Peculiar case: Admissions and Health

[grapeabelian]

Hey everyone,

Here's my story, I'll try to keep it short.

During the fall of my sophomore year as an undergrad, I had a brain aneurysm (happy to be alive and well now ). For whatever reason (maybe like football players with concussions), I was plagued with very serious depression after this event in addition to lingering affects that directly altered my ability to complete my studies. My grades suffered, and I ended up graduating with a 3.02 GPA overall and a 2.86 GPA within the mathematics major (I was also a physics major). Nonetheless, I was selected to my university's Putnam team due to my known abilities amongst my peers (went to a LAC typically ranked approx. 30th out of US LAC's). After graduating in May 2014 without taking any time off to focus on my health (really bad idea), I decided to move to Hawaii to do just that (really, really awesome idea, did a lot of tutoring work there, too). A year and a half later, I am a new person: happier and healthier than ever. Now I want to pick up where I left off, considering it has been my life goal to be a math professor.

All you ever see on this site are application profiles of people with GPA's > 3.5 and it makes me feel like I don't stand a chance at getting into anywhere, although my plan is to do very well in a Masters program to prove myself worthy of more elite PhD programs. I plan on concisely describing my health issue in my personal statements for applications, but not making it some kind of sob story.

Do you think that I stand a chance at getting into Group II and Group III schools for a Masters (where I'm aiming)?

For the sake of additional information, here's a list of the math and physics courses I have taken:
MATH-Calc2, Calc3, DiffEq, Linear Algebra, Intro to advanced mathematics (Logic, sets, stuff like sequences/functions, proof writing), Real Analysis 1, Real Analysis 2, Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology, Combinatorics, Probability

PHYS-Classical Physics (mechanics, thermo, basic relativity), Modern Physics (E&M, Waves, basic Quantum physics), Classical Mechanics, Wave Mechanics/Quantum Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Advanced Quantum Mechanics and Elementary Particle Physics, Senior Lab (five big experiments), Biophysics

I look forward to whatever feedback you guys have.

[rpought]

Quick answer: a masters might be a good option.

Email the schools you might apply to to see what they say.

[MathCat]

I think you'll get more replies if you post this on the gradcafe forum.

[joga]

depends if you want a research career in math. I am pretty sure you have a very good chance at NYU-Math masters. there won't be funding. Also if you pass their qualifiers early enough you have a chance at their phd. but you have to work hard. also if you work hard at NYU you have a good chance at other schools.