You might be able to reapply under a future prior experience bid if one comes out before you get hired. I knew people who had prior experience, off the street, and cti bids all in.
En-route training is very structured compared to the terminal world, and is set up for people with no experience. Ill give you a snapshot of how my training went later when I have some time to type it out. To give you an idea, I had been at my facility for about 2 years before I actually made a transmission to a real pilot.
En-route money is good, especially at a level 12. I considered putting in for a supervisor bid at TYS a year or two ago but it would have been a 20-30K paycut, despite being a promotion.