When you say that your son is interested in “business,” why are you focused on Operations Management versus Finance or Economics? Without knocking an IE degree in the least, if your son’s interest is in business, then Alabama has very strong programs in the mathematically-oriented specializations of Quantitative Finance and Quantitative Economics. Engineering degrees are often considered “pre-professional,” gearing students for one particular field. Finance and Economics provide a much broader basis for business and are increasingly in need of students with strong mathematical skills given the increasing use of data in those fields. The head of Culverhouse, Dean Michael Hardin, is well-known in the field of big data and Culverhouse recently received a $1 million grant from Lockheed Martin to further research at UA.
Not knocking an IE degree at all, just depends on which side of “business” he wants to enter post-graduation. I just wouldn’t rule out Culverhouse simply due to a bias that business degrees don’t have enough Math. UA provides tremendous flexibility to take additional Math classes or even double major due to its acceptance of college and AP credit.