<p>I think it’s a great idea that he wants to be an optical engineer. I am an optical engineer and I graduated from one of the top, if not top, school for optics in the nation, the University of Arizona! Just to let you know the University of Arizona isn’t ASU. I take offense to take because they are our rivals. 
I disagree with the cosmicfish. Optics isn’t a narrow field, it’s bigger or as big as any other engineering field. Just because it is less known to the general population doesn’t make it narrow. Optics ranges from EM waves transmitted to cell towers, to fiber optic communcation, to holography, to cameras, to LED backlit displays including the 3D displays, to radiometry, photometry, biomedical imaging, acousto-optic imaging, hyper spectrual imagers, solar panel designs…etc. How do they get data off a Blu-ray disc? They use light to relay the information. Who doesn’t want to be apart of the fastest entity known to man. Light isn’t really understood. Is it a particle or a wave? The U of A has helped land objects on Mars, helped fix the hubble telescope, and made parts for ATLAS (one of the detectors on the particle accelerator). Right now I design night vision googles. This past year I have been on interviews around the nation, and have received five offers from contractors of various optical technologies. If you go into optics you won’t ever be struggling for a job. The optics world has been on the rise for decades. I agree that photonics is to 21st century what electronics was to 20th century!!! The only other undergraduate school to consider is the University of Rochester, but the snow is awful. Hope this helps.</p>