Congratulations to all of the recent admits!!! It will be an amazing and intense experience during your next 2 years.Just my 2 cents.... so, please take it with a grain of salt.
I'm a current first year student in the consortium, and the scholarship (if offered) and the early exposure to companies (if going the corporate route) is SO helpful and life changing that I would not turn it down for a school that is "ranked" higher (within reason) and has offered you no scholarship, if perception and prestige are the key drivers of that decision.
Geographic concerns - you really didn't like the people you met at your CGSM offer school - or if you have a specific company or industry you want to work in and access is only given from a particular non-CGSM school... are real issues that amount to a major decision worth forgoing a few hundred thousand dollars.
I'm not trying to sell my school or any other; it's just that once you get in, the curtain drops and you are the one left holding the billing at the end of the show.
Nearly all of the same companies recruit from all of the top schools, the difference is some companies will pick up 10 - 15 students each from H/S/W and 4 - 10 each from X/Y/Z. But X/Y/Z has far fewer students so the ratio is not that skewed.... and these companies are still struggling to find diverse talent, so the opportunity is there from your CGSM school.
Industry perceptions seem to be more accurate, being that the
east coast schools seem to have the best access to general finance, IB, health care (pharma), and east coast VC/PE;
mid-west schools have best access to companies HQ'ed in mid-west, brand and product management in cpg,
west coast schools are best for tech, entertainment, entrepreneurship, health care (biotech), west coast VC/PE; southern schools seem best for energy and any other category for companies located in a southern major city. Consulting is everywhere.
If you have a target company, look where their headquarters are. Company Recruiters are human too, and they can/do get lazy and like to stay "close to home" during a long recruiting season. These are just generalization around the mean, not the definition of what these schools have to offer. All of these schools in these different regions can pretty much give you what you need.
.... All that being said, if you just love a school more than the next - then definitely go there. I just rambled all of this crap off for anyone who didn't do proper research (i personally know a ton who didn't) and just wants to stunt and flash around their school name like some Bentley keys at a NBA all-star weekend party. The trajectory of success between MBA choices can be marginally different for certain industries, and if that is the case, you may want to reconsider doubling your debt/equity ratio if you don't have to.