We were in your shoes 4 years ago, and struggled with the same decision. Seems like your son is similar to mine – regular, down to earth kid, hockey player, very athletic but also very smart. He did not want to live in Middlebrook, but also wasn’t crazy about Pioneer Hall, partying and all that. He chose to live in Frontier Hall which was LLC for engineering students. It turned out to be great decision for him. I highly recommend it.
As far as Honors program, he would tell you that he can see real benefit for CLA students, as they get grouped with other “smart” kids in the same classes throughout all 4 years. For CSE students that’s not the case, with the exception of first year where you take honors classes in physics, chemistry, calculus that are smaller and presumably get better instructors (not always the case). After that, there are no honors classes in CSE, every class is hard and you are surrounded by very smart people. Because of all his AP credits from HS (he officially entered college as second semester sophomore), he only had to take 2 or 3 non-engineering classes. He chose supposedly hard honors classes, and said the level of each was several degrees lower than any “regular” engineering class. He said it was “a joke”, and could not imagine what a non-honors class in CLA looks like.
He is now working on his thesis as that is the requirement to graduate with Latin honors at UMN (he graduates in less than 3 months!). He is a very competitive kid, so he stayed in honors program just to get that piece of paper, but he saw no real value in it after first year. However, there is no real downside either, so I would take the option, and decide after first year whether to stay or not.
Another difference is that you get 2 advisors – one from honors program and one from CSE, instead of just the one from your college. And honors adviser is supposed to be “better”. His personal experience was just the opposite – the honors adviser was late or missing meetings, not knowing anything about CSE, not helping at all. The one from CSE was good.
As far as job offers and grad school admissions, honors program doesn’t seem to make any difference. Hiring companies care about your major, GPA (very important!), internships (super important!) or co-ops. Again, this is specific to engineering students, not sure how important it is for CLA students to secure employment after graduation.
I hope this helps you and your son make the decision. Feel free to ask if you have any specific questions.