99.9% of the reason I am considering the masters is because I figure it fills a gap in my resume and makes me eligible to far more internships.

I don't really want to do data science. I sort've drifted towards it because my major was computational math and it was such a hot field (still is).

I don't think that I missed that job because of the pay or experience on my resume. I had a bit of an anxiety attack during my final interview of the onsite. It isn't the first company I lost out on due to last second freeze ups either sadly.

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that I carry on working on side projects and applying to jobs. I am fortunate enough to be able to survive doing this, but my feeling is that the longer I remain the fewer callbacks I will get due to the gap. Do you disagree or is there some way I can mitigate that effect?