I have some questions on some MN schools

Hi everyone. I am looking in to driving truck for a career. I have been reading posts on here for a while. I have looked in to CR England, Schneider and others. Another forum site claimed Schneider had training, but upon contacting them, they replied they do not offer training. CR England, despite some negative comments on here told me in writing they will hire out of there school, but offer no reimbursement and the pay they stated seems to good be true. Plus living in a "dorm style" room with bunk beds doesn't seem that appealing. However, I will do what is needed if it comes to that. So I am looking at schools, preferably in MN but if there are company programs that pay for transportation and lodging, I'd be interested in that too. I've narrowed it down to Heavy Metal Trucking and Anoka Tech. I'm looking at prices of course and pre-hire. Is there such a thing as a guaranteed pre-hire? Are there schools that have a better chance of getting pre-hired? My biggest concern is spending the money and not getting hired. Are there schools that offer training for hazardous conditions such as snow, ice, steep grades, etc.

 

This long post is my review on Heavy Metal Truck Training.

I went to Heavy Metal at the Inver Grove Heights location and graduated and got my license on 12/14/10. I chose them because of low tuition, location, found no complaints and they seemed up front and straight forward. It's not perfect but it does what it is intended to do, teach the basics and teach to pass the DMV. Is it a CDL mill? In my opinion more less yes. It is very fast paced. Upside is I learned a lot about driving truck, far more than I thought went in to it. It was eye opening.

I got in during a promotion ($1000 off) and I picked up a $500 grant from the school because I was unemployed. It was hard to turn down $1500 off! The instructors were knowledgeable. One had over 40 years behind him, another had 20+ years as an owner/op, the third only had three years I believe. None of the instructors sugar coat the industry. They tell you how it is in real life. I have driven loads to IN, PA, NH, ME and back and yes, they are right.

The yard course at Inver Grove is their parking lot with some areas setup for the ops; straight line backing, offset and alley dock done at a 90. There are "virtual" intersections, stop signs, etc. Outside you practice and test out on those three, plus practice and test out on pre-trip inspection and drop / hook. If the instructors feel students are ready to go on the road course, then they take you out. If not, students will not leave the yard - period. If you can shift decent and can handle the truck in the yard alright, you go out. If not, the student only has three weeks to get it. They do what they can to help the students, but are very limited by time.

The road course pretty much covers all the basics; steep hills, heavy traffic, some of downtown St Paul, lots of exit ramps on and off the freeway, sharp turns, railroad crossings ( at least 4-6 on a short local run), occasional trips from the Inver Grove Heights building to Monticello, a "round-a-bout" and in December we ran short loads for Toys For Tots. That was my first actual load I hauled. There are four students and the instructor in the OTR unit pulling a 48' trailer. The other trucks are single axle day cabs with a 26'? trailer. The latter is what you take the DMV test in.

Classroom starts out with watching videos about safety and accident prevention. The rest is learning the log books, regulations, more videos, tests, trip planning and more. Breaks and lunch are at the discretion of the student. There is no set times for these. Just like real life trucking.

Overall I feel I can recommend the school if the student has has some clutching and basic small trailer experience. It's very informative, great instructors. People who struggle shifting or backing up are going to have a hard time keeping up and sadly there isn't enough time to go one on one but the instructors make every attempt to help. It's three weeks, 160 hours. Home work makes up 40 of those 160. In all honesty, I wish at least 30 of those 40 were on the road. I recommend the optional free 10 hour DMV permit class. It helped me. I took all the endorsements and passed them all the first time. And yes, the permit class questions are almost verbatim of the DMV permit test.

When I graduated on 12/14 the Inver Grove Heights school was getting two new trucks, a day cab with an automatic and a double condo sleeper. If they have them now, it would be a nice addition.


About me:
Due to scheduling, weather, truck issues I had a slow start with a company as a student driver and am still a student driver. I take a company road test in two weeks then I get assigned a truck. In my training with the company I learned some new things because I am being taught the company way of doing things. My downshifting and docking has greatly improved. The company I chose is reimbursing my tuition, paid for orientation (free catered lunches, free motel stay, coupons for evening dining), and is paying for training. Most training companies would probably do that, but they went all out in my opinion.

I hope I didn't ramble to much and the paragraphs aren't to random... I put in 10 hours today at a temp job while waiting on a trainer for my second phase of training.

Suggestions:
Research different companies too as well as more schools. some companies offer schooling. Some offer tuition reimbursement. The community colleges offer longer courses and more road time than the standard three week schools.

 

Zangief, I chose Roehl over Swift and Werner from pre-hires. I had contacted Schneider back in November, but they were not hiring student drivers at that time. Roehl has it's faults like all companies do, but so far I am impressed with the training I have received.

The Roehl school students I have been told by the trainers end up with better shifting and backing. Roehl is very adamant on safety too. If you go with them, you will hear the term teaching 'The Roehl Way" a lot! LOL. I don't know what their current tuition is, but they reimburse it over time no matter where you went to school.

Roehl has many driver optionsl 11/3. 7/7 and 7/4-7/3. I am on the 11/3 Dry van, or will be once training is done.

I just got a call from my trainer and he will be in town tomorrow. I can't wait to get back out on the road.

I wish you luck out there. Be safe.