Obviously, both schools are great. Curious about the student experience - hoping my kid will also have some fun at school.
You really cannot go wrong with any school in Boston for fun.
My son got a great education at Tufts but used to say they had the wrong kind of nerds. A lot of talking about politics and world affairs, not enough playing board games! A huge number of students major in IR often along with another major like economics. He felt IR coasted on the reputation of the Fletcher School and that the department had some pretty stupid rules - especially regarding credit for courses taken abroad that weren’t specifically Tufts programs. The Global Leadership Institute does some really interesting things - he got involve with this program that definitely took him out of the college bubble and I suspect had something to do with the fact that he’s a naval officer now. https://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/programs/allies
I feel your kid is waffling between these two schools, perhaps ED isn’t a good option.
@mathmom - It is great to hear that your son is doing well !
As it turns out, Tufts has a club called “The Strategic Gaming Society” with 135 subscribers on their list serve. I have seen a group of them playing board games in the student center on a couple of visits… 
https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/info/sgs
It is one of three university gaming societies (Tufts, MIT, GWU) listed by this international gaming blog.
http://www.reinforcementsbypost.com/Wargames%20Clubs%20and%20Socs.html
Your son might be interested in knowing that a gaming cafe recently (2016) opened up in Teele Square (a stones throw from Tufts).
https://tuftsdaily.com/arts/2016/10/14/board-games-coffee-knight-moves-cafe-comes-somerville/
I believe that the Gaming Society tends to draw more from Tufts’ STEM community than Tufts’ IR/Poly Sci community.
@Mathmom - It is great to hear that your son is doing well!
With respect to board games, it may have been that your son was just hanging out with the wrong group of nerds!
Tufts has a club called “The Strategic Gaming Society” with 135 subscribers on thie list serve. It is also one of three university based gaming societies (Tufts, MIT, GWU) listed on an international gaming blog (CC won’t allow the link). I have seen them playing board games in the student center on a couple of visits.
https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/info/sgs
Your son might like to know that a board game cafe opened up pretty recently in Teele Square (a stones throw from campus)
https://tuftsdaily.com/arts/2016/10/14/board-games-coffee-knight-moves-cafe-comes-somerville/
I believe that The Strategic Gaming Society tends to draw more from Tufts’ STEM community than Tufts’ IR/Poly Sci community.
@Mastodon. I think that’s true. He felt he made some strategic errors in that department. He had an engineer roommate freshman year, and for some reason there was confusion and he didn’t end up rooming withhim as a sophomore. Because he took EPIC freshman year (and Arabic) he had less free time than he might have freshman year and all his friends were from EPIC. What he hadn’t realized is that all the ones who were seniors graduated, and all the ones who were juniors went abroad at least one semester. So he ended up starting over sophomore year where he had the world’s worst roommate and it’s harder to make new friends. He’s also lazy, so I think he just wanted to go play games in the lounge of his dorm rather than go looking for something more organized. But it’s good to know all that stuff exists.
@Mathmom -
If he made it through EPIC (even without Arabic) as a freshman then he is not lazy. It is an amazing program, but generally not recommended for freshman due to the heavy workload. It is usually reserved for upperclassman who have taken several IR courses already.
Students usually explore clubs/extra-curriculars and form social circles freshman year. I can see how EPIC could in effect become his extra-curricular and end up defining his social circle.
The tricky part about EPIC is that it is theme based and the theme changes every year, based on current global events. So, if one is really interested in a particular theme, then there is really only one opportunity to engage in it. I have attended some of the conferences associated with EPIC (as an alum) because the topics are so interesting.
For example, this year, the theme is Global Migration.
https://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/programs/epiic
Sorry about the double post above (#5) it apeared that CC rejected the first post due to a link to a blog, so I
re-wrote it.