SWIFT Corsicana School Review

My teammate and I just finished up school yesterday at the SWIFT academy in Corsicana. Here's as detailed an accounting of my experience as I can put together, for anyone thinking about going.

Pre-Arrival:
My recruiter was very nice and kept in touch throughout everything prior to leaving for school. She was always available within a timely manner to answer questions. No complaints about her leading me through the steps to get ready to go. She made sure to tell me that since I was driving myself, I needed to keep my receipt for fuel to take to orientation once I finished school and they would reimburse me up to the cost of a bus ticket. That was nice.

Supplies to bring:
Work Gloves
Sunscreen and/or a wide-brim hat (those fishing or safari style hats work well)
Sunglasses
White out
Calculator
Watch
Notebook
Blue AND black pens
Laundry detergent
$200-$300 cash for groceries/other expenses


Arrival/Hotel:
Arrived on Sunday to the La Quinta. It was being remodeled, which was a bit of a pain with various sections of the hotel and accommodations within being inaccessible during some of our stay. Luckily, my teammate and I are both women and were able to room together, so no strange roommate. Be AWARE, if you are going with someone of the same gender that you know, you very likely will get to room together initially, but as people come and go, they very well may split you up and give you other roommates. Almost happened to two other ladies that arrived together.
There were reports of bed bugs, and I saw the bites all over one of our classmates, and they were NOT terribly timely about moving him into a non-infested room. I would have expected them to move him immediately, but they made him stay in that room another night before they moved him. They DID, however, wash all of his clothing and ran it through high heat in the dryer a few times at no charge to kill any infestation of his personal items.
The pool is nice, there is a hot tub and a gym and a coin-operated laundry. The hotel will also do your laundry for you at $8 a load. They will allow you to have coffee and pastries in the morning before the bus arrives, but don't expect any more than that for breakfast. They company does NOT pay them for the breakfast, so they just allow those exceptions to be nice. They are not joking when they say the bus leaves at 5:30am SHARP. In fact, one of the drivers will leave even a couple of minutes before that. The school has a motto: "If you're early, you're on time. If you're on time, you're late. If you're late...???"

First Week (Classroom):
The first week is classroom week, and it is short. Monday-Thursday. Monday they will take you to the clinic to get physicals for any who don't already have it (or need it redone) and your drug test. This will take a few hours. You will then be taken back to the school and they provide you pizza for lunch this ONE day. No other food is provided for you during school. The pizza will be pepperoni unless anyone has special dietary needs, in which they will make sure you are accommodated.
Tuesday is also a classroom day, and I believe this is the day they teach you about how to read a map. Pay attention. That map reading test is the hardest one you will take on Thursday. Ask questions if you don't understand anything.
Wednesday will be your first day in the truck, and you will spend all day driving forward in a straight line, and driving backwards in a straight line. It's a bit harder than it sounds, at first. You will be in small groups taking turns. Take your time and pay attention. Just remember, small corrections, and Turn Toward Trouble.
Thursday is your test day. In the morning you will get just a little more practice at backing, and then test on it. Going forward and backward twice. If you can't pass, you go home. If you can't figure out how to back up in a straight line in a day, then trucking probably isn't for you. Don't sweat it too much if you realize you're not going to get it. Your first three days of school are free for this exact reason. If by the end of Wednesday you just aren't getting it at all, quit. You owe nothing. DO NOT show up on Thursday if you can't back that truck in a straight line. Failing that test will cost you something like $800 in tuition. But be polite and at least inform the school. They do worry about what might have happened to you if you just ghost on them. Your afternoon will be spent back in the classroom taking tests. Your hardest test will be the last one, the test on your map reading skills. For this test only, you will be allowed to get into groups of 3. If you aren't that confident with it, try to be strategic about it and identify someone in your class who is good at it and ask them to group with you for the test. I carried two other girls (including my driving partner) through that test since I already knew how to read a map and calculate distances.

