MTC Hazelwood MO 2014

I agree with Patty, ryfry. For instance, my class was once "overburden" with about 8 extra students that failed from the previous class (some screwed up their skills test, and some failed the road test). That caused us to have to twiddle our thumbs while the instructors allowed THEM more time to practice in the trucks for re-tests, to be done the following week. But other than a few days messed up (my class was 240 hours, 6 weeks long, 40 hrs per week) the rest was fairly decent.

We typically made about 10-15 straight line backs each of the first 3 days. We also drove on the road, starting on the second day, and usually at least every other day, for about 1 hour per day. Total road time over the 6 weeks ended up being about 22 hours for me. More would have been even better. Most of the angle and alley dock practice would be on a gradual increasing allotted time, roughly about 6-8 docking maneuvers over an 8 hour day. We spent a *lot* of time, especially in the first 3 weeks, all strongly devoted to pre-trip. A thorough pre-trip was drilled into our heads, and covered every piece of the truck from front bumper to rear DOT bar, but especially the air system and brake system.

Personally, I think every trucking school should have to justify every dollar you pay. I've seen too many, like your school, that seem to give about $1000 of actual learning/teaching quality.... for an overpriced tuition in the neighborhood of $4000 on up. Pre-trip can be taught with large classes, but the instructor still must be available to give students individual help and training. But skills and road test have to be done with no more than 4 students per instructor,, max. That's the 2 areas where a student really needs close individualized instruction. Just my two cents...

BUT,, no matter what school you go to... MOST of your real training will come when you get on the road, driving for whatever company you decide. Companies vary like night & day, and with some you'll be with their trainer, but if it works out like my first company, they hand you the keys and the BOL (bill of lading) and say "See ya", as you drive off into the sunset... alone.

 

Let me tell you something,I know exactly what you're going thru.I took the course twice.First time was 5 weeks with only 1 instructor and like 30 of us.Most the time was in class watching videos.Very little driving and only a half a day of backing in that entire 5 week course.Drove maybe an hr a week.But the course was free because a computer company laid me off and paid for it.Come time to test out was a disgrace to say the least.I ended up going thru a college the second time sill had trouble nerves got the best of me but I did finally pass.Right now my friend its not sounding very favorable you'll pass.Its not from lack of trying because you have the strive,will,smarts determination to defeat what you're going thru but you need far better then these so called instuctors.Please don't let this get the best of you.Monday you go in there with a positive attitude and demand that they teach you more then what they're doing now.

 

It's downright discusting these scam schools take every cent of the students hard earned money and could care after that if they pass or not.Does'nt any schools take pride in their teaching anymore.

 

Yep, it's best to wear tennis shoes when learning to double clutch & shift. Your foot is more flexible that way, and has a better 'feel' to the clutch pedal.
You'll get better with double clutching with each additional practice on the road. Have patience and nerves play an important part. Relax = best results.
Timing is the important part. When shifting, counting (in your head or out loud) helps. Count ONE..dot..TWO. The dot is a slight hesitation while the shifter hits the neutral gate, between the gears.

Originally, many years before I went to a "trucking school", I only learned to float shift right from the get-go. When I went to school years later, double clutching was as foreign to me as speaking Russian. I always had a tendency to push way too far on the clutch when double-clutching. With practice it got much better and my leg "learned" to do just a slight double tap on the clutch pedal, as that was all it really needed. That, plus a few times counting ONE..(dot)..TWO out loud got things in sync.
Also, don't have a "death grip" on the shifter knob. You only need slight/moderate forward pressure when coming out of a rearward gate gear (into a forward gate gear) and just 2-finger rearward pressure when doing the reverse (coming from a forward gate gear to a rearward gate gear).

 

I agree with what you are saying for the most part but a school doesnt need to explain anything to the student regarding where their money is going. As long as the student is getting exactly what they paid for, it is really none of the students business.

$4000 is hardly overpriced, that works out to about $25.00 per hour on a 160 hour program. Hardly unreasonable considering how much it cost to run anything with trucks, employee payroll, advertising, insurance, property lease or mortgage....the list goes on. Anything trucking related is expensive as hell, especially when students are beating the hell out of your equipment.

It all depends on what you get out of the program and what you make of it after your graduate. $4000 is the cheapest tuition you will ever find to convert it to a career making the kind of money new drivers can make. You wouldnt believe what people drop on college educations these days just to end up working at Starbucks.

I agree with you, student to instructor ratio is paramount. Yes, 4 to 1 is the absolute max I would think reasonable. Getting 1 to 2 backs a day is ridiculous OP, you are getting ripped off.

 

Good deal,sounds like you're doing much better.I'm glad you're keeping us updated I've been keeping tabs on this thread closely.We're all on your side and im the cheerleader,rah rah rah,lol.

 

OP knows hes getting ripped off,too late to do anything about it now.What we can do is support him.

 

Agreed, Twin Screws. My choice of wording allowed misinterpretation. I didn't mean the school had to justify every dollar in an itemized literal sense, but really meant the quality of the total training should fall closely inline to the comparable practice time and quality of instruction of a grouping/average of reputable schools (nationwide) in the same business. I'm glad you posted and allowed me to clarify this.

I agree that the $25 per hour isn't excessive, by any means, and is very reasonable. But even at that reasonable cost, it can result in "not so much a bargain" if too many instructional hours are missed due to the school's own staff arriving late on possibly an excessive, rather than reasonable, tardiness rate. No school will be perfect. But it should maintain a certain threshold for both quality and actual hours performed vs hours advertised.

 

At first op thought 4 grand was a reasonable cost for the school otherwise he wouldn't have signed up.What he didn't know is all the time the instuctors being late and I think he said 45 minutes getting a trk fixed it all adds up fast and all all gets counted against his 160 hr clock.I wonder just how much of the 160 hrs he is actually receiving.By the time school is over my guess would be 120 hrs at most.