When I was in school it was consulting or bust, so bigger firms like them young, but I've noticed mid size firms take the work experience approach. I would say you should be fine as long as you steer clear of banking or finance like you said. I was too old at 25 when I was applying and I had two internships under my belt! The same can go with the big name consulting firms; Mckinsey, Booz, etc. 

Just get the MBA at your local flagship and go for consulting. You seem to have ample work experience so you won't have a problem and 36 is not old. I was freaking out about finishing grad school at 30. 

I would be careful about equating a MBA with design consulting. Many of these consulting practices have a deliberate policy on not hiring MBAs. I would simply apply to the appropriate openings, e.g., environmental design divisions at Continuum or IDEO if that's what you want. But bear in mind that while the mandate is still on being creative, your design direction would be heavily steered by corporate interests. 

I took an MBA after practicing architecture for four years and completing my license. (fyi, I turned 30 the year I earned my MBA - and was one of the older members of my class.) If you are not wanting to pursue a fundamental career change (i.e. to finance, Wall Street or 'corporate' America) then I suspect your best bet is to prepare either for an alignment with the real estate industry or a true 'management' position with a large design firm. (I think StationaryMad gives you good advice above about design consulting.) Given those choices, I don't think your age would be a major hindrance - the combination of appropriate work experience and an MBA would be seen as a plus. However, I would urge you to attend the best business school that will have you and that you can afford - not all MBAs are created equal. Try to keep your student debt load low. Also, don't try to earn the MBA at night while practicing architecture during the day - the workload will kill you and you won't learn what you need to be successful. Good luck!

i'm working on an mba right now.  happens to be at night, and yes quizzical has a point.  i will say that out of the very, very few interview offers i've gotten since graduating in architecture, the mba (or i should say, the prospect of the future mba) was the reason i got to interview.

the firm i'm with now keeps asking me business related questions, but i don't know enough yet to really answer them with any kind of authority on whatever they're talking about.  luckily they didn't hire me for that.

as far as "all mba's are not created equal", thats entirely true if you're in anything besides architecture.  but thats because in finance, everyone has an mba and there's competition.  that and the fact that there are significant quality gaps between top schools and local evening programs.

Flagship state schools have the cheapest best MBA programs. Business is one avenue where prestige is big thing. 

Thanks for all the feedback!

If real estate industry were the best alignment to my current skill sets, would a 1-Year Master degree in Real Estate be sufficient?  Or is MBA still the preferred credential in the real estate industry?

Thanks

i had talked to a professor of mine that happened to work as a real estate developer.  his advice to me was that either was good.  mba is general and gives you flexibility, msred gives you a specialized education. (i know, nothing new here)  RE companies usually hire business grads, and if you're looking at something to set you apart and make you stand out in real estate, the architecture degree + experience would be that.

plus, you might hate real estate and then what?  you can use the mba pretty much anywhere.

Our backgrounds seem a bit similar.  I enrolled in a MBA program at 32 after working in 3 large firms and obtaining my license in 2006.  My wife worked full time so we still had cash flow but I did spend most of that two year period in the library or in class. 

Also, +1 on the prestige comment with respect to b-schools.  In Georgia for example, I don't know a single development or I-Banking firm that would hire a Kennesaw State MBA grad.  It's a decent school with affordable tuition but sadly, rankings matter and unless the school is in the top 25 nationwide, I'd think twice before attending.  My brutal advice:  if you can't get into a top ranked school, don't shell out the $$$.  If your primary interest is working in development you'd be better off taking a pay decrease and working for a small development firm and learn the industry from the inside.  Look at it this way - if you took a 15k pay cut for 3 years, you'd probably end up 'investing' less money than if you paid for a second or third tear MBA program.

I was fortunate enough to be accepted into three top 20 schools (1 top 10) and I was surprised the average age was around 28.  There were a few folks in their mid-forties who were physicians so they skewed the average a bit.  One observation:  Those students who did not get involved and really embrace the MBA community had a hard time networking post-graduation with their classmates after graduation.  Time spent networking is very important and you carve time out of your schedule each week which can be daunting given family, work or study time needs.

My MBA experience was overall, fantastic.  I had the feeling that the professors really wanted me to succeed and get a good job after graduation.  Most of the students were active networkers so it was easy to make connections to new industries/companies.  Most great jobs are had by making a personal connection and my experience was that by participating in MBA clubs and case competitions I was able to make solid connections that turned into formal interviews in the months preceding my graduation.

If you want to get into development, I hate to say this but really if you can master the CCIM materials and understand the basic time value of money calculations, you're well on your way.  The one issue I found was that I did not have the typical 2 years of being a financial analyst which most RE firms require.  The analyst phase usually entails building detailed financial models and lots of number crunching with long hours.  I think you'd have a hard time obtaining employment as a manager or associate without being able to demonstrate that you have real world financial modeling skills using Excel (without a mouse) or ARGUS.

My tuition for 2 years, all in with books, booze and a few on-campus parking tickets was $126,000.  I saw a $35k pay increase post graduation and my signing bonus was around $10k.  All in, I feel that my degree will have paid for itself in 2-3 more years.  This is a HUGE gamble because if you borrow (which I did) you can't make $900-$1200/month student loan payments on the salary of an architect.

Consulting tends to offer the highest starting salaries out of MBA with finance/accounting being a close second and third.  Consulting is a good general exit pathway because you can transition into many other industries after a year or two.

woah 126k is a lot for two years.  mine is only going to be about 25k all together.

What is the MBA going to do for you in the long run. I had a instructor that had his MBA from Havard and felt it was a waste of time, and that he learned only 1 important concept from it all. He told us the most important thing he learned and told us we just saved 200k! 

he learned only 1 important concept from it all

don't leave us hanging.  what's the one concept a person can learn from a $200,000 harvard mba?

i bet it's 'use capital letters where appropriate'

There's something wrong with a person who has an MBA from Harvard and is employed as an architectural instructor.  Wouldn't exactly think he's the best source of credible information regarding the value of an MBA.
 

There's also the MBA in Design Thinking at CCA. Worth looking into.

I'm currently in the MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts - very practical, very creative, very real-world based design thinking program, theory + common sense (imo).  So far I love it.  Working part time at architecture firm too.  Oh, turn 30 this year - about in the middle of the pack of age ranges in my program.  Definitely not something to go into with out life/work experience.

http://www.cca.edu/academics/graduate/design-mba

There is no age limit in education and learning!