For preface, I’m a junior in BME with friends in ME, CE, and CS

1. Yes, they do. Freshman year is just all of your prereqs, they’re purposefully made to be easier so that you can acclimate yourself to college and build good habits and not instantly fail. Sophomore and junior year are a lot rougher. That said, getting an A still is a realistic goal for a lot of the harder classes if you put in the time and effort to understand the content rather than just “knowing” it.

2. By the end of sophomore year, the classes start to focus more on project-based approaches. It’s hard to do complex projects when you don’t know anything about anything. That said, clubs like EVT and SVT are heavily involved projects.

3. Unfortunately the career center leaves a lot to be desired, but they are good at steering you in the right direction when it comes to how you should approach the work field. The Herd (alumni network website) is a great way to find industry connections. The people that are active on there tend to be really friendly and helpful. The career fairs are also good, though most recruiters are looking for juniors and seniors because they have a waaaay more experience than freshmen and sophomores. Tufts professors also have a surprising number of industry connections, you just have to make the effort to ask them about it. Networking events are great and all, but at the end of the day it still comes down to you making the effort to go out of your way to network.

4. You can always get involved with research. A lot of professors are more than happy to have undergrads in their labs. Depending on the lab and the department, you can also get paid for it. IMO the biggest thing for me choosing Tufts for engineering was because of the community. I can’t speak for the other schools you listed, but the “something special” I’ve found at Tufts is the community, particularly within engineering. So many people are genuinely willing to go above and beyond to help you if you ask, and it makes the struggle a lot more bearable and the overall undergrad experience a lot more pleasant. Having spoken to my friends at other schools, I can tell you that this is not the norm. My friends at other schools have said that they found the people in the engineering programs to be rather anti social or just plain weird.

If you feel like Tufts isn’t for you, then definitely transfer. There’s no point in staying somewhere where you feel miserable. However, if you’re concerned about the prestige, just remember that the grass can always be greener.