Looking for a good trucking school around midway airport

Didn't go to either but see their trucks up and down the road regularly. I went to the Hickory Hills location for Star, they have some space in the Hercules terminal off 95th Street just West of the Tri-State.

I went a few years back before the skills testing changed to what it is now, but back then they seemed to do a good job. I only went to 1 school so I can't say for sure but to a point it's my opinion that they are all going to teach you to the test. State guys came out to test you at the location, and they know what to expect from them because they are the same guys normally so they teach you all they can in general but also tell you to bone up on certain things because you will be asked about them specifically.

Went thru weekend classes so not to much interaction with weekday instructors but they seemed to know what they were doing from the little I saw. Weekend guys were good at the time and the guy that did the yard training on weekends (Gerry) was still there as of a couple months ago, don't know about the other 2.

The guy that was in charge of that location (they have 3 locations I think), Ray, can be intimidating as hell and he will expect a lot from you but on the other hand if he sees that you are trying and want to learn something he will take however long is needed to teach you. If you do weekend classes you probably won't interact with him to much.

The 2 drawbacks I can remember off the top of my head was at the time they 48 foot trailers, not 53, and having to adjust to the group learning thing, which was new for me. When you're young in school everyone works on the same thing at the same time... today we do addition, tomorrow we do division, #### like that. At CDL school you're in groups within your group as some guys are rotating thru yard skills while others might be do air brakes and the instructor is bouncing around to everyone answering/asking questions and showing how to do things. For me that difference was the hardest adjustment.

I remember I talked to Progressive and was pretty much going to go there until I read the paperwork you had to sign. Don't know if it's changed but at the time there were items in there about being charged for every time you hit a cone, or if you actually broke one. If you end up there make sure to read the fine print, I don't know if they still have that or not.

 

Forgot the most important part.... if you call or stop there don't let Shelly scare you to death. When you look up "Mouth like a truck driver" in the dictionary there is a picture of her, she is pure South Side, but she's the best.

 

South Side in the house!

 

Well that may have changed by now, you'd need to ask about it. I know at the time it was a tipping factor for me, there was no way I was going to pay someone more in fines for running over their cones then i was going to pay them to teach me how to drive.

 

FFE (Frozen Food Express) pays for cdl school in Chicago. They also give you a decent job. One good benefit is, when you're on home time you can park at the terminal in Chicago, so don't have to worry about a safe place to park while you're relaxing at home.
I think FFE sends you to Prairie State College in Chicago.