Engineering is hard work, wherever you go. But a “nerdy” vibe need not also mean a joyless grind.
One feature that a lot of “nerdy” schools have in common is gender imbalance. Would it bother her to be outnumbered 2:1 by guys? If not, there are some great schools that would likely love to have her!
A good one to look at, which isn’t super-hard to get into but which is fantastic for STEM and nerdy intensity, is Rose-Hulman. They have a terrific summer program that might be a good pre-college experience for your daughter. (What year is she in now? The application deadline for this summer is April 1st.) Operation Catapult | Rose-Hulman
There are many flavors of nerdy. Some have more of a “grind” reputation, like RPI and, in a different way, Harvey Mudd (which reachy but is also one of the few with gender parity in engineering/CS). Carnegie Mellon is another reachier school in this category. And of course there are the tippy-top grind schools, Caltech and MIT. There are publics like Colorado School of Mines, Missouri S&T, Michigan Tech, Alabama-Huntsville, NJIT, SUNY Poly, and Georgia Tech (another big reach). There are the schools that are known for project-based learning, like Olin (another big reach) and WPI. Stevens, RIT, and Clarkson have already been mentioned.
And then there are the all-purpose U’s that have strong (and nerdy) engineering programs. These run the gamut of competitiveness, from single-digit acceptance rate schools like Cornell and Rice, to “easy to get in, hard to get out” schools like Iowa State. Plenty of nerdy STEM peers to be found - not just at the most competitive schools!
So, there are lots and lots of options, especially with an unlimited budget! If you tell us more about her, it’ll be easier to narrow down. A rough estimate of stats? Areas of interest within STEM? Extracurricular interests? Geographic and environmental preferences? Would nerdy Greek life appeal? (Yes, there are nerdy sororities to be found, at schools like CMU and CWRU. The Douglass Residential College at Rutgers, and it’s Women In Stem programs, could be worth a look too.)
The more you tell us, the better the ideas and suggestions will be.