Best Trucking Company for a NETTTS Student?

Sorry about the long time to replay and see the question...
If you are still around and looking, I used ProDrive...The classroom is up the road from NTI, and the "yard" is at the papermill in Westbrook.
I am, for one, very happy.
My Class had 0 Movies, was very good, had TONS of 1 on 1 time...heck, the class only had 3 people in it. That is the way the owner likes it...he limits classes to 6 I think.
It is not a big school, but the owner is who you deal with...it is a very good setup. Small, Personal, flexible. You are not paying for a ton of overhead...just a small classroom, a pair of trucks (extra power units are leased depending upon how busy stuff gets), a few trailers...some loaded, some unloaded, some long, some short. The Yard is just a shack, a porta-potty, and a table...Minimalistic, but perfect. Part of the practice yard is used as a drop lot for the paper mill, so when you switch trailers, you get to practice backing (for drop and hooks) next to REAL TRAILERS, sometimes with a sleeper parked there...and also see how working drivers get in and out of their spots...heck some will come over to chat, gripe, or ask the owner a question.
Scheduling was flexible, and the trucks have 10 speeds...no auto's like NTI...learn to shift, or you will fail you road-test.
Like I said, the school is not big, But I liked my experance at PRODRIVE.
The school is not big...does little advertising...but they stay busy...and that speaks volumes IMO.
http://www.prodrivemaine.com/index.html
help@prodrivemaine.com
[FONT=helvetica,arial]136 Rt.1
Scarborough, ME 04074
Phone: 207.885.1211 or 207.885.1212
Toll Free: 1.866.243.1370
Fax: 207.885.9257[/FONT]

The owner of the company, and Main Instructor, took great pains to instill works of wisdom...about not Leasing to fast, How to play the Pallet game and be sure to not trade $$ (oak) pallets for Peso's (pine) like many places will try.....
It just shows that sometimes the best info is not in any book, but is hard erned....a few important stories about "interesting" loads, and what to do so as to not get stuck getting $$ tickets etc....Tons of good info.
Not the cheapest, but a good school!!

 

Have to add something here, NETTTS depends on the location you go to. Also, everyone needs to realize one thing about NETTTS students, most are not perfect. I'm not saying this is the case with some but in my class out of 8 students 3 were on probation, 2 had previous drug charges, and another had 5 speeding tickets. Strangly enough the 2 of us who did not have criminal records both have jobs now ( graduated Nov. 6). I am not saying this is the case with those posting but had to throw it out there. Also, the location I went to we did drop and hood, pre-trip, and brake test 3 times a week for 3 hours so I am not sure how people who attempted to learn can say the school is bad.
One big thing is don't use their job placement, relying on a erosion who needs to find 300 people a job to get you one is lazy and not good odds, control your own future and send your own apps to companies you want to go to.
Lastly, one thing incase NETTTS reads this STOP TRAINING NON ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE. It is annoying for those of us in class that don't need to have the meaning of the word tire explained and even worse any company that hires these drivers should be fined a min. of $10,000 for every person who can't speak fluent English that works for them, last I checked it is illegal and needs to be enforced especially the way the economy is now.

 

The very definition of a diploma mill...they will train anybody with $$ even if they have ZERO chances of finding a job....they will take your money!! I really hope they consulted the folks and pointed out that truck driving school might not be a good idea...and very likely a waste of time and money!!

The fact is 2 out of 8 people paying $$ and being truly employable is not a great record....Think what the employers think when they look at the arrest/conviction record, and think, who was willing to train this person....

 

Wow...I am going to Trainco near Toledo, Ohio right now and some of this stuff about that school is nuts.

We do a (real) pre-trip every day. Not just...here are my belts...they are between 1/2" and 3/4" of play... We acutually do it. We actually check the slack adjusters for play, we check the lights, we check the tires with a mallet. The only thing we don't do is the bleed-down test every day.

It is crazy to me to think that a school would teach you how to pass a test, and not teach you as much as possible while you are there.

My instructor the other day was talking about a woman that completed her Class A CDL and when he gave her the certificate she told him that "this is the first thing I have ever completed. Everybody said I couldn't do it. I did it, didn't I?" He started getting pretty emotional just telling us about it, and this is a man that has over 4 million accident free miles.

I feel bad for people who don't have instructors that take this teaching thing so seriously, and do it with such passion.