I recently got my PPL. I knew I wanted to go at it full time to cut down on costs as much as I could. Me and my wife were expecting a new daughter and when I got my 12 weeks of leave (military) I decided to knock it out as fast as I could during that time. I started at the beginning of May and passed my checkride on June 28th. I had 43 hours, scraping the minimums but I worked my butt off because I knew how much the PPL meant towards my chances at a slot. I ended up paying around $11k (thats including the $700 checkride) when they told me the average at their school was $13-15k with ~60 hours to get PPL. It also helped a lot that I passed my written test before I even started flying, cuts down on instructional time that costs you money. If you are really serious about getting a slot, I’d say it is the best thing you could do for yourself.. plus, flying is fun. Part 61 for me.