A great point came up in Cbriggs' well-articulated post: the time spent in class can make the difference between whether you join the masses who got their c-card & never used it after the class (with the exception of the vacation scheduled for the day after the class ended) or whether u join the camp of happy divers who keep learning & stay wet.
My OW went on for many weeks. We had lots of guidance to get past the discomfort inherent to the many new gadgets & elements. When we finished, we knew we could dive independently. To feel more versitile, we took an advanced class that covered 10 weeks (a whole summer). Sounds like a huge commmitment, but here's what we got: a variety of dive sites with different challenges, time to really get to know our fellow students (who we still dive with frequently), lots of pool time & high quality lectures that gave us plenty of time to ask questions & resolve confusion.
See, every graduate of every program swears that their instructor & agency is "top-flight", the greatest, awesome. (Often because that's what the shop told them) So ask them if they have been diving recently; if not, WHY not? Many claim it is their own failing (couldn't be because they were rushed thru!) I'd find out where the divers dive, approach them while they are still dripping, & say, "Gee, I'd love to learn how to do that!" See who taught the divers who still dive.