Fresh driver - Looking into trucking

So I might be getting some money sometime soon, and I am at a crossroad. I can go ahead and take my second semester at college, or pursue a career in truck driving. I noticed that most of the truck driving is done by somewhat older people, and I am actually just 19 at the moment (20 in a month).

I realize that there is a restriction as to what you can do at such a young age (like no OTR until you are 21), but I was wondering if I am going through the right motions (and if I am wasting my time trying to start a career at my age) for becoming a truck driver.

So I spent about a week online reading articles and testimonies, and watching youtube documentaries about trucking. I found out a lot about CDL mills, and the likes of which. So today I decided to inquire at Roadmaster school, because they have a location that is just 40 minutes away from my house. I was seeing that most trucking companies hire people that are still in school and sponsor people, but I realized that most of that is luck and or is only offered to people going through school with prior experience.

I had my sight set on Schneider, but I hear a lot of different names. Thoughts?

edit: The title is a bit of a misnomer, hehe. I don't have a CDL yet.
-Suncross

 

Wall of text incoming.

I live in Florida.

What I want to be is a writer of various things. I want to eventually get my Ph.D in the english language, but I want to do things like books, guide-books, movie / tv scripts, video game scripts, etc. However there is never really a high demand for writers, and the jobs you do get as a writer (before prestigious positions) don't pay the bills. Most writers I know started off with their main job and just kept writing as a hobby.

I suppose I am getting a bit personal, but the money I am getting has a high (if not 100%) chance of not being their next semester. I haven't even gone a full semester (12 credit hours) in college because I had to drop a class, and that was taken this time last year. I didn't have the money to go back for a spring semester.

I would say that this is the price I get for not doing my math homework (half jokingly, but I believe most of my current situation is indeed fault of my own) in highschool, but all of my A+ friends that got state scholarships and FASFA grants are having the same money issues.

I am glad things are working out for you, and I hope for the best. My situation, while not to imply any distaste to your suggestion, is pretty serious. My current living situation is very unstable. I live with my parents, and they are getting to the point where they are no longer able to support me, and are threatening to kick me out of the house. I have no where else to go but the streets.

I have never had but one job working at a pizza place that my brother pretty much ushered me into. I thank him for that, but it didn't help me any not knowing how a proper interview process was supposed to go; other than what I read online, and tips from people that have done it, I really wasn't prepared. I had to quit that job after a couple months because of certain circumstances, and I haven't gotten a job since (that was when I was 16, and am now almost 20).

I have been applying everywhere for a job, but it just seems that no one is hiring. It doesn't help that I live in a seemingly "racially charged" area. I have been applying to McDonalds since I quit my job when I was 16, and over those years, the only time I ever got a call back was when I put on my application that I was black (it was what some of my friends said I should do, because it had worked for them in the past).

So, hopefully you can seem my urgency in wanting some sort of vocation, and because I believe my driving skills are about the only marketable thing about me at the moment, I was really hoping to try my hand at the truck driving business.

I am not sure what o/o means (Owner / Operator says wikipedia), but the people I have talked to that have had family in the truck driving business said they always used the company trucks. My sisters friend said that being and "O/O" is something to consider way down the line. I certainly don't have the money, to lets say: lease a truck, insure it and pay for gas. I don't even have a semi to take the CDL with, so that is why I was hoping to get it at a special school.

I was thinking down the line I would take some diesel mechanic classes, because I was also told that most company trucks I would use in my life time would be in poor condition, and I would have to "rig" something temporarily to just get it to finish the job.

I took 3 classes at my college, and psychology was one of them. I went to school thinking it was going to be the same joke of a class I took in high school, as with all my classes. Boy was I wrong. I was really surprised about how the professors (while they didn't quite care if you understood the intricacies sometimes) cared about their line of work, and how seriously everyone around me was taking this. It was a real eye opener, and that semester I made a decision that I would spend my life (if I had to) to save up and eventually get my Ph.D in the English language, and possibly some masters in other fields. College is a great place.

I read some advice in a "similar" thread as depicted by the automated thread finder when making this thread, and someone suggested that as a new driver, there are a lot of local jobs available, but most are "bad," as he put it.


__________

I thank you all for your responses. I was quite late at night when I made my original post, and I was surprised at how many people were that quick to respond. However, now that more information was given, I was hoping to get some information as to someone my age getting businesses to pre-hire while I am still in the truck driving school. I hear about them helping with tuition, but I also hear about no one wanting to hire a "Green horn," let alone a green horn who is 20, hehe.

I hear the average hire age is 23? confirm / deny?

 

So I went and talked to a recruiter at Roadmaster, and he pretty much told me that my job options were slim, and because I was not 21, the school would have costed me 6700 dollars, thereabouts. That is more than enough money to get me my AA at my local community college....

I suppose I can pick up a cheap vocation like being a CNA until then.