I recently just got my PPL and am happy I went part 61 route. Initially was leaning towards ATP but figured getting my private through a local part 61 was best for me. Gave me a chance to see if this is really what I want to do for a career without taking out a large loan.

Now that I got my private I am now looking at accelerated 141 programs to go to to get my training done in a reasonable amount of time.