This is going to sound crazy, but I withdrew my GSB app after i heard back from Michigan last week (almost exactly 1 month after my GSB interview).
I have known for a while that Michigan was my #1 choice, but the cycle has been brutal this year so I kept pushing all on the apps until i heard back from #1. The decision was not easy, I am from the Chicago area (living on the east coast now), but still I spent three days at my UChicago visit. I visited Ross on three separate occasions during the whole process.
In the end it just came down to who has the better football team... (just kidding!) Actually, and it sounds corny, but it came down to the ever-elusive "fit."
I went into some detail researching the academic styles and the one thing that almost swayed me chicago's way was the ability to customize all but 1 of my courses. This was important because I plan on pursuing entrepreneurship after graduation. However I then learned that I will probably be able to test out of at least two core courses at michigan based on my background which basically equalized the schools in the flexibility aspect.
As far as academic reputation, Chicago gets the nod but that factor weighed less because I will not be fighting for bulge bracket or MBB interviews. Michigan has probably two of the country's most renowned professors for the areas in which I am concentrating and they also have a very well regarded center for entrepreneurship. With that comes access to the rest of the university, which is probably top 5 in 9 other disciplines outside of the bschool offering me the best opportunity to make these ventures happen.
Finally I just felt a better connection to the people I stayed in touch with. I still have a number of people I met visiting the GSB that I consider friends, but I connected with people at Michigan that really went out of their way to clear up any questions I had, especially regarding being an older candidate and with a (near future) family.
This was a long process but all the research and studying and visits are definitely worth it. I wish all of you future GSBers the best and hope that we cross paths again in the future
Bob