I did both 61 and 141 too.
61 experience: Sawyer Aviation, Phoenix, Arizona.....1987-88.
Pros:
-good syllabus
-good training both air and ground, wide variety of experienced CFIs (military, airline, corporate)
-reasonable cost for rental/instructor rates.
-good aircraft...basic aircraft (this was prior to the GPS craze, etc)
-operating out of KPHX....TCA airport. As a student pilot, I was getting slam dunk descending 270s to land, and was expected to be off at the second high-speed exit.
Cons:
-not exceptionally structured, however the program was flexible
-fewer aircraft, and when the schedule came out, if I didn't block the times I wanted, I was limited on when I could be "penciled in"
-flying out of KPHX, could potentially be intimidating for some due to the large amount of traffic
rates (1987 dollars) C-152: $38/hr; C-172: $40/hr; C-182: $60/hr; instructor: $40/hr. Overall PPL cost, about $3,100 (1988 $$$)
141 experience: Embry-Riddle, Prescott, AZ. 1989-1992
Pros:
-excellent ground training. ground instructors had vast amounts of experience, and classes were well taught.
-large fleet of aircraft, well maintained....rare to experience problems getting scheduled
-flight training was OK. Many newbie instructors compared to experienced ones (expected)
-good program structure. good training syllabus just like the FBO had
Cons:
-limited experience of CFIs. Many new, just-graduated CFIs teaching rote basics, with not much more experience than the student. Didn't realize it then as much, but when I got out into the industry, it was apparent. Of course, there were experienced pilots as CFIs too who provided good training.
-cost.....even for the "extras", the cost was mostly name. Example, the PPL program there, which I didn't go through since I had it, was about mid-$4,500-ish, or so at the time.
-lesser flexibility for moving on the schedule. Couldn't pick times necessarily, could only schedule mornings/afternoons. In fairness, much of this is driven by academic workload and times.
-weird flight programs like FA-416...CRM in a Seminole. Being taught by the same newbie CFI who likely had little to no experience in real-world CRM. That program was about $3000, was required as a 400-level flight elective if you didn't want to do CFI.
Costs (1990 dollars), as I remember: C-172: $50/hr; C-182RG: $75/hr PA-44: $130/hr; instructor: $40/hr.
So besides the academics, which were very good; flying-wise, I didn't gain anything going to Riddle that I couldn't have gotten from Sawyer, IMHO.