Sherry,

Everyone else has told you to pick the instructor over the agency and Chuck
told you that by the time you are ready to consider becoming an instructor,
everything will have changed.  Consider my advice to be the same.

Rather than go through what you already know, I'll try to add a few things I
think:

1. I strongly suggest you take your early training from different agencies.
In my experience PADI tends to be the most dogmatic, but every agency pushes
it's own agenda and, while the curiculum tends to be similar. at least in
the early courses, the presentation and minutia tend to be quite different.
The wider your exposure, the better able you may be to pick and chose what
you find best for your diving and the more styles you will have experienced
to help you develop your own instructor style.

2. If your intent is to be a working DM or Instructor, then the choice of
agency becomes a bit easier.  If it's a job, then you'll want to chose the
agency that is in your best interest.  You want to work for an agency that
has sufficient opportunities in your area to give you some control over your
work environment and you'll want to chose one that allows you to profit from
your chosen occupation.  No matter how good or how bad an agency may be, you
still have the option of being the good instructor we so often refer to.

Lee