This site is very ranking obsessed and not representative of the majority of employment situations. My husband and oldest son are both engineers. Nobody cares where they went to school. When our son was applying for jobs, having an solid GPA, co-op experience, and an ABET degree were the key to great offers.
He went to a small public tech university that is only ranked regionally. Based on posted salaries on different websites, his salary is not much different from the starting chemE salaries at powerhouse schools. That lines up with the fact that he works right alongside those schools’ graduates and their pay is not based on their schools but on their job level. They are all hired in at the same level. Promotions are based on job performance, not name of school.
Fwiw, our kids have to apply to schools that offer large merit scholarships. They are bright kids, graduating from high school with advanced course work completed. (Some of my kids have taken multiple college courses post cal BC and both physics C equivalents.) They have gone to non-tippy top schools and have received great educations and had wonderful peer groups. My current college jr took a 300 level electromagnetic wave EE class his first semester. And guess what, he loves being a student at Alabama. He has had great professors; he is actively involved in research; he received 3 REU offers this past summer.
Don’t worry about tiers. Find a school that meets your criteria: your major, ABET (if engineering), your budget, opportunities you want (like co-oping or UG research.) See what their career center offers. Check to see if they have on-campus recruiting, etc.