well-said. an opportunity to study for free at a top-tier university in boston is an incredible one. i went to tufts undergrad and just finished an MS in Computer Science there as well. i was definitely in a similar situation as you when i initially applied to colleges (strong application, but didn't get into the ivies), so i wasn't sure how appropriate tufts would be for me. my concern was ill-founded, as there are plenty of students there just as academically intense. OP, feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions i could answer. email is in my profile.