SE Louisiana trucking schools

Hello everybody. I am a 29 yo male looking to break into the trucking industry. I'm former military, and have recently discovered after four years of college that I have no clue why I even started going for a history degree. A few family members of mine are veteran truckers and have worked out a great living for themselves and love their jobs, and I've decided that I would love to drive for a living.

I'm looking at schools in the SE Louisiana area and have discovered two options - Coastal Truck Driving School (which is about 2 miles from my apartment) and Diesel Driving Academy (which is about 30-40 miles away in Baton Rouge). I am wondering if anyone that sees this has any experiences with these schools, and how favorable the process is?

So far all the info I've gotten from Coastal is that it's 10 hours per day, 4 days per week, and 4 weeks total for approx $5,000. Seems like a bit of a rush to me! A different advantage they may have is that Schneider operates a "yard" about 30 miles away in Reserve, and a lot of the OTR drivers (which I desire to do) head their way so it's easier for them to get home.

Another question I have - would it be worth it to just go to one of the companies that hire and train CDL's, or would independent schooling be best?

 

Update - called up Werner today to see what they have for training and they referred me to Diesel Driving Academy in Baton Rouge. Apparently it's a 20 week course from 9a - 4p Monday through Thursday.

Coastal Driving Academy is 6a - 5p and 4 weeks long Monday through Thursday.

The closest community/technical college that offers CDL training is Pearl River Community College in Poplarville, MS - nearly 2 hours away and is 8 weeks long.

 

Cool. It's basically deciding between DDA & Coastal now. There's a place near Kentwood from what I hear, but sounds kind of shady because no one ever answers their phone, their website is down, etc.