If your GPA is less than a 2.5, what is your ceiling in regards to MBA admissions?
If you graduated undergrad with a GPA in the 2.0 to 2.5 range (since they require a 2.0 at most schools to even graduate) and it took to you longer than the 4 year span to graduate, what is your MBA ceiling in most cases (not miracles where you do something that makes you famous and puts you in the news)?
Like what is the highest on the rankings you can apply for and realistically hope to get into?
My guess is that anywhere in the top 10 is out, top 15 would be more than a stretch even if you do all else right, and maybe top 20 would be out. At that point should you even bother with business school?
Not enough corroborating information. Why was your GPA a 2.5? This makes a big difference. Are you taking courses now part-time to mitigate concerns? I know traditional candidates who have crushed the GMAT with sub-3 GPAs and gotten into M7 schools. Top 10 is not out of the question. However, the same advice I give to everyone apply to business school is crush the GMAT. This gives you your range. As my rough estimate (which shouldn't be taken literally at all), if you have a sub-3.0 GPA, subtract 40 points from your gmat score and this is the median score for where you will have a shot. For instance, if you had a 760 and a 2.5 GPA you would still have a shot at a Stern-range school.
YoshiIsAwesome is right. There's not enough corroborating information. When it comes to GPA and MBA admissions, there's more to things than the raw number. Some things that will play to your favor:
1) Length of time - the longer you've been out of college, the less your undergrad matters and the more your work experience comes into play
2) GMAT - a higher GMAT will essentially "validate" you showing that you have the intellectual horsepower to do well in MBA and your undergrad record doesn't fully reflect your abilities.
3) Graduate school - if you've gone on to get a masters in something else and done well in it, it'll help your case
4) Trend - Is your GPA a result of a terrible freshman year where you had trouble adjusting to college life but you turned things around and you can see a strong sense of improvement over time? This will show you can do well academically, you just took a "mulligan" of sorts before you hit your stride.
To give you a real life example, I know a guy you made it into Wharton with a 2.6 but he killed it on the GMAT and had stellar work experience.
Remember that there is some self selection here too. Like, it's not necessarily the GPA keeping you out of the top programs, but the fact that kids with lower GPAs probably didn't get banking jobs or consulting jobs, which are huge MBA feeders or at least big career starters. It's less about the GPA itself, but there's correlation between the low GPA and the rest of the application. So for kids who genuinely got low GPAs because of family issues, unforseen circumstances, etc. they tend to rise and still do really well in their careers and on their GMAT so it matters less, whereas kids who were lazy/not capable sort of weed themselves out.
I feel like you're kind of missing my point. I'm not referring to individuals, I'm referring to the group as a whole, and as it is, there's still something like 20% of incoming classes at T10 schools coming from consulting. Large percentages too from banking, top tier FDLPs, etc. Basically, what I was trying to say is, the cream rises. People get a low GPA for a bunch of reasons, and one of them is "not a hard worker" and another is "not that smart". Those people also tend to not do great in their careers. Low GPA candidates who had truly extenuating circumstances but were high quality found a way to make it work. I say this as a low GPA candidate who just got interviews for 3 T10 schools (2 Top 5)