Union, Lafayette, Bucknell, Olin, RHIT?
I would recommend University of Michigan; it’s a great school, and they’re a lot of resources there to make it feel like a smaller school. The classes are pretty moderate there, too. It’s also very liberal.
I second Uni of Rochester. And they give merit.
OP, we had the same issue!
Lehigh University and Case Western Reserve were the best solutions we found for schools with excellent engineering that are not technical schools and not in the top 20.
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland: About 12,000 students. Strong engineering. Seems tech-focussed. Think box was impressive. Strong co-ops, internships, and placement.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem PA: About 7,000 students. Strong engineering (abt. 40% of students). Seems to offer stronger social opportunities, unusually beautiful campus. Outstanding co-ops, internships, and placement.
Agree with Lehigh, Case Western, URochester. Some other ideas might be Carnegie Mellon, TCNJ, UVT, SUNY Binghamton, SUNY Stony Brook.
Before applying check each schools policy on dual enrollment transfer credits. A lot of the very competitive schools will give you no credit at all. So if that matters to you check it out. My son is going to UChicago and is getting NO credit for his 4 DE community college classes and NO credit for his 2 classes at a 4 year college (none of these were used towards his HS diploma either). Obviously he doesn’t care but that was also the case at a few other schools where he applied as well.