Aus
Francesco,
As you are a US citizen you do not need to go to any of the big pilot factory schools. You are very lucky to be able to attend any so called "mom and pop" shop, that's what we call them here in the US. In most cases these are no-nonsence smaller flight schools or clubs, where you can find very experienced flight instructors that don't build their time on your dime. Plus, you can get much more flight time and experience for the same money. (a C172 rents for $74, the C150 is $46, intstructors are $18 for basic and $22 for advanced training, this is considered very cheap even by US standards) At my place we have 19 rental aircraft, this on its own puts some of the big name schools to shame.
Plus a lot of aircraft owners on the field are older people who like to take younger pilots with them on group trips for added safety, specially once you get your instrument rating. On these trips you are mostly the PIC, since these owners are not building time for any job, they're just happy to go somewhere and have you take them there on their airplane.
To make a long story short I strongly encourage you to look around for smaller schools and PM me for details if you need pointers, since some of these are harder to find on the internet.