I'm 28 and live in Houston. I have a History degree from a VA liberal arts school.
I have 5 years background in the O&G corporate world and since January have been self-employed brokering mineral and royalty purchases for private equity.

I want to get an MBA. I'm not a good test taker and got a 400 on my first GMAT attempt. A 400 will not get me into Rice or any other top 30 school.

Do I continue to prep for the GMAT and wait another year to see if my score improves or attend University Houston Downtown (UHD) which does not require a GMAT score if "3.0 or higher is made first semester of MBA"?

UHD's MBA is NOT ranked.

Does it matter where I get an MBA?
Am I wasting time not getting into UHD now for FALL 2015?
Do I get into UHD and continue taking GMAT?

Are you paying for it?

Can you handle the quant with a gmat of 400?

No

Taking Calc, Stat and Alg classes for refresh at local University

Doesn't really matter unless you want work with a large company. Like Chevron, GE, etc

Otherwise, get the best one you can get into. End of the day, you'll have the same letters behind your name.

It all depends on what you want to do with it, I know of a lot of places that won't hire anybody whose degree isn't from a top 10 school. I know plenty of folks with MBAs from random schools that are doing just fine.

All about where you are trying to go.

-shooter

Is that fancy speak for independent Landman?  Yes it matters.  You are better off with real word experience than a MBA from a degree farm.  Save the money and work extra per week in place of school hours.

You want a top paying job, then yes you want a MBA from a tier 1 school.

Yes it does.  MBAs were once rare and they are common nowadays.  Go to a school that makes connections for a better job.

I'd go to John Hopkins.  Employees of the big banks (IMF, World Bank, BIS, Fed Res) come from there.

I would check what MBA's are worth in the market place.  I have a nephew...smart kid and was approached by Ivy league universities based upon his test scores while he was in high school.  So much for that.  He's now going to get his BS in business administration, which pays the lowest for undergraduate degrees.  Hopefully he will change his major to something more marketable and with the promise of more pay when he graduates in four years.

Yes it does, but not for the quality of content (you can teach yourself with MIT open courseware) but for their network and companies recruiting there.

Most companies, big and small, are starting to recognize the lack of value some of these online and pay-for-degree schools provide, and some are going so far as to not even consider applicants from schools like U of Phx and other pay-to-play schools.  Real in the classroom, face to face instruction is huge, and the alumni network for real schools is even bigger.