In the case of Iowa specifically, the trick (if you can handle the coursework) is to go to Iowa State and major in engineering. They're reasonably affordable an

In the case of Iowa specifically, the trick (if you can handle the coursework) is to go to Iowa State and major in engineering. They're reasonably affordable and surprisingly high-tier. Quite a few other flyover states that you wouldn't intuitively expect to have really good engineering schools actually do. (The trouble, of course, is with career paths in which networking and prestige matter a lot more.)