I agree with others, it would make a lot of sense to choose NC State now, and then if things go well you can always consider grad school at a place like CMU.
I also want to emphasize that NC State engineering is not exactly slumming it! North Carolina is one of those states where the “flagship” engineering college is not the same as the “flagship” non-engineering college (others include Virginia (Virginia Tech not UVA), South Carolina (Clemson), Georgia (Georgia Tech), and Indiana (Purdue)). This often has happened because the other flagship was founded before the era when engineering was taught in US colleges.
Anyway, as you would expect, the flagship engineering college in a state as important as North Carolina is very good! Rankings are always subject to different priorities, but I think most people would agree NC State is like a top 30ish engineering college in the US, give or take, including both privates and publics.
Of course CMU would be ranked higher by most, particularly for Computer Engineering but also to some extent for EE. But again, since college is not necessarily the end of your educational journey anyway, I would be cautious about thinking you have to blow a ton of money at that stage.