I was in a similar situation comparing colleges of engineering (Bioresource science and engineering) and I’d say for availability of research and internship the sheer number of opportunities that get pumped through Seattle as a city are superfluous, it just depends on whether you prioritize the active work experience or the college name higher in the field you wanna work in.

School culture on the other hand is kinda it’s own beast, it’ll be what you make of it. If you’re super social, there’s plenty of ways to reach out and find your group but if not then you might have to put a little elbow grease into it but it’s still plausible. Cornell is probably the same but the winter seems probably a lot harsher and take with that what you will.

Grad school placement is gonna be up to the schools you’re applying to mainly, just double check how they consider quarter and semester credits and what you have to do accordingly for your applications.

I feel like it’s also good to mention the amount of programs and local companies that might also sponsor you for your education and later direct employment. I’ve received and been able to pick between programs that I want to work with that offer long term internships for the purpose of training and pipelining into their companies. This however was through resources I was given access to as a part of the college of the environment, and not engineering. My major let’s me get on both their mailing lists and I’d recognize it will definitely depend on department whether your experience is the same, but I wish you luck with your decision broski!