I always appreciate when someone leaves the well-defined path and does something different, such as you self-studying Math and getting enrolled in a Masters program.

I am just curious about your process of actually joining the masters program. They usually require 2-3 letters of recommendation etc. How did you handle such requirements?

> Second, classroom lectures mainly act as a structured table-of-contents for working through various textbooks.

On a side note, actually studying math as an undergrad, I can't stress enough how much I agree with this, especially in a remote setup.