International Trucking School (ITS) Lansing, MI

We have now completed 4 weeks of instruction: 1 week in classroom and 3 weeks on range.

I wanted to give a great review at this point. But, I have not been completely satisfied with ITS.
To be clear and upfront, I feel that I am ready to test with the third party examiner on this Monday.
I feel that many of the students in my cohort are ready for their times scheduled next week.

To be even more clear and upfront, I feel that I would have been ready to test after one day. I did my research before school and new what I needed to do and I have good perception and coordination, so the only reason I had to go to school was to get behind the wheel and put it all together. If I had spent 30 minutes practicing shifting, maybe 2 hours backing, then another couple hours driving in real world situations practicing speed control, gear selection, left and right turning, etc. I would have been more than ready to test.

The fact is that I got this time, but spread over 3 weeks! I expected to get more than a total of 4 road driving sessions of about 20-30 minutes each. This may have been enough for me, but maybe not for some other students. We could debate sometime whether anyone needs more than this. For instance, If you can't get it in this amount of time then you probably don't have what it takes to be a safe and professional driver. I am not trying to get into this debate now. What I am saying is that if some one goes to cdl school to learn to drive, that person should be given proper time and instruction to learn to drive.

I apologize for the rant. For one, I tend to be long winded. For two, I spent 6 hours standing on the range Friday only to perform one series of backing manuevers for which I was graded for class transcripts. Our class had plenty of time to share our gripes and build up a concensus of dissatisfaction.

Our problems consisted of poorly maintained equipment, not enough instructors, not enough trucks, poor communication, and unprofessional behavior.

Let me get in here that I think that the instructors and office personel are good people and I have very little problems with any of them. They have varied personalities but I think they care and I have been pleased with my treatment, personally,

We had 3 trucks. One was not road legal because of expired tags or something. One had a misadjusted transmission that gave everyone fits. One had a breakdown on the road and missed three days in repair. Yesterday morning, that same truck was found to have a severly worn universal joint between the steering column and gearbox. We removed it ourselves and are waiting to get a replacement to be reinstalled this weekend. I am supposed to test in this truck and won't know if it will be ready until I call my instructor Sunday evening.

We had 3 instructors. One was not certified (supposed to receive it this weekend in mail). One began to have medical issues that kept him on the range (as in not comfortable going on the road). Thus only one went on the road in one truck. And this truck didn't go out every day.

Ideally, with three trucks running and road legal and three instructors certified and healthy, we would each have had a much better experience. But under our circumstances, we spent way too much time waiting around and way too much time on the range standing around. This also created times of miscommunication and disorganization while instructors were trying to find a way to keep us occupied and make the best of what we actually had.

One part is that ITS-Lansing is experiencing growth in class sizes and is not supported with the equipment or personel to meet the demand. Our class of 15 was said to be their largest class, and it is reported that the next class could be about 20 students. They are experiencing going pains.

Overall, I think that ITS could be a great program. We may have just had a bad run. Oh well. Or, it may be that ITS is mismanaged from the top and the Lansing campus is getting a raw deal right now. I don't know. All I know is that I got what I needed, at a cost. I would recommend someone to go there, but with the right attitude to take it seriously and pay attention and be prepared to make the most of his/her time... and don't give in to the gripes because the life of trucker is bound to be full of unfortunate events and opportunities to gripe and giving in to the negative will not make anything better.

I hope this thread helps others. I will post again Monday night with my CDL in hand.

 

OK. All is well that ends well. I passed today and already have my temporary cmv operators license in my pocket.

I really hope that I did not discourage anyone from going to ITS. If you are near Lansing and need to go to an independent school (rather than company sponsered) then ITS can work for you. I post this only to be honest about my experience and maybe give a heads up to others.

I give them three and a half stars: good enough.

Good luck driver!

 

My "good enough" experience has paid off. I put in my money, my time, and my effort and did all they asked of me. Ultimately, my school records reflect my performance and attitude. The result: I started my first job this week on Monday, exactly one week after getting my CDL. Finishing orientation/training this week. My above conclusion repeated: "ITS can work for you."