<p>In general, they would look at your area of focus within eng as an undergraduate, the profs who recommend you, etc. If your specialty was recognized as a strong area at that school, or the prof was well known, you would have a pretty good profile, as strong as someone who went to a bigger eng school with many strong areas of focus. If not, then not…</p>
<p>The main risk with a small eng school is that the area you may decide, 2 years from now, that you are excited about may not be an area they are investing in. The plus is the more personal attention and opportunity to form strong relationships with the profs, so you don’t risk being anonymous. </p>
<p>I have thought about this a lot, as an engineering grad myself, who is also advising a daughter who is applying this year and is interested, as you are, in studying eng in a liberal arts environment (so is not looking at Caltech or MIT).</p>