I am jealous that your university had such good classes. Classes that did more than emphasize solving artificial problems through rote memorization, rather than real ones however simple, were the exception rather than the rule in my computer engineering degree.
I'm with you - most of the units in my course could be passed by simply memorising formula and procedure.
I had a conversation with a final year electrical engineer with a high distinction average who had no idea what a relay was or how it was used, or how you'd power a motor from a microcontroller - something I'd expect high school level electronics students to know. He's great at calculations and exams, follows lab manuals and gets good grades, but (imho) would make a poor practicing engineer.
