Agree about getting it at some point. And fully agree with Scott's points. It certainly won't hurt anything other than your pocket book.
As far as when? Your instructor may tell you immediately after your private, and if he does you should ask him why. Maybe its to get him more hours towards his job at Delta or maybe its that it would be better to get it over with while you are still in a "study all the time" mentality and while a bunch of information is still fresh from instruction.
On the other hand, you may want to wait a few dozen hours until you have some practice sharpening your radio skills VFR and sharpening your ability to hold an altitude or heading (this is what I'm doing).
On the other hand, people tend to develop bad habits after they "graduate".
I think the answer is personal preference and different for everyone and you should pursue your rating when you feel good about doing it. I like Scott's comment about the student needing to be eager to learn it. Studying for it is far more difficult than the private so don't do it till you are mentally ready to devote alot of energy. After I got my private, I just wanted to enjoy flying for a few months. After awhile I got the bug for new challenges and am now "eager".
Perhaps you could buy the books and start preparing for the written.
Let us know what you decide and how it turns out!
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Todd
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