Hey everybody,

I used to work as a retail sales manager - I had over 10 years of retail experience - but last year I got laid off due to chain-wide cutbacks. It was a blow at the time, but it's gotten worse because since then I've been unable to find meaningful work.

In the past year I've had a couple of short term bookkeeping temp jobs, but that's it.

So, I'm going to go for an MBA. At first I was thinking of a mid-tier US school like Georgetown or Boston/Carroll, but is this realistic?

I'm in my mid-30s, so going to community college to take accounting and pre-MBA classes is not really an option. Should I aim lower: Babson? Hult? Or is it worth looking internationally? I've heard that recruiting standards are less stringent in Asia, Australia, and other places where MBA programs are less desirable.

Any suggestions for this out-of-work old guy?

This is an older post, and I'm sure OP has moved on already, but it may be relevant for some people today, so I thought that I'd address it. Dealing with gaps in employment while applying to b-school can be tricky, and even trickier if you're unemployed while applying.

Basically, what I would recommend is to be as honest as possible when preparing your resume. Adcomms don't want to spend hours trying to wade through vague dates - what they want to see is clear career development, and if you can show that, than they're likely to overlook a gap. Generally, though, if there's a gap of more than two months or so, you'll probably want to address what you were doing during that time to set yourself up for the next step in your career.

I'm in my mid-30s, so going to community college to take accounting and pre-MBA classes is not really an option.