Take a look a the Harvey Mudd College engineering program. HMC is located in Claremont CA. It’s a small school (850) but part of the Claremont Consortium which falls with the 5-7k size range. To quote from their description of the core curriculum: “The Core is demanding, but Harvey Mudd fosters collaboration, not competition—students work in teams and learn together. The hands-on, project-based courses in the Core foster a love for collaboration, communication skills and leadership ability.” The engineering department also stresses collaboration. HMC offers a general engineering degree, and does not offer specialties, but their students have no problems getting jobs. HMC does well with payscale (I know, many caveats here), and with placements in grad schools.
The school is a reach for anyone.