competition makes me smarter

I just discovered that a Middlebury education, which was once considered something like "competitive liberal arts" when I was a student there, is now considered to be on the same tier as the Ivies. Apparently students who were admitted just a few years ago would have a hard time of it today solely because of a more competitive applicant pool. I don't buy it. In fact, I feel retrospectively smarter because of this phenomenon.