[DoritoChef]

P.S. I specifically underline references and research experience because that's where it appears you'd be weakest at the moment. Getting a 4.0 GPA in your grad school coursework (which is online, I presume) says a lot more about your organizational skills (which must be really good!) than your ability to research. Getting someone with a PhD to write "This person is capable of doing good research and I've seen it with my own two eyes" is probably one of the best things you can get on a recommendation letter to a PhD program, which is far more valuable than "this person did well in my class" (see: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c...)

[hsikka]

This is enormously helpful, thank you! I'll look into getting my hands dirty with entry level research as fast as possible