How do I find a reputable school? Are there any?

I learned about this when looking into Crete since they only accept people from a certified school. Since I live in Florida there are no PTDI approved schools even close to my state so....I'm going to the best one I can find which is a community college. According to the PTDI website there are only 70 schools in 29 states. If one is close to you and you can afford it then great but I don't know if traveling along way is worth it in the long run.

 

I thought I had done my research on the schools, and finally decided on Roadmaster in Kansas City MO. BIG MISTAKE!!! This is a 4 week course (because it's in MO) and I've now been there 5 weeks. I am being sent tomorrow to take my CDL test, and I am by no means ready. I am still unable to parallel park or do a 90 degree park. I'm hoping I can fake the Offset and get by with a few extra points for whichever of the other skills I get. I now realize that once the papers are signed, all the Director cares about is getting you out the door. There are 2 trainers, and 3 trucks. There is no one on one training, and if you are not as quick to pick up on the skills, you are basically left behind. Now that I've signed the papers for the tuition, I'm going through friends to help me with my skills. Seems like a waste of my money to learn how to do a straight line back and get my permit. I'm frustrated and very disappointed, especially after how excellent they made their training sound.

They preached about how many company's they work with that will help with your tuition reimbursement, but so far, I've been turned down by one company, and got a pre-hire letter from Werner, but they have not returned any of my phone calls.

I refuse to give up; I know somewhere out there I will find the right person who can teach me the skills needed to get my CDL, without the top concern being the $$$ involved. I believe and trust in truck drivers, and I know for a fact that they want to see people with REAL training driving the highways, not somebody who was ran through the "mill" just to make the school look like it is top notch.

I am bitter where Roadmaster is concerned, and especially the Director. He has told me that I can't make a career out of training; in 4 weeks I should be able to do all the skills, and while I won't be kicked out after 4 weeks, 5 weeks should be the maximum time needed. As I said, tomorrow I am being forced to take my test. If I fail, I can come back to the school on the day before my next test date for a refresher day.

One way of training may work for most, but not for all. We all learn differently, but with only one instructor for parallel & 90's, and one for straight backing & offsets, they are only catering to those who are able to learn in that one set way. If you don't learn in that way, you are sent to the end of the line and pretty much forgotten.

You also have only 2 Street legal trucks in which to practice your driving skills. With 4 students in each truck, you get about one hour of drive time each outing.

I would hazard to guess that in 5 weeks, I have had about 10 hours, tops, driving time.

Training time on the skills pad might amount to 75 hours total in the 5 weeks I've been there. The school advertises 160 hours of training. We are in class for 160 hours, but training time is much less. The first 40 hours are spent in the classroom the first week. That leaves you with 120 hours for 3 weeks. As you can see, if you break it down, you might average 100 hours total training time, if you stay for 5 weeks.

 

When they told me I was going to test I didn't think I was ready but I was. I pased just fine. There were times when I didn't think I would get it, my backing was not pretty until about the day before I went to test. I guess that's when they thougt I was ready and they took me down to the DMV without telling me that I was going to test, so I would not have time to think about it the day before, it worked for me. But I also had very good trianing one on one for 10 hours a day until I got it. And when I could not get something they would put me with a diffrent instutor that would help me diffrenlyn but even with all that trianing I still am a little unnerved at times out here on the road the first time driving at night in dallas with consrtation all most did me in and the turck broke down on me. But am getting better every day. I have a very good lead driver and he has help me a lot. Well none with week one 3 more to go. Well check in later. Christine

 

Try your local State run Technical College.The one I attended offered 270 hours plus of training.We had a very small class size and two instructors.One had someone out driving everyday & the other taught class & behind the wheel (BTW) yard time, this is your skills training.My state Ga. has the Hope Grant so I was out of pocket very little about $300 for everything. Maybe your State offers something similar?Oh yeah GOOD LUCK on the job hunt,hope it is better in your area everything is extremely slow here at present.

 

I passed the Pre Trip, but failed on the skills.

The instructor asked what was wrong with me and I told him I wasn't ready. He said, "you've had 160 hours training." I told him I'd been in class 160 hours, not 160 training. I don't think he liked that very much.

Out of our class of 10, so far 3 have passed. It took 2 of them 2 tries, and of the 3 of us that went today, 1 passed. I really thought it was just me, but the failure rate makes me think it isn't just me.

At this point in time, I'm just looking for any job that will get me a paycheck, and I will continue working on my CDL on weekends & holidays.

 

If you have a job thats paying the bills now is not the time to change. Your not going to jump into trucking and start making big bucks. Your going to be the newbie.

Trucking school does not make you a driver, it makes you a trainee. Now your going to have to deal with the real world.

After training and finally getting to your own truck your still at the bottom of the load barrel for a while. Welcome to park and call me tomorrow, your going to hear that alot.

Bottom line this is not the time to job hop... Deal with it stay put till the economy gets better.

 

I chose a community based nonprofit school near my home in Visalia, CA. They offered a 240 hour course which includes forklift certification. The school is relatively new and could improve resource allocation and time management but is overall a good experience. We could use more time behind the wheel, but the time we get is quality time.

This morning we did a night drive pulling a 53' trailer. We ran two hours south and each of us got to drive up and down the Grapevine. We each drove into a truckstop, a great place for a pee break, and a valuable lesson in truck stop etiquette. We were shown the idle air system and told about the window adapter we would have to obtain for our particular model of truck. Then we drove some more.

Don't get me wrong, the school isn't perfect. We have failures too. One on Friday was stopped by our instructor during the skills test. The driver had already racked up enough points to fail but the DMV evaluator hadn't stopped the test. The driver was about to put the rear fairing into the trailer and the instructor couldn't bear to see a truck damaged. This same driver repeatedly performed these same skills Successfully, on a course identical to DMVs course the previous day. He just completely freeked out under the pressure of the test.

While it is true that not all students learn the same way, it is also true that not everyone is cut out to be a truck driver. One student in my class gets angry when the instructor provides correctional feedback. That student will not succeed until the mouth is closed and the mind is open.

It may be nearly impossible to find a good school. I don't believe that when considering schools, "you get what you pay for" is a certain measure. I do believe that of you attend school with the mindset that they should spoonfeed skills and knowledge or that you will emerge a confident CMV operator you will be disappointed. If you don't have basic trailer backing skills in an automobile or if you do not have good spatial perception, yup are likely to have a difficult time.

One last thought or question. I read a lot of chatter about the schools only teaching the information to pass the DMV tests. Keep in mind that you only have 5 or 6 weeks... what exactly do you think they should teach? Isn't your goal to get a CDL and then a job. Most already complain they don't get enough time behind the wheel. No school can remain solvent charging what they are charging if they have to run training trucks with only two students per truck.


It is

 

I have no job or income at all at this time. Like many other positions in our uncertain economy, clerical positions are some of the first to go. And clerical personnel are a dime a dozen. 20+ years of experience means nothing these days. Most companies now require a 2 year college degree just to be a file clerk. I am a realist, and I know that as a newbie starting out I won't be making money hand over fist. I also know that I am a dinosaur in the clerical field. I don't have all the "exceptional knowledge" required these days to compete with the younger generations. I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I'm just stating the facts.

 

In response to Rick G who said:

I don't know about anyone else on here but I am not looking for a guarantee. I have been unemployed for the last 4 months with little chance of finding a decent job and about the only guarantee I have right now is continued unemployment if I do nothing. If I come away with nothing else I will at least have a Class A CDL that will allow me to access other job opportuinities that would otherwise be unavailable to me.