I didn't even think about an MBA before end August 2007. I still remember how I took my decision - a friend told me over lunch that he had been accepted for an LLM in the US and told me that I should think about an MBA; I can still remember me thinking: "Hey, that's actually not a bad idea"
So from September 2007 till December 2007 I selected a couple of schools, gathered a lot of info, contacted alumni, went to a couple of meetings, took the TOEFL (October 2007), the GMAT (December 2007) and wrote the essays (I started in December). So basically I reoriented my life in 4 months. It's funny when I think about it: if I didn't have lunch with that friend I would have never thought about doing an MBA (I'm 30 now, making me and old applicant). I guess it's true when they say that it's all about seizing opportunities in life...