Lamar University is a Houston-area engineering powerhouse that's less flashy than Rice but deeply serious about technical education. If engineering is your game, the faculty and resources are legit, and being in one of America's energy hubs means internship and career opportunities fall into your lap. The student body is working-class and first-generation heavy, which creates a culture of grinding, not partying—people here are serious about their futures.
The campus isn't Instagram-worthy, and the surrounding area is industrial, but that's kind of the point. You're in a real city studying real problems. The business school and engineering programs get respect in their respective fields, and the cost is a huge bonus. You're not paying private school prices for a strong technical degree.
Pick Lamar if you want to engineer stuff, stay in or near Houston, and avoid six-figure debt. The student experience is geared toward getting you employed with solid technical skills, not building your social media following. That's a feature, not a bug.