u/Any-Acanthisitta7878

time to learn sign language ig LMAO (i’ve known abt this for like six months. i've just officially been told by a doctor now)

alright, before i go into more detail, just know i’m in this situation because i got sick. really sick. the kind of sick that brings your gpa from a 4.0 to a 2.8 in a year. it has been a rough journey and my grades and current academic record reflects that.

so, i'm graduating this fall with an undergraduate degree in math and i'm not sure what to do. the school i’m going to right now isn’t even third rate for math. like, theres no phd program, most upper level math classes only happen once a year, if not every other year, and we’re required a minor to even be able to get 120 hours with this degree (which, considering it’s my third college and i was initially trying to be a teacher before i got sucked into math, means i’m graduating with more than 20 extra hours! yay!). this is all very researchable, so any grad school i apply to will know this about me. i also haven’t taken the gre yet (stupid, i know). i’m planning to this fall, but i don’t know any resources to help study, and i’m honestly not the best test taker. however, one thing i'm good at is proofs. like. think proving a formula my professor didn’t know my first semester in a proof class (abstract algebra, because admin won’t even listen to the professors and make discrete a prerequisite) and then her forgetting about it bc of all the other nonsense i’ve managed to come up with since then sort of good (this all happened last semester). and like. try and publish, i know. even if the formula’s terrible, if no one else has got it, it looks pretty good for an undergrad. but the guy i’m working for currently is very vocally pro ai, especially when it comes to proof writing, and i really, really don’t want to publish anything where future schools might be able to look into him and think that’s how i got my proofs. and to be clear, i don’t dislike this guy and i‘d rather not quit (in part bc the only other person i might be able to work for doesn’t have any spots available for undergrads and also cause i do like the dude and what he’s researching and he’s also 100% willing to let me just do whatever research i want while i'm not working on his stuff and still get paid, so it rlly is a good gig. i’m just nervous abt how it’ll reflect on me in the future). i’d also like for anyone looking into me to be aware that i'm able to come up with these things on my own and not cause a machine told me. so. yay. love that.

however! in all this, there is a silver lining. multiple, actually, because despite all my complaining, i really do like it here. it’s non competitive (though from previous experiences i know i‘m able to handle competitive environments, so i‘m not worried about having to do it in the future), i fit in here cause everyone doing a math degree here has their own issues, and since i’m no longer super sick, i actually have friends here. there is also the professor i talked abt earlier who helped me w my formula thing and a lot of other stuff since (number theory. it’s all just number theory all the way down. which is great, cause she‘s done some research in that field and i really want to go into it, even if it’s unlikely i’ll be able to). because of her, i was convinced for a while that i would do my masters here, because hey, i’ve managed to get a few pretty good jobs while here, and there’s this professor willing to look at my stuff and give actual critiques while keeping in mind that i‘m actually pretty new to this, which a lot of ppl (boss included) seem to forget. she’s also mentioned being happy to work w me on my thesis for my masters, so i know that would continue as a graduate student. i’ve also already taken 9 hours of graduate courses and am lined up to take three more this summer. the issue is, 1) i don’t want where i got my masters from to be weighing me down when i go find a phd program, 2) all the graduate classes are bracketed with undergraduate courses, which i don‘t love, 3) i know for a fact i’m going to get some really good recommendation letters for wherever i’m going, so i don’t have to worry about that when applying, and 4) every other professor just. treats me weird? and tend to forget that i just started on this stuff? (i come across as really smart, sometimes disingenuously and sometimes to my detriment cause uh. man. idk how to tell u this but i almost flunked out of college.) the positives, though, are 1) continuing to work w said professor, 2) more time to get my gpa up, 3) i’ve already been accepted into the masters program, 4) i’d have more time to sort out the gre stuff, 5) i‘d have more time to actually try and publish stuff, and 6) i have three jobs here already and i’m not looking to lose any of them. just. what do you guys suggest? i have some time before i have to start applying places, even if it isn’t a lot, and i‘m going to try and get some stuff published this summer. i’m also going to schedule my gre as soon as that opens for the 2026-2027 year, so that hopefully should help. any advice would be appreciate, though, as i have no clue what to do besides that stuff.