From what I’ve seen in the defense industry EEs seem to be the most versatile as to which kinds of companies they can get hired by. My old company (aircraft environmental control systems) and current company (ship combat systems) have loads of EEs.
If your kid likes smaller schools I’d recommend seeing if you can arrange a visit to CalTech or Harvey Mudd (my alma mater, which I recommend! But it has gotten crazy expensive.) HMC only has General Engineering degrees, you get a broad background in various engineering disciplines, then you can concentrate in an area.
