That could work too, and is a lot less risky. I didn't suggest it because it sounds like he doesn't really like any of the places he got into, and it's very bad form to defer at one college and then apply to others. Though maybe he could defer for now, see what things like are like come next December, and if he's still really set on Stanford or MIT, take his name off the deferral list and then reapply to them.