Beginning the B-School Process

Hello everyone, first post here as I'm looking to get this application process started well in advance.

First I'd like to say I am interested in applying for business school for admission in either 2017 or 2018. A lot will have to do with my financial status at the time as well as my preparedness with basic knowledge. As an undergrad I majored in History & International Studies in 2010, a major with the expectation I would go back to graduate school down the line. After a yea struggling to find paid work out of college I made the decision to attend law school. It's not a decision I regret, but like so many experiences you only find out it isn't for you until you actually get there. During my time in law school I also experienced a significant personal tragedy (I don't want to elaborate on it on a public message board) and opted took a year off while deciding if I wanted to return. Needless to say it was during my leave of absence that I began to realize my passions were less towards what I could get from law and more from what I could get from business, so to speak. That's what has brought me here.

With that out of the way I want to ask some basic questions that I'm sure have been asked countless times. First, does this brief time going to law school and then withdrawing have a positive, neutral or negative effect on my b-school application? Will ad com look at it and consider my loyalty to a b-school program? It's perhaps my biggest worry, but the aforementioned tragedy in my life is something I'd be willing to discuss openly with them and I hope that would help alleviate some concerns.

As for GMAT, well, we'll get onto that when I take it likely in 2016 or very early 2017.

I finished undergrad with a 3.37 GPA, mostly bogged down by foreign language. I know that doesn't look "great" but in my majors my GPA was quite higher, in fact I had Departmental Honors in History. I hope that positive would outweigh some of the negatives of having a sub-3.5 GPA. Currently I am planning to take some courses at a local community college to fill in some gaps with math courses, all I wound up taking in college was Statistics (I got a B), introductory level business courses, and some economics courses. I'm hoping to take 2 courses a semester, including summer, so that I'll have 6 completed by next spring. With my poor grades in foreign language from undergrad would it be advised I take some foreign language classes as well during this time?

My resume/work experience is another big question mark I have. I've worked since 2004, with only a few breaks (freshman year of undergrad, my year in law school), but I am well aware nearly all of that doesn't really belong on my resume. Since 2013 I've been working in cellular, first as tech support/customer service while I sought a sales position. Currently I'm working a retail sales job, but in my full year there have moved up to being the top sales representative in the store. My manager understands I want to move into leadership/management myself and so my current projects, outside of surpassing monthly sales quotas, have me learning how to handle myself as a member of management. Where my resume is at today I know doesn't look great when held against a lot of other resumes, but given another 2-3 years where I likely move into an assistant or store manager position will it? That's my primary question. It'd be hard to leave this job because of the benefits package I get, tuition reimbursement for my community college courses, as well as having as much upward mobility as I do. If it helps, my goals in b-school are to move from the retail environment more closely into the marketing for cellular or another technology company. As a part-time job for extra money I do substitute teaching locally, ranging from one-day jobs to the occasional multi-week assignments. I plan to continue doing this work as a job in retail sales involves a number of weekends as well as weekdays off where I can fill in the time with a teaching assignment. This isn't a long term professional plan but a job I currently enjoy that provides me with some income as well as experience working with young people, something that can help on just a personal level.

Finally I have recently done volunteer work locally in a conversation partner program with ESL students. I hope and plan to squeeze more volunteer work into my schedule over the next few years, not just for helping my application but because it can be rewarding.

I thank anyone who takes the time to read this post. I'll summarize my three biggest questions currently below. 1) How does withdrawing from law school affect my application? 2) Will taking these classes at community college improve my application beyond just providing me more knowledge? and 3) Does my current line of work in retail sales and management tie in with a path towards b-school?