Originally Posted by emsgoof

The school I did my private and instrument at is a 61/141 school. The only difference the programs had was the amount of paperwork for the instructors and chief instructor to fill out if you went the 141 route. You still followed the same syllabus, although the part 61 allows the freedom to "deviate as necessary". The only restrictions on flying at the school (other than aircraft limitations) were CAVOK and winds under 10 kts for student solo. Once you had your private, they didn't care what the weather was for soloing (regarding commercial cross country flights, since you're always stuck with an instructor for instrument). Their theory was "you break it, you buy it" (after doing aircraft checkouts, etc).