2019 Stats profile eval - where should I go?

[badstats]

Undergrad Institution: UC San Diego
Major: Probability and Statistics
GPA: 3.52 (Overall) 3.4 (Math)

Type of Student: Domestic Biracial Male (White/Hispanic). Non-traditional, took my first pre-calculus and (elementary) statistics class when I was 24 years old at a community college. I'm 27 now.

Courses/ Background:

Calculus 1-3 (A or A-), Probability Theory (B), Stochastic Processes 1 (B+), Real Analysis 1-3 (B, A-, B-), Mathematical Statistics 1&2 (A-), Data Analysis and Inference (A+), Abstract Algebra (B), Linear Algebra (B), Applied Linear Algebra (A-), Mathematical Reasoning (A), Game Theory (B+)

 

I've also taken a lot of chemistry courses, including the entire Ochem series (an honors course actually - I did well: A's)

 

Next Quarter I will be in:

Quantitative: Graduate level Mathematical Statistics 1, Microeconomics 1, Graduate level Probability Theory 1 (hopefully taking the entire sequence of these classes in Fall, Winter, Spring quarters). I had a bit of a rough transition in upper division math, but I've done well enough to get into some graduate courses for the Fall, and I'm hoping to "prove" myself there. But I will not have grades by the time I apply most likely, as the quarter ends right around application deadlines. I am also going to have to take a Time Series class to graduate.

 

I still need to take a couple basic CS courses, and I'm planning on taking some mircoeconomics to open up doors to graduate schools in economics.

 

GRE: Have not taken yet (Should I take math subject?)

 

Research Experience: Summer reading/research with statistics professor starting in about a week. Unsure of content, was told that it's going to be going through research papers. Will last until about September (but may continue if goes well). I'm hoping to learn more about predictive modeling (I learned a little Lasso and Ridge Regression for my Data Analysis course and explored it further for our final project. Very cool stuff. I also taught myself a little time series analysis).
 

Letters of Rec:  3 letters, One from my real analysis professor (who taught me in Mathematical Reasoning course, and Real Analysis 1&2, but not 3), one from a statistics professor, whom I will be working with this summer, and one from another statistics professor who is a big name in his field.

 

I am not sure what the quality of the letters will be. I am close with all 3 professors, and we have all spoken about graduate school. I think they like me, and we are certainly friendly.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List/Provost Honors. Don't think it counts or matters, but I was in an honors ochem series and did well.

 

Schools: My ultimate goal is to acquire a PhD. I've been told that I am not strong enough to go on to good PhD program (say top 30) with my current grades, but that my somewhat unusual background might be a bonus (more below). My stats professors told me to get into the best masters program that I can and show that I can do good work, and then I might have a shot at a decent PhD, but I really am not sure where I stand at the moment and where I should apply. I also want to apply to some PhD programs as "reach schools".

 

I have a good chance of staying on at my institution for a masters in statistics (and possibly a PhD if I do well enough), but I want to branch out if at all possible. I was also going to apply to all the other UCs (masters and/or PhDs) and apply to some higher tier schools for a masters.

 

Background: Non-traditional student, so I didn't go to a 4 year school out of high school. I did about a year of community college when I was 18, dropped out (I failed a pre-calculus class -- stopped going to lectures about a week in), then did theater for several years until I was about 22. Then moved to the bay area and I worked in grocery stores and a bar until I went back to community college at about 24 (I stopped working at this point). I retook pre-calculus, some elementary statistics, got As, along with some other classes, and applied to UC San Diego as a pre-med student. I took the entire O-chem series, including an honors course and did pretty well until I decided to pursue math, and then eventually gravitated to statistics when I realized that I didn't like Abstract Algebra at all. I've sort've been all over the place, but I've been pretty dedicated to my studies the past three years, starting when I went back to school at 24. I'm white and Hispanic, as my mother is a Hispanic immigrant, but my father is a white american. Ironically, my mother has a masters degree but my father never completed college.

 

Anyway, I sort of hope I haven't given so much information as to be identified IRL, but this is what I'm working with. Do I have a shot at any decent programs?