That’s pretty much where we have landed as well. Undergrad research is very important factor for S20 and we also recognized early on that it doesn’t make sense to blow out the budget on undergraduate school ‘name’. Look at faculty pages at different schools. Some people don’t even list their undergrad school.
As long as the undergrad school gives him the opportunities he’s looking for to build that resume for a good grad school, that’s what’s important. This is also why UTK has a bit of a leg up on his in-state option (Penn State). UTK has much, much more involvement in fusion energy science research, and that’s very important to him.