I am an aspiring quant who is feeling a little lost and is seeking advice

First of all, thank you for reading this. This is my first post, but I've been a long-time lurker here. Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Before I ask for advice, let me give you some background. I recently graduated with a B.A. in Math and Economics from a large state school on the east coast. I knew I wanted to be a quant after I took a math finance course for undergrads in my sophomore year and did well. In the following years, I completed all the prerequisite courses for the masters program in quant finance at my school.

Unfortunately, there are now a few things holding me back. I lost my way in my second and third years, got very poor grades, and gathered no work experience. After maintaining a 4.0 in my senior year, my GPA upon graduating was a 3.35 / 4.00.

At this point, I am utterly confused about what I should do. My plan is to apply for masters programs for the Fall 2014 semester. Before that, I intend to complete the online certification C++ offered through QuantNet. I took the GRE and received a perfect score on the quant section.

My main concern is related to my work experience. I recently accepted a job as a statistical (SAS) programmer for a clinical data management company, just to avoid remaining idle after college. My true intention was to gain experience that would be relevant to my goal of being a quant. My question is: what kind of job would best complement that goal, given my qualifications, and what is the best way to pursue those kinds of jobs?