First time driver who paid for their own schooling: Do you feel like you got....

For another take... I went to a SAGE Technical School in Henderson CO. Pretty much the same deal - about $4k tuition, 160 hours, 4 weeks of driving. So about the same deal, because the curriculum was PTDI approved. Just don't plunk your money down at the first school you stop at. Check it out, and make sure the actual driving is one instructor riding with one student.

 

Same school I went to. Very much worth the cost.

 

i felt like they went out of the way to make sure i got good training knowing i paid my own way unlike every other person there at the time. it def shows you are serious.

 

At this time I will only say that I graduated from school with a CDL and a potential job offer with the company I wanted to be with. I chose this school because they were PTDI certified and I also got a cert. from a local college.

Something I felt odd about was they handed out a survey at graduation which we had to put our name on and it would be in our permanent file. They said they wanted "honest" feedback on their performance and areas they could improve on. I declined to put anything other than my name since they had not handed me my diploma yet. I truly did not feel comfortable filling it out and expressed that very thing when asked by them. I asked a couple of students who had expressed...umm "concerns" about the way the school was ran what they put. They just said they checked everything was fine and turned it in.

I am not bashing the school. They had some fine "teachers" who actually taught me some very good skills; backing in particular. I had some grave concerns about backing but now I am confident. The recruiter however told me the Thursday before classes started that there would be less than ten students in this class (her big selling point). There were nineteen.

 

Once I finished my 200 hour course and got on the road I realize I did not a lot of skills to be out there alone. Yes most schools prepare you for the cdl test and give you very basic skills to drive. I already had an in working with my wife. She drives for a company as an owner Operator. I had to log 400+ additional hours before they would accept me as a qualified operator. I paid about 4,000 for the school but it was requaired, and I would not have passed the DOT tests without it

 

as a first time driver who is paying for his own schooling I decided to attend the Tractor Trailer Basic course beginning August 24 at the SAGE School in Phonexville, PA. Choosing SAGE was an easy easy choice because after having visited ALL State Career School and Smith Solomon the differences were worlds apart.

in a nut shell the recruiter at All State was an ex con type who was trying to hustle me. After seeing the campus, equipment, and meeting some current students all I could do was get the hell out of there.

At Smith & Solomon the atmosphere was relaxed, however, I felt like individualized attention would be non-existent and I have a genuine dislike for Norristown so that school was not the right fit.

as soon as the school starts & throughout the term I will post feed back.

 

I graduate in a week, and I can tell you I'm very glad that I took the night class at Roadmaster in Tampa. Day class just doesn't have enough time to do things correctly. True story. Had a day class student the didnt know how to get her truck straight, the day before her road test! We have had more than enough time in the seat backing or going forwards in the night class.

 

I paid $275 in 09 for 300hours w/p,s,t,x endorsements! Local technical school
I hate hearing people getting ripped off!

 

After the first two days ofschool I went to the Penn DOT liscence testing center and passed all the tests for all endorsements. the in class preperation was so specific that I did not even have t dwell on any one question for even a second. can't wait to drive.

 

08 I dropped 4000 for just a naked cdl