/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.2267665]

Hello, /sci/borgs. I'm an undergraduate mathematics student who is just now crawling out of a very, very long depression. Needless to say, my grades and coursework suffered. But I changed that earlier this year, and now am confident I'll graduate soon. When I first went to college, I had doctoral aspirations. I gave up on that after flunking out of the first college and struggling in the (much less prestigious) second college. But now I feel energized again.

I want to receive a doctorate in mathematics.

But I've run across a problem: I thought that if I ever went to graduate school, I'd go back to the original college (UMBC). But now I've found that they only offer doctorates in applied mathematics and statistics. Apparently they're geared more toward government, industrial, or scientific (not math) research positions. So I need help and advice on good graduate schools for me. Here's what I'm working with (and I know, it's mostly shit, but I'm determined to get that fucking doctorate):
1) My GPA is 2.4. I have at most two more semesters to go. So it won't get that much better.
2) I'm 25. I don't know if that matters, but yeah.
3) I don't have any money saved right now, so I need a school with good financial aid.
4) I'm working with my professors on something I hope to soon have published. It's based on something I researched on my own, so I'm not just tagging my name onto a teacher's stuff.
5) I live in Pennsylvania right now.

Also, any tactics to get myself into graduate school. I already know that (hopefully) soon-to-be published article will look good, and I'm willing to even take graduate level courses without enrolling in the doctoral program (as a part-time student) to show that I can hold my own. So where do I look?

[Anonymous No.2267705]

Let's hope you know your shit and can ace the GRE and have a well known professor write a great letter for you.

[Anonymous No.2267725]

>>2267705
This and a Putnam Fellowship if you are fucking brilliant.