Sage School, Henderson CO

I'm very much looking at SAGE in Denver as well.

My main concern is it's NOT PTDI certified and only 150 hours (many companies require 160 hour courses). But in those 150 hours, you get far more behind the wheel time , one on one training, and no simulators, compared to other schools in CO.

From what I've read as well, SAGE in Denver works a lot with May trucking and in some instances Fed Ex Ground, where you can train with a Fed Ex contractor.

 

Hey mile high guys!

Im also in Denver looking at this as an option. There are 2 other schools out here besides Sage and was wondering if anybody had info about them and what companies they have placement with.

 

Hmmmmm, SAGE in Henderson is not listed on the PTDI website as an accredited school. Does SAGE state they are certified?

Thanks for the info about the WIA Squeeze, I'll look into it.

SAGE and the CDL College look to be the best in CO. We also have a US trucking school south of CO - it'd be a much shorter drive for me, but it's a CDL mill like you stated; 3 to a truck, works mainly with Swift and Werner.

 

Based upon my research, I discovered the following:

Be careful about that one on one training. Schools are famous for stating one on one driving time with an instructor. What they don't tell you is that while you're driving and he's teaching you from the passenger seat one on one, there are 2-5 other students in the truck on a bench in the sleeper. If the driving portion of you class that day is say 6 hours, in reality you are only actually driving for maybe 1-2 hours. The rest of the time you are a passenger in the sleeper.

The question you actually should be asking when you call is how many students per truck while driving? It's just too costly for most schools that have to operate for-profit to have only one student in a truck at a time. When you do find a school that does that, you usually have to pay for the luxury. It might be best to find a school that limits to say 2 or 3 students per truck.

 

SAGE is one student per truck. 44 hours of total driving time.

Some CDL mills are pumping out "drivers" with as little as 3 to 5 hours of driving time!

 

Thanks squeeze! You think they're better then the CDL College?

Also, Front Range Community College is doing CDL training through another company. They have ads on Craigslist.

 

I checked out CDL College a few weeks ago. Pretty basic. Looks like they have just a few trucks. I think 2-3 over the road tractors with 53 foot trailers and one smaller city tractor with a short trailer. They have an office and a trailer with a simulator. The best thing about this place is that they do night and weekend classes if you are still employed. They have a 40 hour course for the basics and a 160 hour "OTR" course.

Another school that a lot of people don't know about is ATS out of Watkins. It's a 3 week course, but if you are out of work, might be worth checking out.

I am probably going with CDL College because I still have a job for the time being.

Also, someone mentioned the multiple guys in the back of the truck "observing" thing. A rep at Sage a few years ago told me this was illegal in Colorado because of seat belt laws- not sure if that's true or not.

Anyway, hope this all helps?!