<p>IMHO, SMU is FABULOUS!!! S and I visited the campus twice (once to tour/meet with Theatre Dept folks and once for audition). It’s an absolutely beautiful campus, in a nice neighborhood in Dallas. Great theatre facilities, friendly students, excellent program. Very strong academics. Dallas is an outstanding theatre town with so many opportunities for participation in professional theatre!!! SMU is just the right size school
– small enough for personal attention, but large enough to have that big “rah rah” college experience (D-1 athletics). The weather is beautiful. The only negative for us was the cost of attendance. But if that doesn’t factor into your decision, I really don’t see how your son could go wrong enrolling at SMU. In fact, I would guess he would have a wonderful college experience there and get a fine education in Theatre. However, he really does need to decide where he sees himself in ten years. If he’s still interested in a double major or wants to leave that door open, then from what little I know of Penn State, it seems like their BA program might be a better fit for him. We were told at SMU that a double major IS possible there, but it seems to me to be a pretty intense BFA program. FWIW 
Hopefully, someone with first-hand experience will chime in here.</p>