Coming Back to a PhD? Some advice, please.

[graze512]

Hi, I have been pondering some kind of PhD program in mathematics, and I have a couple questions. So, first, knowing my background might be nice. I graduated from a small, mid-level liberal arts college with a major in philosophy and minors in math/physics. Then, for whatever reason, I went to another year of undergrad at a low/mid-level state school, where I took a bunch of random classes, including enough math to have ~33 hours. Originally, I was going to go to go to graduate school in philosophy. I got into a relatively great terminal M.A. program, but decided not to go that track, and ended up starting into a M.A. program for IT, which thus far I have enjoyed quite a bit. I'm about halfway through this program, and it's not too challenging, but I am definitely going to finish it; also, classes are only offered at night. I currently work as a tutor and substitute teacher, which makes enough money for me, so my days are open a bit.

To get down to it, I am curious if I could get into a mid-level PhD program and whether or not I could get funding of any kind from such an institution. My stats are essentially, ~33 hours in mathematics (most of the essentials accounted for), Overall GPA: ~3.7, Math GPA: ~3.25, GRE: Quant 750, Verbal 580, and if it counts for anything I spent a semester at Oxford studying the philosophy of mathematics.

I didn't really try that hard through the good portion of my college career. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I really started caring, even though I have always loved school, I just didn't put that much into it. Anyway, I love teaching and I love math, and would be interested in trying to get into a PhD program, as a supplement to my IT/Philosophy knowledge, and in case I would like to teach later in my life. Does this sound feasible as long as I am not trying to get into top-tier schools?

[emmm]

What would you want to study? One of my favorite math teachers had a PhD in Math Education. Programs like that would, I think, be easier to get into than pure math or applied math PhD programs. Also what level do you want to teach? Teaching HS or CC would not require as "high-powered" a degree as teaching at the Uni level.

[graze512]

Well, I was considering doing something interdisciplinary between philosophy/mathematics/CS like set theory and logic. I wouldn't really like a heavily applied math program, I am much closer to pure maths. Some something fairly pure, probably; and I figure if I go interdisciplinary, it might actually help my chances at getting in somewhere.