How valuable is an internship?

Hello,

I am a 28 year old prospective MBA candidate, currently residing in Chicago. In December, I will have had 5 years of work experience post college, all in commercial banking / lending. I graduated in December of 2004, majoring in English, and took about a year off before starting work, so I'm slightly older than the average full time mba candidate but have slightly less work experience than the average part time mba candidate. Post MBA, I'm looking to get as far away from commerical banking as possible. I've taken the GMAT 4 times but unfortunately, I have not secured a high enough score to give me a realistic shot at the top programs, and while I will not rule out taking it once more, (highest score 660,) I think I've reached my breaking point. (My GPA is also pretty low at 2.7) So now I'm weighing going part time at some of the top programs, specifically Ross, McCombs, or Marshall, or going full time at "less prestigious" schools such as Indiana, Vanderbilt, or Boston College.

In general, the glaring difference between a full time vs. part time mba program seems to be the oppurtunity to do an internship. For me, this would be extremely helpful as I can't point to anything similar on my resume, nor do I know how I would get this expereience in a part time mba program. I know at Ross, part time students take the same classes as full time students and in some cases are in the same classes. PT students also have the same access to the career center and on campus recruiting. At the end of the day, upon graduation the MBA degree reads University of Michigan, whether its done through the part time or full time program. Yet, the lack of an internship really concerns me.

My question is how valuable / neccessary is that internship experience in terms of obtaining employment post MBA? As I mentioned above, I do not plan on continuing on with the same company. If I were to go part time, I would most likely be working part time as well, and fortunately I have some connections in the Ann Arbor area that will help me in this regard. Again, this would still only be temporary as my ultimate goal is to secure a job in the New York area where I am originally from. (I know part time students are expected to work full time, but as far I'm concerened, they can go to hell. I would much rather finish in say 2.5 years working part time as opposed to 4-5 years working full time.) How vital was that internship for full time mba students post MBA?