Fluid Academy (Dallas/Fort Worth Area)

New Drivers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Area: Please BEWARE!

I am currently attending Fluid Academy at Brookhaven Community College. The cost is $4,500 at the time of writing, but the training isn't even worth $1,000! I am normally patient and forgiving enough to let a bad experience end with just a note-to-self to never do it again, but I feel obligated to make an exception this time around. You should know what you're getting into if you chose to attend Fluid Academy.

The company is contracted by the college and privately run. The college seems to have very little oversite into the academy's day-to-day operations. The owners are two brothers and every employee (sans a select few) are all somehow related. Now, some of the best businesses are family-run, but so are some of the worst. This happens to be one of the latter.

No one ever seems to know what is going on from day-to-day. Plans are constantly changing and there is VERY little structure; a syllbus is virtually non-existant. They currently have too many students, not enough trucks, and too few instructors. The driving instructors are constantly being asked to run errands all across town for the office or pick up loads and take them cross country. (The company also carries some freight.) It interferes with your driving time. At that, the driving instructors have had no training in being an educator. Seeing as I am attending a college course at a college price, it would seem appropriate that the instructors have at least some college experience, if not a degree. However, based on how the instructors (007 (real-name: "Dwayne") and Tee (real-name unknown)) carry themselves daily, it would seem they are high school graduates at best. They all have at least a couple years of driving experience; whether that includes being a trainer/mentor for their companies, I can't say. A good teacher doesn't have to have a degree to be good, but in my opinion, the instructors are not very good at all--college educated or not. Their style seems to be throw you into the boxing ring and yell at you from the sideline when you're not performing correctly. Sometimes, they'll even yell at you when you're doing just fine because they haven't been paying attention and want to make it seem like they care. (This opinion/statement isn't just mine; other current students agree with me.) Also, they only teach straight-line backing and parallel parking to pass the CDL driving test. They don't teach drop-and-hook or docking. (They "lost" their docking spot and don't seem to have any intent on finding a new one.) We were given pre-trip inspection information in the classroom, but have only inspected the equipment once in the three weeks of the driving portion thus far. That only happened because a student complained about these issues and even then, the instructor didn't seem to know what he was doing--as if he hadn't done a pretrip in years. It should also be noted that for 12 days, one of their trailers was being driven around town illegally until the above pretrip inspection when a STUDENT noticed the registration had expired. The issue still hasn't been fixed and the trailer is continuing to be driven illegally.

The classroom portion is simply to hand you a CDL manual, have you copy a pre-highlighted one and send you to other trucking schools' websites to practice the CDL written. Oh, and every Thursday is "Logbook/Map-Reading Day", where you learn how to use a paper logbook and read a map. Attendance is mandatory whether you have already had it or not.

The course is supposed to be 21 days, but I've been here over a month now and am only half way through the course (at no fault of my own). Delays are being caused by the overage of students, shortage of trucks/instructors, slow progress of other students (training slots for each stage of training depends soley on students ahead of you passing the CDL; if they don't pass, you don't progress), weather, instructors having to take off a day for personal issues, broken or out-of-service equipment (tractors/trailers), office/paperwork issues, and more. Individually, these issues could be overcome, but they are happening all at once. It seems no effort is being put forth to fix these issues, but admittedly, I am not priviledged to hear what goes on behind office doors. Bottom line, expect to pay $4,500 for a 21 day course that is going to take 2-3 months at 5-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, for C- grade training.

At this rate, the only reason why I am seeing the course through is because I have already come this far and I don't want to be obligated by a financial contract to my hiring company for attending their school.

P.S. Their "job placement assistance" is to allow recruiters to come in an talk to you about their respective companies, and that's only if they happen to show. Thus far, I have only seen 1 company recruiter since I began over a month ago!

 

Slowly yes I did. Currently waiting on it to come in the mail from DPS. I would not recommend anyone attending it.

 

From what I read, they are all about the same. I suggest going through an actual transport company's school, like Swift. They will be more professional.

 

...then I think you should take a second look through the Swift forum. From my own personal experiences as a Swift student driver, and what I have read of others' experiences, Swift is NOT a bad company. Every company has its pros and cons. I don care what company you work for, no one company is perfect. So, to say it's a bad company is over generalizing. Sure, Swift may not be a good match for you, but then, I have to ask, what are you looking for in a company? Miles, home time, and a paycheck? Sounds like Swift to me... Also sounds like Werner, TMC, Scheider, Marten, Crete...Take your pick.