sbjdorlo: My younger son is a freshman at UAH. He is not an engineering major, but does know several. Several have had or currently enjoy nice internships with the various government and private industry places in Huntsville. Earlier this semester, there was a career fair for all majors, including engineering. Because he was just a freshman, my son did not attend the career fair, but as an econ/finance/accounting major, he already has had some local business people approach him about internships for next summer.
One of the things my son always says is that every engineer he knows who is a senior already has something lined up following graduation, and often it is in Huntsville.
The honors program has been a bit of a disappointment for my son. Because he had schedule conflicts both semesters, he could not take honors classes. He had 56 hours of credit when he got to UAH, so many of the honors classes were covered by AP credit. He is hoping that they offer more business-type classes in the future.
As for the city of Huntsville, my son loves it (and btw, he is an OOS student from Virginia.). It is about 100 miles to Birmingham and Nashville, if you want a larger city. Meanwhile, he has found plenty to do in Huntsville. He is in a fraternity, and every time we chat, it seems that he is off to volunteer with the food bank or another organization locally.