Choosing a college
kirse: My best advice to you is to take none of our specific "go here" advice...Take a good week off to just step back from the college admissions process and recollect your thoughts so you can look at it objectively.  I'm sure right now it's a bit stressful and probably overwhelming, not to mention getting spanked by the rejections is a bit of a blow to the ego... especially coming from somebody who sees themselves as slowed down by my peers...Once you take that break, spend a good couple hours alone and not distracted to just write out (and I mean write, not think) what you really want out of your life for the next couple years.  You don't need to have concrete goals, but something as simple as "I'd like to start my own software business before I graduate" or "I want to get involved with mathematics research projects" are examples.  You seem like someone who is very driven, so I bet you'll have no problem with this.Secondly, write down who you are and what are your values.  Are you the type of person that needs the structure of class to be motivated, or can you stay focused on your own?  How much personal time do you want?  Obviously a less demanding class-load gives you more time to work on your own projects.Once you lay down the big picture of who you are as a person and your overall goals/purpose for the next few years, it's going to be 1000x easier to choose a college.  It's like finding the shoe that fits you best.Finally, you'll find plenty of people who are smarter than you, even at a state school.  I knew many people "smarter" than myself when I went to a state school, yet I was the one who was making a 5 figure income by my senior year in college from my own business (as if money is the only thing that matters).  For the record, I was only a 1400 SAT.