and I’m sure it’s very different for each area of design, just wanted to put that out there.
Thanks @CaMom13 My son’s mentor just said something similar to him about the benefits of having more teachers when there is a small MFA program. I think he is starting to come around on that point. He very much wants those design opportunities as an undergrad, especially since he is already designing shows as a high schooler.