My Stevens Experience

I started school at Stevens in Dallas May 2 and thought that I would try to update every day or so.

Day 1 was full of paperwork. Plenty of it! We were told to study a few areas for a test first thing Wed morning.

Day 2 was more paperwork and physicals. The physicals went from 6a until 12:30p. It was a wait game all day! Pee test, vision test (look at eye chart), hearing test (nurse whispers from 7 ft away), blood pressure, blood sugar and yes, you have to cough for the Dr.

After the tests we went over Hours of Service and logs and how to fill them out properly. We got a homework assignment dealing with the logs on top of studying for the test in the morning.

Day 3 we took the test (I got a 90) . Just pay attention to what the instructors tell you before hand. They tell you to pay attention to your surroundings so do it! The first ½ of the answers were actually on the dry erase board. They tell you to place a dollar sign in front of one of the answers. DO IT! Most of us missed the question because we didn’t out the $ in it including myself.

We also signed our contracts today. Basically the school costs $7000. Recruiting makes it sound like you don’t pay anything for the school unless you leave before your 1 year contract is up but that’s not true. You pay $26 a week for the school for 36 months. On top of this you also pay back your bus ticket, hotel stay and $70 a week (for meals). That’s another $25 a month until its paid off (6-8 months). If you pay your tuition off before the first year you can do so for $3600 otherwise its $7000.

Eight of us already had our Class A CDL’s so we went out “on the hill” and got to practice driving without a trailer. The rest of the class went to the DPS to take written tests.

So far I don’t have any problems. I think this will be a good thing. If I had to complain about anything it would be the instructors try to be hard #####.

They have breakrooms so you can store/heat food. There is also a roach coach there and its pretty good. They put you up in a place called Crossland Inn. Its ok. I have seen better but I have seen a lot worse.

More updates later.

 

Day 4 was better. We had an instructor show the ones with CDL's how to perform pretrips while the others in the class got a little drive time. They had 4 and 5 students packed into the trucks so they got just a little drive time. Then after lunch they went to do pretrips and we got to drive for about 4 hours and we each got our own truck so it was really 4 hours of drive time! This really helped me with my double clutching and downshifting. I really improved since yesterday. Its a shame the others in the class wont get near the amount of drive time as we are getting.

Im not impressed with our 2 instructors. The main one will go over something quickly and expect you to be a pro at it. For instance, double clutching. There was a guy this morning that has never driven a standard transmission and the instructor was getting mad because the guy wasnt doing it right from the start.

I would recommend that you get your CDL before coming to the school. We have a nice advantage over the others in the class.

The instructor that did the pretrips seemed like a good instructor.

 

As for me, I got my CDL about a year ago on my own but I dont have T/T experience or schooling so I cant find a job. I know one of the others went to a school but it wasnt accredited or something so no one will hire him. Another drove for Stevens at one time but hasnt driven in about 10 years.

As for putting us with the others, Im sure that it deals with more money for the school !!!

 

Day 5 - We learned parallel parking today. Was much easier than I thought it would be backing the trailer. After lunch we got to practice double clutching and downshifting more. I had a partner with me and he needed alot more practice than me so I let him drive most of the day. We were also graded on our skills. Instructor that graded us said I was doing good.

Also confirmed out suspitions. Our instructor is a douche. Funny how even the other instructors even talk about it. We do an exit interview when we leave with our trainer and I dont think that he will be getting high scores from the class.

Day 6 - Its Saturday so only a half day. Had a good instructor that taught us map reading and trip planning. Now its time off for the weekend...

Found a really good Chinese buffet about 1/2 mile from our motel. Cost us less than $11 for dinner and it was one of the best ones that I have eaten at.

 

Week 2 Day 1 - Not much to add. We watched 2 boring videos then got to drive around the "track" with trailers today. Will do the same tomorrow then Wed we will be on the streets of Dallas!

 

That would be a good thing!