 

Second Week (Range):
Friday is the first day of the second week. This week will be spent out on the back range learning two new backing maneuvers. Off-set, and parallel, along with your pre-trip and air brake tests. PAY ATTENTION to the pointers your instructors give you (especially Mr. Charles Ginn). This is where the "I'm a tough guy and I already know what I'm doing" egos get the best of people. Don't be that guy. Be humble, listen, and learn. This week, in my opinion, is the hardest. Think things through. This is a great time to start really paying attention to how that trailer reacts to what you do. If you can figure out how that trailer behaves, you can figure out how to fix your mistakes if you don't get it right the first time. Don't be mentally lazy. Ask questions. Request attention from the instructors if you need help. They have large classes, and if you don't put yourself in their faces every now and then when you need help, you can be overlooked and end up failing your evaluations. You're paying for this education, demand attention if you need it. Women especially tend to be a little meek about requesting help from the instructors. Failing to do so can cost you a LOT. Put your big girl panties on and make yourself seen and heard. Charles Ginn CAN and WILL teach you how to put that truck in the box every time, if you will listen and learn. He'll pick on you a bit, it's just his way, but suck it up and learn. He truly is a master at teaching this.
Keep up with your logs and PTDI sheets. You will kick yourself so hard if you get behind. Update, update, update.
This is the first week you can use AP (Academic Probation) if you have to. If you fail two shots at the evaluation, you can repeat the week. Try not to, but don't freak out if you do. This really is the hardest week, and the most likely time you'll need AP. I saw a few people go on AP for this week, but no one went on AP for the third week while I was there. You only get one AP, so if you use it on range week, you don't have it available for drive week.

Week Three (Drive):
Third week you get split into small groups of 3 or 4 with a drive instructor. This is the week where you really learn how to drive the truck. Every instructor is a little different, but I don't think there are any bad ones. Whichever instructor you have the first day is the one you'll spend the week with unless they have a good reason to switch you to someone else. If you have never even touched a clutch before this school, don't worry. I was in your same boat. I learned, and I passed my CDL on the second try. They CAN and WILL teach you to drive that truck. Again, just be humble, think, and learn. Ask questions. Take advice from your instructor. And above all, don't forget that you are driving that truck. No matter what you're working on and learning, safety comes first. Whatever decision you make should have safety as the number one priority. If you're learning to shift but coming up to railroad tracks and aren't sure you could shift before reaching them, don't. Take them in whatever gear you're in. DON'T try to up/down shift and end up stopping or stalling on the tracks. I had trouble with stalling while trying to get moving from a stop on an incline. That first day I was at a red light, waiting to take a left, on an incline, and I rolled back a little and stalled. I knew a car was close behind me, so I looked over at my instructor, informed her that there was a car behind me and I wasn't moving that truck, because I didn't want to risk rolling back and hitting it. She tried to encourage me to try, but I refused, and she took over. I was not going to risk an accident. She would not have been able to help me stay in school if I had hit that car. I'd have been out. Safety first, above all. She understood, and I don't think she had a problem with my decision. Protect yourself, your chances of getting your CDL, and everyone around you, even if it is embarrassing.

Overall, I think the program was great, but tough. It is fast paced. I felt like I would have been more comfortable and less stressed if the program was even just one week longer. Don't go into it thinking it will be easy. It will not. I don't know why, but men end up quitting at a surprising rate. Not so much women; not a single female quit while I was there, but quite a few men did. There were also quite a few people that had already flunked out of other schools, and felt that the training they got with SWIFT was much better. Ladies, I think you will feel very safe and supported with this school. They were VERY concerned with making sure we were not harassed and felt welcome. The whole time I was there, I felt very comfortable that if I had to report someone for harassment, I would have been taken seriously. That's not to say that there weren't some guys who tried to flirt, even with me wearing a wedding band, but no one ever made me feel uncomfortable.

Last but not least, while you're there, focus on what you are learning NOW. Don't worry about what comes next. You will get there and you can worry about it then. Focus on what's right in front of you at that moment.

The end. Happy to answer questions if there are any.

 

It was important to me. I've read/heard a lot of horror stories from female truckers about harassment or worse and companies not taking them seriously and basically having a "blame the victim" mentality. Can't speak for all of SWIFT, but at that school, I had the impression that they were very concerned with EVERYONE feeling as safe and comfortable as possible while learning. I was very happy with the level of professionalism and diversity.

 

That's where we are going for our orientation, but someone told me there is a terminal closer to us in Houston... wondering if it is possible to make that our home terminal.

 

I'm not so worried about being harassed out on the road... though I'm sure it can happen. I was more concerned with being considered "fresh meat" during school, which is apparently a problem at a lot of schools. I just wanted to address it by saying that I didn't have that problem, and none of the other ladies I met there had an issue either. And IF there had been an issue, I felt confident that it would have been taken seriously and not just swept under the rug with an attempt to shame me into silence.