Post-grad feeling the tiniest bit lost

[imranq]

I finished my bachelors a 2-3 years back in mathematics and working a pretty good job in New York in the tech industry, but I am having trouble deciding what to do next!

My options are either continue down this route and become a product manager, go more heavily into software engineering through a bootcamp, or grab an MBA.

I've always had interests in math/cs, applied physics, and neuroscience and would love to go to grad school to study these full-time with passionate students and teachers, but I have limited research experience (the result of being too focused on business in college), and wouldn't know how to get references.

So far I've been trying the following approaches:
1) Self-study math, physics, cs as much as I can
2) email professors to do research in my spare time
3) do projects in my spare time to focus interest (building web apps, etc.)

Eventually I'll take the GRE (did well on the GMAT, but I don't think any MS/PhD program takes that) and start applying next year. Am I taking the right approach? Would taking a job be better?

 

[Dishsoap]

Can you tell us how you did in undergrad?

And what exactly do you want to go to grad school for? Math, CS, physics, and neuroscience and four very different fields.

 

[imranq]

I had a 3.6 gpa and 3.9 math gpa... Some leadership experiences / TA.

Post college won a 2 national tech competitions

I guess one of my problems is how to focus my interests

 

[Ben Espen]

I finished my bachelors a 2-3 years back in mathematics and working a pretty good job in New York in the tech industry, but I am having trouble deciding what to do next!

My options are either continue down this route and become a product manager, go more heavily into software engineering through a bootcamp, or grab an MBA.

I've always had interests in math/cs, applied physics, and neuroscience and would love to go to grad school to study these full-time with passionate students and teachers, but I have limited research experience (the result of being too focused on business in college), and wouldn't know how to get references.

So far I've been trying the following approaches:
1) Self-study math, physics, cs as much as I can
2) email professors to do research in my spare time
3) do projects in my spare time to focus interest (building web apps, etc.)

Eventually I'll take the GRE (did well on the GMAT, but I don't think any MS/PhD program takes that) and start applying next year. Am I taking the right approach? Would taking a job be better?

I had a 3.6 gpa and 3.9 math gpa... Some leadership experiences / TA.

Post college won a 2 national tech competitions

I guess one of my problems is how to focus my interests

I'm not sure that I can tell you what you should be interested in. However, I might pose a few questions to help you think about what you want to do:

• Are you unhappy with your current job? Or are you looking for career advancement? If the latter, then that is probably an easier question to answer.
• If you decide to leave your current job, where do you want to go? Your two basic choices are industry and academia, and then the choices go into more detail from there. There are also choices about location. Do you like where you live? Do you want to be somewhere else?
• Once you know more about the first two bullets, then you can probably narrow down what you looking into. If you have a serious mismatch between field [say Neuroscience] and location [say Omaha, NE], [I made that up, don't yell at me if there is a great neuroscience program in Omaha] then you know you need to pick something different.
• Once you have a more specific plan, then you could do things to help you achieve that goal: take the GRE, build up a portfolio of code, get an appropriate certification, or whatever the case may be.