Mine’s at Syracuse and started in calc 3, next level physics, etc. But his freshman engineering friends at Purdue are saying the same thing. The exception is that they have more trouble accessing help so they text me and my spouse for help in chem & bio. Our son hasn’t asked us for help, but he has ample help at school because his classes are small. I think that colors his perception of his classes as “easy”.
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There are many engineering programs where this does not at all describe FYE. It really does differ by school. None of the ones my D considered have anything that would be described as mostly unit-conversions and can you work in a group, but yes absolutely we know programs that are exactly like this, essentially a repeat of HS STEM courses. And they are in the south and the north—it is not regional.
OP, there are academically challenging Engineering programs out there, where the intro levels are deep dives well beyond generic AP stem courses, and problem sets and tests push well past the textbook. The ones I can guarantee are rigorous are also likely the most difficult to transfer into, but one can try. It may help to see the syllabus and final exams of courses and compare that way. They are quite different.
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I suppose I’m biased by what I’ve heard people say about the typical Purdue FYE courses, since we know a lot of people who go there, and it’s high-ranked for engineering. I’ve heard that about some other well regarded places too. I’m sure MIT and some others are on a whole other level, but I don’t know if that’s where OP is aiming.
I don’t want OP to put a lot of energy into a transfer unless it’s the right move. We don’t even know their budget and where they applied last year (all of which they say are unappealing).
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Yes, I was thinking the level CMU, Hopkins, Penn, Duke, Cornell Northwestern MIT Chicago. Maybe OP does not want that level. I agree it is not clear what the situation is here.
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I do want to clarify a bit more. The first-year engineering sequence (e.g., ENGR 131/132 at Purdue) is often described as annoying or tedious but not very challenging material. The ancillary science requirements are what kills FYE students: calc, physics, chem. For freshmen who do well in the ancillaries and their gen eds, the FYE classes might take time but are often “easy” otherwise. The current Purdue freshmen I know are re-taking some classes they’ve already had in high school (AP chem/calc/physics scores of 4) so that certainly makes it feel easier.
U Chicago doesn’t have engineering so OP should definitely not apply there 
UChicago has one field of Engineering , for undergraduate, molecular something, but agree it is only the right school for those interested in that area(D23 was). It is a phenomenal program, albeit new, and will be ABET I am sure(which is then retroactive). Not for OP. Just fyi.
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And that one’s not accredited, so I wouldn’t be rushing to apply. I’ve not heard of that as a major before, I’ll have to check it out.
My daughter transferred after one semester. She did it all. She contacted the school she decided to transfer to, which was a school she had been accepted to out of high school and where she had gone to a summer camp. I was kind of telling her to wait and see but they came back and said “yes you can transfer — come for spring semester.”
I was honestly a little disappointed because I really liked the first school but she felt like she didn’t have good friends there and she had a good friend at the new school. She felt like the new school would be more academically challenging, had a more robust internship program and would help her find a job, had a better study abroad program, and I think she really didn’t like the dorms at the old school. She’s doing well at the new school and the transition was pretty easy since she already had a friend there.
If you pursue the transfer option consider where your friends go. If you have a friend at the new school it can make the process easier.
On the flip side try to get more involved at your current school. The work will probably get more challenging in upper level classes. Now is a good time to make new friends and join clubs etc.
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OP, I am wondering if maybe you can ask someone in the science or math department at your HS, if they can help steer you toward schools that would likely be more rigorous than your current one.
I know lots of parents (non-Stem too) who definitely feel as though we are getting our money’s worth from college as far as the academics. It is odd to me that the adult said this. Hopefully you can find a different perspective from someone who might have a broader familiarity with schools.
Purdue FYE differs depending on which design class they are in, what classes they start in for calc, chem and physics, and their prep in HS. My D didn’t repeat anything she had credit for and worked her tail off in Chem e. Honors design had 30 hours/week of class and project work group time for that one class alone.
And your son’s friends aren’t looking very hard if they can’t access help. Every required FYE course has a dedicated help room with free tutoring and all profs and their TAs hold weekly office hours and review sessions.
