gentlemen

Thanks for posting! As daunting as the amount of work I'm going to have to do to achieve this is, sometimes the most difficult thing is making sure I believe it's actually within my grasp. To that end it's really nice to hear from someone who succeeded in a similar situation. Regarding your advice: I had hoped to avoid paying for classes until I was actually in a degree program (supporting myself and a full time student means money is tight), but if that's what I need to do then so be it. At any rate, I'm open to any other suggestions you might have - I feel like I should be doing anything that might help my resume at all. I have a couple of other questions for anyone who might know the answers or have suggestions. First, if I'm to enroll in courses, what are the most important ones in the eyes of an admissions committee? Also more specifically, while I know that doing well in a graduate level class looks infinitely better than undergrad level, I've noticed during my math subject GRE studying that I have no background in abstract/modern algebra. Would taking an undergrad level course in that be beneficial or should I stick with grad level courses? And finally, is there any specific etiquette involved when contacting members of admissions committees at schools to which I might be interested in applying (or should I avoid it altogether)? I feel like they would know better than anyone how I could help myself, but I wouldn't want to hurt my chances at getting into their program farther down the line.

I graduated in 2010 with a BS in Mathematics from UNC - Chapel Hill. As an undergrad I lacked maturity, discpline and any sense of direction and my grades reflected that - I finished with a 3.02 overall GPA with a 2.85 in math courses. Since then I've been working to support my significant other and I as she completes her MFA. Since entering the real world I've been giving my future a good bit of thought and I've come to the conclusion that I'd really like to enter grad school in math. Between being financially responsible for someone else and having a year to realize how much I miss my math studies, I think I've developed the discipline and motivation that I lacked as an undergrad. The problem, of course, is convincing an admissions committee to let me prove it, which brings me to main purpose. What would be the best way to go about proving myself to an admissions committee? I mentioned my GPA and aside from some minor undergrad research (I wasn't published) I have no oustanding achievements to point to. My GRE scores are good; I scored 800/780 quantitative/verbal earlier this year, and I've been reviewing for most of the summer for the math subject GRE in the fall. I know I'll need to apply to master's programs rather than PhDs, but do I have a realistic chance of getting into a master's program at a place like UNC-Greensborough, for example? Or should I not even bother applying until I've taken some courses outside of a degree program and done well in them?