<p>this is a really hard question. I am not sure there is a school that meets all of your criteria in the NW or west coast other than Stanford and that is harder to get into than Cornell. And Stanford of course is not rural but feels like that if you stay on campus. You may have to trade off one or two things like rural, NW or D1 sports to come close.</p>
<p>Have you thought about the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs? It sits in a rural spot as it is separated from Colorado Springs. CU Boulder has a good engineering program and would meet your safety requirements. They have D-1 sports but Boulder is not rural but is a college town. On a much smaller scale and without the sports is Colorado School of Mines. Great undergrad engineering school in ruralish location and close to the fun stuff in the mountains. </p>
<p>Not in the northwest but closer than Cornell, what about Purdue? Great Aero Eng program and has D1 sports. Or UCLA or UCSD–both are west coast and solid in engineering. UCLA has D-1 sports but those are not rural nor is UW. </p>
<p>Have you looked at Cal Poly SLO? Great engineering school, nice college town, fun group of students but not so much on the sports side though. Santa Clara University has a good reputation as an undergrad engineering school as well but I don’t know about sports.</p>
<p>Alas, there is only one Cornell University! (yes, yes I know about the one in Iowa!)</p>