I am in a moderately better place now in terms of my illness, the meds I am on have really been helping and I feel stronger than I have in the past few years. In slowly emerging from depression, I have been thinking a lot about my career-life and I have decided to apply to graduate school in an area where I have always had a lot of interest. I am excited but also terrified.
In terms of the application process, I think I will be moderately strong in the essay, the interview, my grades were pretty good etc.
However, due to the fallout of mental illness I have skipped around a lot in jobs with many gaps in my resume and short periods of work (6 months here, one year here, one year there) and I have never worked in the area for which I am going to school (even at the most basic level). I mean, that's why I want to attend school for it. Most of my work has been in retail. Although I do have one boss that I really got along with and I can ask him (I worked there for five years), I also have been bugging him for references as I have gone in and out of jobs. I hope he won't feel exasperated by me. Maybe I should go see him in person? Also, this boss I worked for was a retail job, so is it really worth it? I can use old teachers, but my undergraduate degree happened over 10 years ago! Will they even remember me? After that (more recently) I did take 2 courses at a local community college and really got along with professor there, a great teacher, but I only knew him for a year. Will this higher tier school frown on a reference from community college?
This part I hate. I hate asking for this type of stuff from people. All in all I'm a good person, I didn't have any bad work habits or anything, but I also didn't do one thing for very long and I don't imagine people really remember me.
I need three letters. Ugh. How will I do this? Any advice or experience in the matter would be terrific.
Thanks all...