hubris

Not at the MS level. If you are coming out of a PhD program, then it might be a conversation point.

Calculus (really) and algebra.

My two cents: there is no reason to keep that low of a GRE score given the amount of time you have. Speed and accuracy can easily be built up and so will your prospects.

Hopefully your worries turn out to be nothing more than that. There was (is? I don't really keep up with the forum anymore) a member on the coffee geek website that was an older student in a PhD program at UChic with cancer. Seemed to be generally in good spirits, but this all mediated via the web.

Schaum's series, lecture notes, and one of the mathematical methods for physics books should help you out.

Yes, I think you need to increase your general GRE. Quant strikes me as too low and you can easily increase it. Of course, keep your salt shaker near by.

Pump up the GRE scores and you should be game.

Stillwater is a college town, but a really small one. Basically you can drive around the entire town in 15 minutes. Not many coffee shops (two come to mind) and bookstores (two?), environment is mellow. Weather can be pretty drastic, ice and snow, and high 90s. Not a bad place to study, but fairly limited in offerings.

Drill and skill (on the cheap) : Schaum's outlines will have plenty of what you are looking for.

I have visited Columbia a couple of times, so keep that in mind. Seems to be a typical college town, in that there is a bus system and a large bike track system. I think it could be done, but YMMV.

Ha! That is true to an extent.

Not to sure about the applied aspect, but UW's programs is stellar.

Assuming you mean industry, you have nothing to worry about.

Possible, sure. Sensible, not so much.

Echoing the Prob recommendation esp since you are paying for these courses. A non-engineering LA course is likely to not be useful to you.

Looks like you have a healthy range of interests and you can always question your sanity and take AG later.

To iterate the above, you need to develop your foundations. Go to a CC or local university and finish up the basics. A MS might let you come in and start from the ground up, but you are behind second semester engineering students, and we all know how much math they know Just a bit of time and are you there.

As for burning bridges, yeah that might be an issue if you go back into the same area of study or a closely related one. Outside of that, you can use the cloistered nature of disciplines to your advantage here. Keep in mind whatever your pick ,life will go on and you will be fine after a bit. So, step back and figure out what you want and then do it. All the best.

I hear you on the self-study, but you need to get other people to vouch for you for that to mean something. Surely you can hook a prof into a self-study, or try to put together a paper for a college journal. I have my own Achilles heel in a different topic, but you have to put it out there to get the needed "street cred". Good luck ,you still have sometime.

The usual blind-leading- the-blind caveat applies here. Anyway, the late bloomer thing is not uncommon. Your issue is that you have fallen in love with a school and topic after merely one class. So, you are likely to make sub-optimal decisions. Another thing is that your self-study, while cool, means nothing unless you can translate it into something "objective". In this case the Math Subject exam would work. Outside of that, don't worry about your past (in fact stop thinking about it and don't bring it up) and strengthen your application via recs and course work. Going for the easy in MA might be for the best. Endowments are not so good right now (I was told by more than one place I applied to that they could not give me $ for the first year since funding was down). Lastly, tenure is a terrible long shot and since you seem to be inclined to teach yourself...going it alone might be another option to think about.

Playing with fire there. I think you know the answer to the question. It might be possible to get recommendations, but you would placing yourself in an awkward situation. Also, there is no guarantee that you would get accepted next year. So you have a huge risk there. Let go....you will be happier if you do.

If you want to trade (I assume equities), then get a job as a trader assistant to learn the ropes (to learn stuff while getting coffee), then either get promoted to a book after a few years, or get a MBA then get a book. Being overly quantitative will make it easier to get pushed into the back-office risk management abyss, which is exceedingly hard to overcome once that is on your resume. However, the MA in econ should be fine. Don't go overboard on creds.

A few, perhaps well earned caveats: 1) when computer scientists talk of topology it is often very different than what we study with mathematicians; 2) what makes a MS student is a lot different than what makes a PhD student. I view these as two distinct creatures. That said if you can express yourself and happen to be a US citizen, then you will do well. Still too early to worry about particulars.

Relax and dress as you normally would. Expect orientation to be a basic info session with maybe a bit more detail on how things work in your department. There might be some people attempting to "flex", but don't waste your time worrying about this.