Hoping @OuterProduct saw this regarding Tulsa and NMF full ride:
Poster should contact me if interested. I would make an exception for the poster.
This refers to an “exception” because the offer is officially closed.
Also
At Tulsa, this year, probably 20% plus will be NMF in our freshmen class.
nvm
This it an older analysis, but nonetheless it offers some academic context for schools that previously may have been unfamiliar to you, such as the University of Tulsa (tied at #88):
However, for Tulsa to be appropriate for you, it would need to offer, as has been discussed up-topic, sufficient mathematics courses to suit your level.
No gap year! Math minds do their best work when they are young, so dont waste a year. Start at the state college or at one of the full ride NMF schools, if that works for you. Do clep for anything you can at that school. I suspect WSU with all the DE credits and CLEP is your best option. Realize that the faculty will be better than the students. They can and will teach you everything you want, one on one, as independent studies. You could be out in 2 yrs, and with their recommendations, be at a top U for your PhD in two yrs or even less from now. Your goal is becoming a very young PhD student at a top institution as quickly as possible. You should do very well on grad school acceptances.
This ^^^
I think your three years of science hurt you. Georgia Tech requires as a minimum academic standard for accepted applicants to take four years of science. This is a standard set by the state of Georgia board of regents, which governs all public colleges and universities in Georgia. It is nonnegotiable. This is a common college requirement and wouldn’t be surprised if that was the problem other places as well.
Perhaps I missed it somewhere, but were your college classes taken as official DE classes through your high school and not directly with WSU?
It was your list and not your lack of academic accomplishments. Every college besides WSU was a “wish” (when it is a “high reach” for even the top 1% of students in the country, I call it a “wish” as it’s a total crap shoot if you will get in). The thing is, the colleges you listed can fill a class with kids with the same accomplishments you have. So then, they look at the non-academics and you have no way of knowing what that is. Could be they wanted to round out other majors, needed more “artsy” kids, wanted kids that like to lead clubs, or any other imbalance they were trying to correct. The only standout on your list was Reed and my guess is that they really look for kids that are broad where you tended to be very deep.
I’d upgrade that list.
University of Colorado|
Ohio State
University of Minnesota
RPI
WPI
University of Rochester
All great schools for math, but with realistic acceptance rates and good merit for strong students.
I will also add that I was shocked at the kids we know that were accepted to Northeastern, Duke, Emory, and similar schools this year (Tulane, Cornell, etc). Duke was all athletic recruits (with stats that never would have gotten them in otherwise). Northwestern and Emory were well-rounded student-athletes that weren’t continuing in college and had lower stats than expected (but still very, very good. Just not perfect.) and no real spikes. They were, however, really nice kids that did lots of exploring, were well-regarded by their peers, and found a lot of joy in a new activity they found in high school that they thought would lead to a fulfilling career path. (For Northeastern, they were also willing to accept satellite campuses for the first year). The activities they were in probably showed that they were good collaborators and leaders. They also happened to go to private schools with good college counseling, so perhaps it was well-crafted essays and marketing that got them in.
WSU is a solid option for you. Look into the honors college but if you’re too late or it isn’t appealing, just make sure you’re open to developing relationships with classmates, esp. in your math classes.
You’ll have the opportunity to explore dozens of subjects that your HS didn’t offer while continuing to develop your math brain. You’ll be living away from home for the first time, in a college town with social and recreational opportunities. And there’s a good chance you’ll find some like-minded students to hang out with. That’s a lot of positive personal, social, intellectual development.
I wouldn’t dwell on not being admitted to other places. Maybe your list could have been a bit different or maybe there’s something in your app-course selection, etc.—that just wasn’t going to fit well at any of those schools. Doesn’t mean you necessarily did something wrong. and in the end, who cares? You have a good, affordable option at a well respected school that can help you progress. Be happy about it.
Yes! @OuterProduct , this is the president of the University of Tulsa who is offering to talk with you directly about the possibility of your enrolling there! I would definitely reach out to him to see if Tulsa might be a good fit for you!! Good luck!
Edited to say, that since it’s by email, if you are interested, don’t wait until Monday, which will be May 1. He may or may not respond on the weekend, but it doesn’t hurt to try.
I think an issue with affordability may be that upthread he mentioned that his parents are divorced and Dad will not contribute.
If he’s applying to CSS schools, they simply won’t be affordable when they’re counting the income of both parents yet only mom is contributing.
I’m not sure what you mean by “official DE classes,” but they weren’t taught in my high school if that’s what you mean. My school has an official arrangement with WSU that allows students to take classes there and have the school district pay for it, but I’m taking the courses on the WSU campus, with WSU college students. So there’s an official arrangement, but not of the most common type.
Ooh. Darn, that makes sense. If I’d realized I might’ve taken another high school physics class, although it wouldn’t have been AP because it isn’t offered. As I’ve mentioned previously, I was planning on taking a college physics class, but when that didn’t work out I instead took another college math class, and was in some ways kind of exited about the situation, because it meant I could take another math class (3 at once last semester). Because the class I took (Mathematical Methods in the Natural Sciences) was about applied math techniques, and a lot of them were being used in the context of scientific modeling (ecological modeling in particular), my school decided it counted as the last science credit I needed for graduation, but colleges probably wouldn’t.
Wow. That’s impressive. My daughter gets giddy when she runs into her President on campus.
@OuterProduct in this case you really need to reach out. That’s crazy access right to the top of a major institution.
My thought about graduating early was primarily because you seemed to want to be at a school other than WSU and I was suggesting a way to get you there soonish.
That said, my child selected a safety school by choice (similar to WSU) and had enough credits to have junior class standing as a freshman. Rather than graduate early, she is earning dual degrees in two different majors, doing an honors thesis, and getting a minor and additional professional certification — all expected within four years. An excellent alternative kind of path if it appeals to you.
I am in contact with the president of Tulsa. Just to put it out there so people don’t wonder.
So glad to hear that! It may or may not work out for you, but I’m so glad you took the initiative to reach out. 
WSU will work out just fine. There is nothing wrong with being a big fish in a small pond. All it means is more opportunities for you. Just make sure you take full advantage of all they offer
Lastly, check MathematicsGRE to get a better idea about applying for REUs and graduate schools.
https://mathematicsgre.com/
Oh yes, I’m quite sure I’d find Putnam challenging. I’m very advanced with my study of math, but I don’t really feel all that smart. I miss obvious things all the time, and the questions on Putnam are far from obvious. Good advice in general!
I’m in contact with Tulsa now to see if the math offerings there would work, but if they don’t, this thread has definitely provided a lot of advice and encouragement about how to make my WSU experience great.
Making this post, I really hadn’t expected to receive so much encouragement, help, and great advice from random strangers on the internet. Thanks to everybody on this thread for all the help! I don’t know how things will work out, but it’s a lot less bleak than my disappointment with the results would indicate.
Here my 2 cents. As a person with BS in Math from GaTech (many years ago but little changed in terms of outcome), I would suggest stop looking. Go to your acceptance and graduate early with no worry about money. You can’t do anything with BS in Math (except Statistics). You need a graduate degree in something.
You can (but do not need to take graduate classes, I am not sure they would transfer. ).
I would do research (if you can do something with thesis or publication would be great), get great GPA and apply widely to grad school. You will be fine. Running around now for some questionable programs or LACS is too late. Yes you can potentially get to better schools with gap year, but they will not necessarily create advantage. They may not take your credits and you will loose years and they can be challenging to pay for…
Good luck.