ROTC or OCS: does one affect your career more than the other? Which did you choose, and why?

I went the ROTC route as prior service. I don't think the pathway matters (between ROTC vs. OCS). What does matter is how you perform in your jobs once you get the commission.

While I'm not an Officer (clearly), I have experience with Officers that went both routes. To me, there was no difference in which one affected the career route (by my witness, anyway). To me, it's the quality of character of the Officer. To which, that quality of character is already present long before they get that gold bar on the shoulder.

Here's how it works.... It is all about "manner of performance." Many think seem to OCS is better, looking up, as they seem to like prior service officers, which you are in either case. Once you are commissioned, USMA, OCS, ROTC, or Direct, you (we) are all on the same playing field. Then, it is all about manner of performance. Officers from all all sources succeed and fail in numbers commensurate with the percentages they provide to the total Army every year. No one source has a leg up. Some think they do. I did my Master Thesis on this very topic, and I sat on more than one promotion board... plus 33 years in the field; 29 as an O. CPT (Join to see)