We arrive next month and want to stay as long as possible. I'll see what the Chicago consulate says. If we have to pay to reapply we'll just skip it as it won't be worth it for the extra 15 days.
It's likely all the US offices use the same system. It asks on the first part of the process which office to submit the application to. Once this is done there's no going back and changing it for some reason, even though you can save your progress and come back later and finish the application. I did this as we needed to get some pictures taken. The Chicago office replied to my FB message asking me to email them and I have done so, so we'll see what they say.