College or truck driving schook

It depends. If you're trying to get on with some companies that have terminals in your local area, I'd go with the more expensive school. The more expensive school would most likely have hiring relationships with these companies and you have an instant foot in the door with the companies that recruit out of those schools.

I'll give you an example. In my area, we have a few companies. I'll use Poppy State Express as an example. If you go to Western Pacific Truck School, the admissions rep personally knows the hiring manager over there at Poppy State. In return, the hiring manager feels very familiar and comfortable with Western Pacific's curriculum. If you submit an application to Poppy State Express and the hiring manager sees "Western Pacific Truck School" on the app, he will immediately put your app at the top of the pile ... because he has a personal, and business relationship with that school. The end result is that Western Pacific Truck School graduates have a shot at getting on with the leading LTL refrigerated company on the west coast.

What are you trying to do with your license? You got local companies in mind? Give the terminal manager a call and feel out their reactions on which school is better. Sometimes these schools will teach you barely enough to get your license and kill everybody on the road...

 

Is there such a thing as an *accredited* CDL training program/school?

 

most schools are accredited
and only accredited schools are accepted by the insurance co of the carrier
from talking to other drivers and being a recruiter for transam
I found local college courses thou longer
prepared students much more then just to pass the state test
if I was starting over today never have driven I would ONLY consider the longer college course
many drivers on the road today still have no idea what they are doing
browse the threads and you will see that
as drivers with years of experience can not understand the HOS regulations

or the driver with 7 years experience that hit my truck yesterday in the parking lot
because his tandems were too far back and he didn't know why

to become professional it requires more then just getting your license and making a paycheck