What would you do in my situation?

Sappy post incoming. Sorry in advance.

I work for a bulge bracket in commercial banking. I took the job because it was a way to get my foot in the door in banking/finance after working for a fintech. In doing so, I moved really far away from family and friends, and I discovered a few months into it that I didn’t want to live in the location I lived in.
 

I’ve been wanting to move for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because my parents are simply not doing well. For about a year now I’ve been trying to land a move back home to chicago. I’ve tried applying for internal roles, lateral moves into commercial banks at smaller and similar sized banks, applying into other entry level roles beyond CB (s&t, ER, etc) but I’m having zero luck. 
 

(Now for the cringe part) Its had a pretty detrimental affect on my mental health. I feel like I’m trapped in a city I hate meanwhile missing out on some precious years with family. This has lead to some not so great days, and I feel like I’m kinda putting my life on pause for this. All I can think about is landing a job back home, and it’s definitely affecting my daily life. It’s gotten to a point where I’m tempted to enroll in a masters program back home that I know I can get into just to have an excuse to be back. 
 

I’m having a hard time deciding what to do. I want to be home, but I simply can’t afford to put my career aside to just up and leave. It needs to be for a job that I know can keep me in the mix for a career path that I’m happy with. I know that sounds like I’m asking for a lot, but financially I just need it. Getting a masters in say finance or something would give me the excuse to move home and possibly let me jump back into my career once it’s done, but I wouldn’t be getting into elite programs due to my background/lack of GMAT score. I worry that I’ll handicap myself if I take the school route to be home, only to be jobless at the end of it with no clearer path to a career.

i know the answer is to just keep applying or take the GMAT and get into a good program that can take me home, but im feeling against the clock here. I was hoping a year ago to be home before 2024, and I’m just losing patience. Anxiety is eating me alive.

bla bla bla boring shit over. Wwyd?