<p>Duke and Cornell are more selective than CMU, but all three are great schools. You should also research Purdue, because it is a highly rated engineering school and you would probably get in. You can go to the websites for all these colleges and usually find admission stats, or go to your local library and look for various yearly publications on the subject of college admissions stats–also available for purchase on-line at Amazon, etc.</p>
<p>If you like WPI, you might want to take a look at UMass Amherst, located about 30 miles to the west. They are both ranked just inside the top 50 engineering schools with Ph.D programs, but UMass is about $30,000 for non-Mass residents whereas WPI is about $50,000. UMass has more social life, but their engineering program is located in the northern quadrant of the school away from the partiers.</p>