ill field this one
ATP,
thank you for asking your question as I am glad to help someone out at a crossroads perse. Your question is one that rolls alot of eyes because as you have said it is definately beating a dead horse to the tenth power but I can help you.
NO ONE CARES WHERE YOU GOT YOUR RATINGS!! I can not possibly stress this enough. In my new hire class as well as the interview it was a complete mix between FBOs and big name schools such as DCA, ATP, ARI-BEN and others I may have forgotten. The only thing that typically separates an FBO student and someone who went to an academy type atmosphere is around an extra 20 thousand in debt.
It is not a school that makes a good pilot, it is something that is determined by you and you alone. How hard do you work at it, how hard do you study, are you always striving for perfection, do you consider the PTS standards to be a joke and strive no never let yourself accept them as your high standard. These are things that make a pilot, not 100 hours of safety pilot in a seminole, not 50 hours of glass time, not an RJ course.
One thing that I have always found appealing about ATP is the 90 day program in which you are in and out in 90 days..if for some reason you really want to be in and out in 90 days (not sure what the hurry is) you can easily do this at an FBO it just requires some special consideration.
so here it is, my reccomendation
Find an FBO near you that is an easy commute and go and talk to them, you are looking for a few things. You are interviewing them and not the other way around.
1. What is the fleet size? 1 single engine, 1 complex trainer and 1 twin is fine providing their maintenance is great and they are not very busy but typically you will want more than that to keep up your continuity because with fewer planes you will see that they will always go down for annuals the day before your checkride.
2. What does their fleet look like? Im not talking about new paint or avionics here, just simply an overall feel for how upkept the planes are. Are the planes well cared for, clean, and give you an overall warm feeling.
3. What does there maintenance department look like (if they have one) It does not have to be top notch or even in house but you will find that inhouse maintenance can limit some MX delays.
4. Does the school give you an overall good feeling? It should because you will be spending nearly 300 hours (not flight hours) there.
5. Ask to interview some of their current students both private and those further along. A good school will have no problem with this and it will give you the inside scoop on how things really operate.
Ok so now you found a school, you are not done yet. Now you need to find a CFI and sit them down and specifically tell them everything you are looking to do and the timeline you are looking to do it. Scheduling can be a pain at some schools at first but after a few weeks your schedule will get rolling and you will have enough scheduled in advance to keep going. Tell the CFI exactly which days/nights/times and frequencies that you are looking to fly and make sure that it works with them and reach a mutual agreement. If after a few flights the CFI is just not working for you feel free to change. You came to a verbal agreement and if they do not meet their end of the bargain or you two do not mesh then it may be time to move on to a new CFI. Also ask your CFI if they plan on moving on during your training. It is very possible that your CFI may move on in the middle of your training, this is not necessarily a bad thing if their instruction is top notch and they can get you through a few ratings and build a good foundation however, if they are leaving in a month than that may be a no go.
So if you MUST get multi time here is what I would reccomend. Do your private, and then instrument and then do your initial commercial in the twin. I did not find that getting my initial commercial in a twin was that difficult and it adds maybe an additional 10 hours to figure out the twin but that is 10 hours of multi you wont need to "buy" somewhere else. Also get your MEI and plan on using it because that is where the real useful multi time will come from, as an instructor.
After this you can plan on finishing with around 280 hours +- a few if you do it part 61 and probably 50 multi which is a good foundation towards your future goals.
Now, what do you do with all the money you saved? Put it towards a degree and not embry riddle. Embry riddle and ND are great schools but I would just reccomend a local community college where you can get a BA in something other than aviation and pay nearly 100 dollars less per credit hour. Did I mention that no one really cares where you got your degree or what it is in?
So that is it, the plan of attack. I did something very similiar to what I just told you and then instructed for around 700 dual given or so before moving on and i dont regret a thing.