I know this is very late. But I can leave some good advice on the subject.
Doing an FIR would probably be your best bet, You will use it a lot sooner and a lot more often than a CIR. When I got my FIR I was working within a week as the school I did it with offered me a job.
After working for sometime, there was a shortage of work so I decided to do my instrument rating, with the flying school i worked for. Which offered me a resonable discount and I was then able to save a fair bit of money.
I have held my CIR for about 8 months now and have never used it. I have recently applied for a PIFR so I can still fly under the IFR when not current.
So FIR over CIR because:
1. You will use it a lot sooner and more often
2. Working for a school who does MECIR's will more than likely give you a discount so you will save some money. As this probably wont happen the other way around CIR before FIR