NBR: Grad school question

MrsHughesNC

In my constant state of career related soul-searching, I am once again (only semi-seriously at this point) toying with the idea of grad school. In a couple of the programs I've looked at, among the application requirements is academic letters of recommendation.

This might be a stupid question, but how would one go about getting these? I graduated from undergrad 11 years ago, and have not kept in touch with any of my professors, and honestly, don't even remember most of their names. I could get plenty of professional recommendations, but I'm drawing a blank about who I'd ask for academic ones. And the program I'm currently looking at requires 3. I never really had relationships with any of my professors, teaching assistants, etc. I just kind of showed up for class and flew under the radar. I assure you none of them would remember me if I were to contact them.

I'll be honest that I just kind of floated through college, without much dedication or ambition, and pretty much just picked a major and stuck with it--all of which I really regret now. I finished in 4 years, but was a pretty medicore B-C student (did way better in my Junior/Senior years, but overall, my transcript is not especially impressive). My cumulative GPA isn't even a 3.0, which many programs also ask for.

ETA: Does a substandard undergrad GPA typically mean you're ineligble for grad school? I'm sure some programs are more competitive than others. Can you "make up for that" with decent scores on the GRE? Obviously, I need to research all of this more. But I just wonder, do I even have a shot?

This makes me feel like I shouldn't even bother pursuing the idea. Ugh. This is depressing. I plan to encourage Holly to make the most of her college experience, not just attend and graduate.