Considering career track in business

First off I'd like to say that, being new to the MBA idea and graduating last year, that I'm trying hard to understand the process and what an MBA actually "is", per say. Up until this month I was dead set on attending law school, but the current collapse of the system and the complete saturation of the market makes it a losing bet for 90% of the potential J.D.'s. Like a lot of recent grad's I am still weighing my options but the clock of life is ticking and I don't want to be 30 years old and still directionless in life. My goal was to acquire a J.D. and work for a firm that dealt mostly with corporate matters, gain some experience under my belt, then move on to be an in-house counsel for a larger corporation (preferably something industrial, like auto/steel/mass transport). I liked the idea of negotiations and contracts, as well as doing business on a large scale in general.

I was the typical college student who was either directionless half of the time or being influenced by illusions of grandeur ($$$ in pharmacy and law), but I think most of us know about the follies of the education system in America. I was in chemistry for two years but absolutely hated my situation (major and school location) and did absolutely poorly, transferred to a community college for two years then transferred to Temple University in 2008 in the History B.A. program with a minor in English, finally graduating in 2010. I was still just "blah" about the idea of college and basically just drudged through it, much to my dismay now, and graduated with a 3.14 GPA (cumulative UGPA from all schools is a 2.84). Took the LSAT last December and did a lot worse than I expected (due to practice test trends) and scored a 161. I suppose it came as a blessing in disguise, if I can call it that. I held off on the idea of law school and now it seems the whole venture is basically trying to board a sinking ship.

Now that I've decided not to go, I have lost a bit of direction in my education but it brought a bit of clarity in what I want from a career. Throughout school I've always paid attention to big ideas and how they interacted with different situations and possible outcomes, but then again it doesn't mean that I ignored small details. I always liked the idea of industry as I am a car enthusiast and was infatuated with literature on industry (Henry Ford, railroads, and even as cliche as Atlas Shrugged). I suppose that what I was really looking for in my law career was to be closer to business, and the idea of learning about business strategy seems very appealing at the moment.


I do have a few questions about the MBA in general as well as work experience:

What main factors are considered in attending a top MBA school?

For a career in industrial strategy, what "experience" (or career choice) would be beneficial to the program as well as future career prospects?

Does the GMAT score "expire"? i.e. would it be more beneficial to take it now when I have more time to study or years down the road?

I had more questions but the rant I just went on threw me off track, so I'll probably be asking a few more as the thread progresses. Thanks very much in advance for any insight and time.