Consider NJIT if looking at NJ. They may offer enough merit to make it comparable to instate. Small classes, friendly faculty. My DS1 graduated from there in CS. The engineering departments have a lot of options. However, not a lot of choice of majors outside techy stuff. Honors college requires SAT scores, I think.
PennState is not direct admit to engineering. They list the requirements in theor website. When we were touring PA for DS2, Pitt seemed a kinder, gentler engineering school.