Doesn't seem like a bad deal to me, as long as I can get in. I got all my life. Those classes would be way easier anyways the second time around.
So I'm going to work, pay off the debt (don't have much) and save up some money, then go back for a MS. Then I'll aim for a PhD from there.
Lol yeah, I can get quite dramatic sometimes.
By the top schools I did mean the top publics as well like Berkeley or Illinois.
That's a good point. Gotta think forward. So maybe a Master's is a better stepping stone.
I have good research and recommendations, and will probably have a good PGRE as well (at least according to what my practice exams have told me), but my GPA is not that great, at a 3.4. I know that the GPA alone makes me uncompetitive for the top schools. I'm not sure if that would be made up...