anyone with any thoughts on the drivin' academy out in conyers, ga ??

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Happy Trails

Hi Pilgrim. I just graduated 3/3 from GDA. GDA is a well organized school and there are alot of good people/instructors who earnestly care that you learn fundamentals to obtain the GA CDL. The school is accredited, which you'll see by how well they are organized. Cost is $3995, but I feel it is well worth it because instructors, instruction materials and support are solid. From other threads here in the forum, I am now glad I paid the $3995 upfront and not beholden to any trucking company....ie many companies have tuition reimbursement.

GDA has a large yard to teach manuevers etc. Curriculum is 180 hours: 1 week in classroom to prep for GA State written test exam for the A/P CDL, 1 week in yard to learn manuevers required to pass the state CDL exam and 1 week on road to learn basic skills to pass the state CDL road exam. My class size was 9 people, max size is 12. 9 was a bit crowded, I could have used alot more time behind the wheel... but I know I have enuf to pass the CDL exam. I will be taking my GA state road test this week... should pass and have my CDL soon.

GDA will support you to gain pre-hire letters from companies, and they have 3 visits from recruiters each week. but be careful re recruiters, this forum is much more useful to me re my upcoming decision on who to go work for.

My recommendation is you take the three week course, GDA does a great job at "evolving" your learning from classroom to yard to road. If you go to GDA you'll meet good instructor folks such as ChickenBob, Vic, Ray, Jim, Lee, Mike (Nascar!) and Chuck. They've all had years of experience on the road and are really helpful to share their thoughts re trucking.

Good luck!

Howdy rr,

Congrats on the recent completion of the courses at the academy!

Curious about which companies recruit out of the GA Academy. Also, what carries have you received a pre hire?

thanks for getting back.

happy trails!

plgrm

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Happy Trails

During last 3 weeks we had recruiters visit from Swift, Covenant, Roehl, HOW, Stevens Transport, Coastal Transport, McElroy Truck Lines and a couple others I now forgot about. GDA will give you applications for 14 companies and encourage you to fill them all out... including apps for Werner, TMC, US Express, Trans Am Trucking, Central Refrigerated Service Inc.

I didn't apply for all since some are dedicated flat bed haulers and this doesn't interest me today. I received prehires from Covenant, Stevens Transport and Roehl, and still waiting to hear back from US Express and HOW.

i would first look at gsfc.org/hope/

Thanks rr58. I'm starting the class on sept.1st at Ga driving academy and now I feel alot better about spending the 4000 on it. I only wish I could take the course where it's 18 days straight, instead I have to take the 9 weekend course because i can't afford to take 18 days off. Oh well.

have fun at GA academy. it may seem like alot to learn in a hurry, but I now know that CDL school is but baby steps' on road to being a truck driver. good luck