OP- take a day to mourn and then get back to us and let us know which schools you are considering.
If you only took hard classes in HS for the sake of college admissions, then you really DID mess up. Challenging yourself because that’s who you are is a life skill that will pay off for decades; doing something because other people expect it, or because it’s how you think you’re going to get your ticket punched never works out the way you think it will.
I’m curious which colleges you think are filled with dolts and losers.