I sent Western Pacific Truck school an email with a variety of questions a few weeks ago and never got a response. So I emailed them again a few days later and never got a response. Finally, I called them up I was given a recruiter who said he'd call me back in a half hour. A hour and a half later, I called up again and the lady told me the guy would call me soon. 20 minute later, the guy calls.

I was hesitant to even call them since they weren't willing to even responde to my emails, and I was even moreso after the huge delay in calling me back, but I can understand how someone can get too busy to call someone, and I wanted closure.

Anyway, this is where the story gets funny. The recruiter first mistook my name as Bryan instead of Ryan, and I didn't bother to correct him because I didn't see why it mattered at the time. After he called back, I decided enough was enough and corrected him. After he talked my head off for a while, and I put into question my ability to get a job, he compared me to the Bryan fella and pointed out how he sounded dead on the phone to show how much of a better candidate I was to him (If you don't follow, that was me.) So in trying to recruit me, he ironically insulted me, and I never pointed it out to him. It's just plain hilarious.

So that brings me to the actual question. As far as I could tell, Western pacific truck school is well reviewed, but so far my experience with them is not painting such a perfect picture. Does anyone here have anything good or bad to say about them?

And this is a question I had for the recruiter as well: My driving record is clean, my criminal record is clean, and my work history is also clean. (By my work history also being clean, I mean I have nothing to put on paper. I've only done odd jobs for cash.) What are my chances of getting a job in the industry without the work history?

i am in a similar situation with work history. i had nothing i could put on paper and it did stop me from getting hired from the company i wanted (gordon) but i have gotten prehires from werner and swift (no way in h*** im working for swift) not the best companys but i figure get my year and get going. so your work history will work against you but wont stop you from getting your foot in the door.

We looked into Western Pacific as well, and they seem very assbackwards. We decided not to go to that school after having a couple different conversations with 2 different people. they dont seem to know what they are doing.

We decided to go with Trans Union in Tacoma. It was between them and CDS, which we have heard is a great school also. But CDS didn't start for 2 weeks and was about $900 more per person. Yikes! Both had similar schedules, teaching tactics and such, but I think CDS had a hire teacher to student ratio, but dont quote me on that, its just what I heard.

Trans Union worked really well for us. All the instuctors were great! Hope that helps. Good Luck!

Ahh, so you're up in Washington. I hadn't realized western pacific was even up there. I'm in California I'm afraid. I'm not afraid of relocating for schooling, but I'm not sure if i can get a CDL from a state I can't prove residency in.

Which WP location are you considering Arigo? The Stockton, CA school seems pretty responsive to me.

I live in an area that's about equally far away from stockton and sacramento, but I talked with the people from Stockton. Did you talk with Rick? He was trying to sell the whole thing to me too much. I called him for information, and what I got was how great everything was.

Anyway, he had said the first week is the classroom stuff, and then the next six weeks are spent driving with 2 - 3 guys per trainer for 4 hours a day. That means, assuming driving time is split up between the 3 guys evenly, each student gets 40 hours of driving with an instructor to themselves. Sage, on the other hand, gurantees at least 44, and they have a simulator IIRC as well. Both schools seem to be priced about the same. Western Pacific is a little higher, but they're also closer. ($4800) They are about a hours drive away from me though, which is a lot of driving everyday just for 4 hours of training. Hotels for a month would probably get very expensive.

Globetrotter,
I am in Renton WA and looking at Trans Union. Who are you driving for? I am looking at Gordon and Interstate. Let me know how everything is working out1

George

In conversation with IDC recruiter today, I learned that they will pay $4000- max for a school that gives a 160 hour training program. So, I figure that Western Pacific isn't too far out of whack ($4800) at $30 per training hour. But, then again, considering the student-teacher ratio you give, the cost of training could be even lower. 5 grand for 6 weeks is a lot of money. After all this isn't medical school or anything so academically challenging. The price should be spent on the equipment and trainer wages, not the office administration one would hope.