FFE Your thoughts!!!

ok so i didn't have to take anything but the combination test. yay! since i had class b in my home state, texas transferred it over. it's been great here so far. really enjoying learning all this and can't wait to get up inside a truck...it has been too long..lol

 

I'll never do FFE academy again. It was somewhat of a good experience on meeting other cdl applicants as well. But they dropping cdl applicant like flies. I don't get how you arrive there on sunday & by wednesday they want you to take a "out of state" texas CDL permit test. I shocked myself after I fail it the 1st time on wednesday they gave me a 2nd time to try it again & I pass it the next day. If you fail wednesday they'll give you up to thursday to try to pass it if you don't seeyonnarra. Shockingly they keep some people "only extremely a few that failed" until friday to pass that texas cdl permit. They also want you to sign a "lease purchase" program they found sugar in my urine. So I spent half of my day in medical trying to get my medical card & when medical clear me I only spent half of a day practice shifting "unlike everybody else had all day to practice shifting. I spoken with the pres. of the school Mark & I forgot the director name I think is Larry. But they both are cool. The next day "after spending half of day practicing shifting" they had my greyhound ticket ready for me to go home. When I spoken with mark & larry about this they felt "I wasn't catching on fast enough" even after I told them I didn't get the whole day to spend on driving. They also told me I can come back in try to school 6 months later. This was back in feb of this year. I just told them alrite thanks for the opportunity anyway. You think Imma come back in august or anytime after august or every again HHHEEELLLLLLLLL NNNOOOOOOO. I enjoy my time there not gonna lie but to really sit up there & have me pass that out of state CDL permit & then all for the next following week to tell me due to medical that they felt I wasn't catching on fast enough. I rather just work to pay for the driving school off or just wait for my state to get the federal WIA funding to go to school. It's ashame they can't work with you. You'll have a total of about 25 students in monday class soon as everybody start & by friday (if you can make it to last long by then) watch how the flies drop. Don't be amaze with how many students will be left standing. I wonder if the state of Texas ever caught on to there scheme about them taking students out of state that don't belong there & giving them a temporarily texas residents. It's even more worse when you get drop from the school "after surrendering your state ID to texas" how much of a headache you'll get to obtain your original state ID. I'll never go through that again.

 

I went there at the end of last year, at no point while I was there did I sign a lease agreement. You sign a contract for amount of the school tuition. The reason people drop like flies is because not everyone is cut out to be a truck driver. They will not just slide you thru school just because your willing to go into debt for the tuition. Im a trainer for the company and Im glad they have a process in place to keep the non potentials from getting in my truck and putting my life in danger so that they can make buck. Its unfortunate that you had a bad experience, I wasnt there so I cant take sides, nor do I want to. I just know that they do things there for a reason. I watched guys in my class get sent home too. My roomate got sent home cause he overslept twice and was late to class twice.
Now for the out of state residency thing to work you have to show the state of texas that you live here to get a tx cdl. once you get it you transfer to you home state. Its not fraud, its just the way things work.

Really, you cant blame them for not turning their head and letting you slide thru. Remeber it take more than desire to drive a truck. you have to have the skill too.

 

letting me "slide" through. Really while everybody spending from morning til the evening "practicing shifting" while I'm in medical until 12pm & your in my situation when you only have barely 4 hours left to drive THEN you can talk to me about "letting me slide" I don't know if you took the state of texas cdl permit or if you had your CDL before you join. If you had your CDL before you joining "they not gonna not gonna try the lease crap" but it's a SCAM there's no other way to try to substitute it. When FFE have a classroom of students & people ARE abiding by the school rules, they are on time, they pass the cdl permit test etc & the state of texas have a schedule road test for you on Feb. 26th & the school is making no progress to train students with sufficient amount of timing (that includes spending half your day in medical) & the school drop you cause they felt "you werent fast enough" & book your trip home the next day "NOW" you don't have NO state ID because you just surrender your ID to the state of Texas & the school drop you & you left with no ID. You call that not scaming. If not then please enlighten me on the proper term to use.

oh & btw if you arrive in class on a monday & you get a "out of state" cdl exam test on wed. If that's not a scam then enlighten me what exactly is this. fast pace or no fast pace. a CDL is NOT something nobody is gonna be able to study a FULL book in 2 days. we not talking about "REGULAR" drivers license we talking a CDL book. giving 2 days. You would have to lose a TON of sufficient amount of sleep & still stay up studying that book. This point can't be disputed. I witness this 1st hand

