As someone who earned a degree in aeronautical science and owned a flight school for over 6 years, the two don’t compare. I learned so much more about flying over those four years than I could have ever taught my students at my flight school. For instance, we had an entire semester course on turbine engines. My other instructors and I barely mentioned turbines to our students at my school. I had a full semester on global navigation, again barely covered at my school other than some GPS basics. Two semesters of aerodynamics including frequent uses of wind tunnels, versus a chapter or two in a book at my flight school.

Basically, we covered the FAA required stuff and a little bit extra at my school, versus tons of extra stuff at the university.