Thought of another possibility. Rose-Hulman (http://www.rose-hulman.edu/) is more or less a science/engineering version of a small liberal arts college. Has the same setup as a liberal arts college (small classes, small total size, no graduate school, faculty focused on undergraduate education), but for science/engineering majors instead. Quite a different experience from a large engineering school, though whether in a good or bad way depends on the person. I went to a vaguely similar school in California myself (http://www.hmc.edu/) and enjoyed it. As far as degree prestige, these smaller schools tend not to be well known by the general public, but in my experience have been well-regarded by people in the field.