One of mine strongly considered all the schools on your list, except UT-Dallas, and went to one of them.
CWRU is in a nice area of Cleveland, with lots of major cultural institutions in the immediate neighborhood, although there are some rougher areas nearby campus. There is a major research hospital immediately adjacent to campus. The school formed by the merger of Western Reserve College and the Case Institute of Technology, so the merged school is essentially two campuses divided by Euclid Avenue, which is a commercial street with lots of businesses geared toward the college community. It has been redeveloped a lot over the last decade. There are a fair number of geeky/techie students (I don’t mean that in a negative way), although not all of them. Greek life seems pretty balanced. It seems like a great place for STEM majors.
We love WPI. It is one of our favorite campuses and student bodies. We think the area right around campus was nice–a couple of parks and nice neighborhoods. Lots of Worcester is pretty rough, and, like all four of these schools is not a place it would advisable to walk around alone at night, though you’d probably be fine. They are rebuilding the downtown completely. We’ve been to the campus and city a lot, although not in the last year or so, so I don’t know how that is progressing. Worcester is an hour or so to downtown Boston on a commuter train. It’s a trip a student might make a couple of times a semester if inclined, though it’s not the kind of thing a student would probably do a lot, or just to go out on a Friday or Saturday night. WPI seems like a great place for a diligent, hard-working student who is self-motivated and is looking to get out in the workforce in an engineering-type job.
Rochester (UR) is more of a classic collegiate campus, on a small river in a quiet suburban area a few miles from downtown. I think of it as a NY version of Tufts or William and Mary. Academics seem outstanding. It is definitely more traditionally academic than the other three I’m describing.
RIT is a few miles farther out from UR. It has much more of modern campus setting, similar to schools–I’m thinking of George Mason and UMBC–that were established in the post-WWII era. Buildings are pretty much all brick and close together, sort of forming brick canyons, at least that’s my impression. They are pretty nice, it’s just not a classic college setting. UR is more what one thinks of as an American college setting; RIT has a more modern feel. I’m not sure which would appeal more to you. Students seem bright, hard-working, practical, and hands-on.
They are all damn cold.
I think of them all as good choices, and as schools, at least in the US, where students do well entering the workforce. Of course, from there, it’s up to them. Good luck!