AOS is usually the safer route when available. But sometimes, consular processing is the only option. If you’re eligible for AOS but it’s not practical, consular processing isn’t necessarily risky—so long as you don’t have any bars or other inadmissibility issues. Still, I strongly recommend consulting with an immigration lawyer. They’ll do a detailed background check and ask the right questions to make sure consular processing is a safe option in your case. Also, keep in mind things change pretty fast with this administration so think about that too.

Yes for your PD it’s going to take a while when your turn comes around. Better to do CP instead of spending money on university maintaining F1. Just make sure that visa backlog in your country is not high else you’ll be stuck.