 

yes, i had to go take the test to get my permit. your recruiter should have emailed you the sections of the cdl handbook to study before you came to the school. your local dmv has these books free too. may not be texas cdl handbook, but alot of the information is the same. they go over sample test with you in class. so by the time you get to dmv to take the test you are prepared. then after class you can sit down and study. yes the first couple of days are consumed with studying, but it gets the job done.
The lease purchase thing i think you are refering to is the lease purchase of a truck. You have to be with FFE for six months solo after you get off your trainers truck to even APPLY for the lease purchase, even then you have to be approved by your driver manager, safety and two separate interviews with lease operator recruiter and an accountant that does tax work o/o, l/o. I KNOW THIS CAUSE IM DOING IT AND HAVE A FRIEND FROM THE ACADEMY THAT WENT THERE THE SAME TIME THAT I DID, BE TURNED DOWN FOR LEASE PURCHASE.

Im trying to understand if your upset cause you got sent home or if the school is a scam. If you knew the school was a scam why did you stay? you never claimed in your other post that the school was a scam until after you were sent home.
Look the point Im trying to make is that the school is good. You will learn the necessary skills needed to go with a trainer and fine tune those skills to become a otr driver. Other people come on here and ask is it good or bad. Meaning will i learn anything or am I wasting my time. Your circumstances about medical problems or shifting problems has nothing to do with that.
Its a proven fact that people will talk about a bad experence 8-10 times more than they would about a good experience.

 

Also Ive googled the academy being fined and nothing came up, so not sure were you got that information either. I heard from the mouths of the head guys at the school that some students got tickets because they never changed their license over to their home state. So when DOT asked them is them is this your correct address, the student replied "no".= ticket or warning. aslo if you had sugar in your urine that is possible signs that your body is not processing sugar correctly and could be early signs of diabetes. So you may have got sent home for that too. but we will never know.

 

No let me rectify that your right you dont sign a lease op there my fault ill admit. I took the sheet out that I sign to look & it just says "its my goal to own my own buisness" as a lease operator. I had a fair share of good exp in there wit roomates & my inst Max. Shes a great instructor & will make sure you comprehend the concept of driving. Ill never take that from them. Far as the test goes NOT all state CDL Exams are the same. NJ CDL far as the air brakes part have a slight different seconds of psi. But your right it they send it & at the sametime they send it theyll book your trip that same following friday for you to arrive monday. My main thing im sayin I cant speak for workin for da company cause I dont got that exp. But I CAN speak far as the school goes & its not just the point that they drop me. But HOW me being drop was unjustified. I dont kno how the company is but the school sure as hell sucks. I heard creng worse. But my thing is I spent half my day in medical & only 3 hours "unsufficient" amount of driving & they gonna send me home knowin nothin wasnt wrong wit me & I only had 3 hours of driving. Ill tell you this speak about that exp ONLY if you had the view to witness that. Cmon 3 hours out of what I think 8 hours of tryin to practice shifting on that monday. Or you still see 3 hours of practicing compare to a whole day is sufficient

 

I graduated the academy and passed the DPS road test earlier today. This school is not a scam. If you truly want a CDL and do what they say, you will get one.

Our class started with about 27 people. Most people left because they chose to. One person was sent home because he was an idiot. He was late twice and it was obvious he did not care about being here. There were two or three other students that had a really hard time getting the hang of driving the truck. They obviously wanted to succeed, the instructors recognized that, and they were given individual instruction. Unfortunately, two of those students did not make it and they were sent home last Friday. In the first week there were two students who did not pass all 5 tests in the time alotted and they were sent home; however, they later obtained their permits on their own and were in the class that started the following week. Out of the 27 who started, about 16 graduated. Since early 2011, the school's graduation rate is about 67%. That information is in the packet they give you on the first day.

This school does everything it can - within reason, to help students succeed. In the past two weeks I saw nothing that makes me think otherwise. This school is not perfect, but nothing in life is. Most of the instructors care about what they are doing, and they do an exceptional job. Again, it's not perfect, but no school is. I never drove a truck before 10 days ago, and now I feel very confident that I could take that truck anywhere and do it safely. I have no idea what to do at a shipper or at a dock, but that's what the next 6 weeks of training are for.