To the OP - it’s going to get harder. Enjoy it while it lasts ;).
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Oh it’s not the FYE classes where they have questions. It’s some of the ancillary science courses that they hadn’t taken in HS. And calc, chem, bio, physics can be pretty tough there so I’m not surprised. I did send one of them all the info about the help sessions but they conflicted with marching band and their other classes unfortunately.
I have heard that honors FYE is a lot harder than regular! And the engineering courses obviously get hard, fast.
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This is always a tough question. If you can make a list of what you’re looking for at another school – from the academic to the social – that will help. This will help you come up with a list. Go ahead and apply. Folks here can help you develop a list if you have criteria. Sometimes just going through the exploration process will give you clarity about what to do.
Simultaneously, figure out what changes you can make at your current school to make it better. Freshman year is a time of transition, and it’s not always as fun or easy as it’s often made out to be.
In the spring, you can evaluate your options. Being a transfer student has its own challenges, but for those who needed a change, it can be worth all of it.
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My son is finding it pretty easy to get As in his classes too. He’s in his 2nd year and came in with all his gen ed classes done, so it’s just math, science and engineering. It is a lot of time spent on homework, but he hasn’t needed office hours, tutoring, or any other help. But he has joined a research group, and has time for other fun activities and clubs. I do think he wishes he found it more challenging. Not that he wants to struggle, but he wants to feel like he’s working hard to understand a new concept. He tells me he’s happy where he is, but that is because of the whole picture. And, he does feel like he is learning and will be a good engineer. He had an internship last summer and was invited back for this year.
No advice on transferring, but I wanted to let you know some people do just find it easier than others do.
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I never really had a relationship with any science or math teachers besides biology. My school’s guidance department was also all but useless last year :\
Last year I applied to a bunch of colleges and only got into different campuses of my state university. The one I go to isn’t the flagship, but it has a reputation for being as good or better for engineering. Budget is part of the reason my parents are pushing transferring- if I got into a meets full need private university it would be more affordable than any of the public universities (which is impossible for me to explain to anyone- “why would you go to private college?? that’s so expensive”).
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Have you found a school and checked its NPC for transfers - that will be less expensive?
Can you check into this?
Free MA Public College Tuition, Supplies For Income-Eligible Students (msn.com)
Based on your comments in this post, look into schools such as Lehigh, Lafayette, Bucknell and Union.
My son is looking at transferring from his private meets-all-need SLAC to our state flagship, and the parents around us definitely don’t understand that if he makes the transition, we will be paying MORE. 
Good luck
OP- you need to sit yourself down and have an honest dialogue with yourself.
Are you putting as much time and effort into your current college as you are prepared to do in order to transfer? Are you going to office hours to tell a professor- “That problem you raised during the lecture this week- pretty cool. Any extra reading or problem sets I could be working on?” or sending a quick email “I’d love to explore working with you this summer”. Are you talking to your advisor about taking the appropriate level or section of the classes you are taking? Every single requirement in engineering has the slower “we cover the basics” vs. the zippy “we’re throwing you into the deep end of the pool”. If the basics are boring, you shouldn’t be sleeping through them, you should be advancing in intensity and speed. Are you joining the right clubs, groups, volunteer activities? When the engineering department is hosting a symposium with professors from all over the country to discuss “What can we be doing about Climate Change” or “How can Materials Science shape the dialogue on sustainable building practices” – are you showing up?
THAT’s what you are paying for- to be challenged with the right level of rigor or intensity. Otherwise, you might as well get a degree online and play online poker in your free time.
But be honest. Transferring is time consuming. Can’t you put that time into making your current situation work for you?
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I’m going to qualify for the Massgrant expansion this year whenever the university gets around to processing it (they said I’ll probably get it as a refund sometime in late spring). I don’t know about next year because the new FAFSA was really confusing (they didn’t ask for or let me enter a bunch of info like my income or my or my parents’ assets, which seems necessary, and then returned a number that was almost 10k lower than last year’s efc).
Edit- on the subject of other schools, the ones my parents have discussed (besides UMass Amherst) meet full need and are potentially commute-able.