I was in your exact position 2 years ago almost to the day and I decided to stay with AFROTC and I don't regret it for a minute. As a current AFROTC senior, I'm obviously biased, but I say just stick with the current program. 2 years will go by so soon and if the end goal is a commission, then why add an extra three years just to get the same end goal? Yes, the USAFA has arguably more opportunities and first choice for job selections (boy oh boy am I jealous of that), but is that worth an extra 3 years? In 5 years, you would be a 1st Lt w/ one year away from Capt, or a freshly commissioned 2d Lt. Depending on your career field, you could be approaching your 2nd assignment out of training, or be a freshly commissioned 2d Lt. If you're doing it for the pay, you can do the math yourself, but 3 years of 2d and 1st Lt pay is a lot better than USAFA cadet pay, even if you include cost of college w/ a CMLA scholarship. You'd be sacrificing a lot of freedom and would have to spend a lot of time "learning" stuff you've already mastered in your AS200 year, which if you talk to any prior or AFROTC transfer at USAFA, it can be super frustrating and feel like you're wasting your time.
I have a lot of friends at USAFA currently as I went to NWP with them, and at the end of the day, we'll commission at the same time and practically at the same level of experience. AFROTC is going under a huge revamp for the POC so you'll get a better FT experience and POC experience than any of your current POC at your det.
All of this to be said, it's your decision and do what you think would be best for you. This form is called service academy forums, so you're going to get a lot of bias from SA people. I'm just trying to offer my other side of bias. This may be unpopular on this thread, but I feel like I was able to develop better work-life balance habits, maintain my own internal standards rather than living in an environment that forces me to follow the standard and when no one's watching it drops away, and have more freedom and opportunities outside of the DAF for development (internships, jobs, etc).
That being said, if you want to be a pilot or go USSF, your selection rates are better at USAFA, but if you work yourself to the top 15-20% nationally, you should be chilling with no fears.
At the end of the day, do what you think is best for you and make the best decision with the information you have at the time. Don't look back and regret that you made that decision once you have more information, because hindsight is always 20/20. The source of the commission really doesn't matter all too much as each program will offer you plenty of resources to succeed, and it's more so about the work that the cadet puts into their respective program that makes them a good 2d Lt rather than the source of the butter bars.