If you apply yourself, you will get through this course. It's that simple. If you think this is a place to party and make friends, you will have a harder time. My personal opinion is that our graduating class should have actually been much smaller. The fact that it wasn't is proof that FFE wants to give people a chance to succeed.

Students start driving the truck during week two. On Monday they learn shifting. On Tuesday they learn turns. On Wednesday and Thursday they drive in increasingly difficult situations. On Friday morning they are evaluated by their instructors, and those that don't pass are re-evaluated by the lead instructor. Those that can't pass that second evaluation go home. The trucks have 4 students and they are on the road about 8 hours a day. That means that each student will drive about two hours a day, for a total of 8 hours of training during the week. 8 hours might not seem like a lot, but it was enough for me to go from never having driven a truck to getting a 98 on the DPS road test. I think that proves that the training works.

Students who are sent home for medical reasons can return if their doctor says they are OK to do so. Our class had a returning student that was previously sent home for a urine-related problem. That student consulted their doctor, the doctor monitored the condition, and then cleared the student to return. That student brought that paper when they returned and there was no problem getting a medical card. Having sugar in your urine or high blood pressure might get you sent home, but if you doctor clears you, you can then come back. I saw it happen with my own eyes. There's no reason to bash FFE because of your medical condition. If you had consulted a doctor and had the condition evaluated, you could have easily returned when your doctor cleared you.

I do remember seeing a paper that had something to do with a lease agreement. Or at least I think I do. I do not remember signing it. If I did, then I guess I am in for a surprise in 6 weeks. We'll see what happens then.

 

You have internet access, right? The manual is available online. Your recruiter should have also sent it to you. If you needed more time to study, you could have asked your recruiter to change your admission date. People who succeed find a way to do so, no matter what.

I'm not trying to start a flame war, but if you really wanted this you would have done more research ahead of time and been better prepared. After reading your posts, the academy might have done you a favor by sending you home. You can't drive a truck without planning, being prepared and being engaged. If you had actually passed this course, my personal opinion is that it would not have taken very long for you to have hit something with your truck. I apologize if you are offended, but everything in your posts is a warning sign. If you were oblivious as to what to expect at the academy, I think it's reasonable to conclude that you would be oblivious while driving a truck - and that can be deadly.

 

Dont you sound like a #######. The school DID do me a favor by dropping me. 1st.off I didnt say I FAILED when they re exam me the 2nd time I "DID" say I spent half a day in medical & about 3 hours of driving I did NOT state I was sent home because I was driving. You talking about me hitting something "which since I been back home I got more hours of driving then you acquired. You better hope you dont hit nothin on the road during your 1 year or you can start coughing back there funds. 2nd I didnt FAIL the written test the 2nd time "again" (attention to detail). "if the school see you trying your hardest theyll work with you". Well I wish you could explain that to the 55% of people (excluding myself) FFE (just like Steven & cr) would say "ANYTHINGZ to make themselves look like they doing buisness "well the academy part im speaking about. Somethin either wrong with you to understand I said "my negative exp" I spent half my day in medical cause I didnt get my medical card & the other 3 2 hours of driving. "barely a hour & a half while im on the truck with 3 other students" THEN they told me gettin dropped I ask why & tjey told me when I told them I barely got 2 hours of driving whats up wit that. I might as well pay EZ Wheels $500 for 3 hours of driving on 1on1. I didnt complain no more besides glad to be home & not on nobodies leash "no offense to anybody doin there 1 year much respect to ya. I know my classmate kim left cause she told me the instructor was being a real disrespectful b#%th. I was shock cause I didnt have no problem with my instructor candy or max. They are great instructors. The mess up part that screw me up "more then me gettin drop" was after surrundering my NJDL. Texas schedule me for a road test feb 27 & I came back home wit no ID. I call texas & told them about the bull of why I had to surrender my license & they was surprise. I think they did get fine for issues like that another user posted it in a different topic. I went through #### war tryin to get my NJDL back. Then I call up the school tellin mark I need that texas ID I kno texas gonna mail it to the school. He transfer me to there counselor & after 3 weeks I believe it was I got that state ID. thats another reason why I said ill never do that truck drivin scam again. You wont have me surrendering my state ID just to progress & you feel I should be drop when medi,al holding me before they clear me & ill only get 1.5 hours to drive im goid where im at baby.