Starting at TDI Indianapolis

So it's finally happening! I'm going to be starting at TDI in Indianapolis on Monday (6/17). I've been planning to do this for quite some time and now I finally have a start time! I hope to keep a fairly regular blog of my school and then continue on into my first job. Wish me luck! Oh, and if anyone has any tips or stories about their experience at TDI, please let me know!

 

I chose TDI because I'd read a lot of good things about them, they are relatively inexpensive (compared to some other schools) and they do in-house financing. Plus, they have partnerships with like 20 different trucking companies. While I'm in school, I'll be staying with my parents and going home on the weekends.

 

Well day 1 is done. There were 11 people to start, but one decided to come back and start next week instead, leaving us with 10. A nice small class. This morning was mostly enrollment paperwork, then we went to do physicals and drug tests. We finished the day by going through the first couple of sections of the Indiana CDL manual to prepare for permit testing on Wednesday. It was a long day, that's for sure, but it feels good to finally be started!

 

This first week will all be classroom work. We go to the BMV to get our CDL permits tomorrow. Weeks 2 and 3 will be range and road work. I'm eager to get to the actual driving!

 

Forgot to post yesterday. We spent all day yesterday preparing for the CDL permit tests, which we took today. I passed all 3 required tests, but wasn't able to get my permit due to my physical form. Here's what happened. I got my DOT physical at my home doctor's office before I came to school, but the form I gave to the PA who did my phsyical didn't have the medical certificate. I explained this to the school and they said that as long as I kept the long form physical with me, I shouldn't have any problem while driving, applying for jobs, etc. However, that's apparently not good enough for the Indiana BMV. They told me that I had to have the certificate before they can issue me a permit. I faxed a blank certificate to my doctor's office in Fort Wayne, and by the end of the day today, I still haven't gotten it back. Hopefully it comes tomorrow. If not, I'll just suck it up and go to the doctor the school uses down here on Friday. We start on the trucks on Monday, so I'm pretty sure I have to have my permit by then. We'll see how everything goes.