Smith & Solomon?

S&s gets you enough knowlegde to get your cdl. They will not make you a trucker. I went to the new castle, de location. They instructors were great and told you the first day they werent gonna make you a trucker. Over crowded, sometimes but thats life. Rainy days half wouldnt show up so there were time you could do a manuver for a while before switching out students. Basicly i went, practiced, tested then went to company training. You wont be a perfect backer in the real world. Try the alley dock s&s teaches you in a small ts or nyc. Not gonna happen. They teach you the basics.

Would i recomend them, yes. Paitient instuctors are the key to learning and no one got yelled at for not getting a manuver right of the bat. In fact i rememeber a instuctor yelling once at a student for doing something dangerous, that was it.

 

Dirty,
I agree with most of what you said. Should the school give a grade for something they didn't cover?
Before the school moved, there was a garage for students to get out of the elements. Now the students keep warm inside the trucks that idle all day long. This is bad for the trucks and for the environment.
S&S kept their promise -- they taught me how to get a CDL. I haven't gotten to my first job yet; that's in seven days. I know I have a lot to learn. I hope that my lack of certain knowledge is considered normal.
Would I recommend them? For sure!

 

We had a old school bus down in new castle. It kept ya dry. Now we did a quick map and log book exercise in the class room part but your company, beings you are a new driver, will teach you the way they want you to log. Most are elogs now so you coulda logged every second at s&s on paper and it would have done you no good. Also your trainer will teach you how to read a map. Truck routes, low clearences, spring weight restrictions, there is a lot to learn and you cant learn it all in one class. As far as the trucks idling, it happens. Some guys idle all the time. And diesels love to stay running, so it isnt gonna hurt the truck at all.

 

hi ...my name is nazmul forhad . i have been reading ur post about ur bf attended in the trucking school in linden nj . actually i want start classes there to get class A cdl license ,,but so confuse ,,smith and solomon is actually a good school or not...if you could just tell me that what ur bf saying about the school and how is the reputation of the school , it would be really helpful..and how are the teachers.. please ,, thank you in advance ..


GOD BLESS U BOTH .

 

I recently graduated from that campus. It is a very good school. As with anything, YOUR motivation will make the difference. The trainers are excellent. They like the motivated student who listens. Yard equipment is old, but they never get out of first gear or reverse so newer trucks are not needed for backing and alley dock. Their road equipment is current, and represents what you will drive when you're hired (sleeper cabs with 48' trailers).

All my friends got jobs pretty much right away, as did I.

(haha, I just realized this was the old S&S thread ... I'm an idiot!)

 

Thank you for ur reply about this school ..really appritiate it ..

 

you want to deal with real instructors and have the best teach you the smith solomon dupont campus is the best i walked out with my cdl in the time they said all four people that are there are amazing dont believe me check it out

 

Smith and Solomon taught me enough to get my first job in trucking. Linden has great instructors and the New York Instructor is the greatest guy around. He will yell at ya, but not to belittle you. It's more like tough loving!
Kudos to all the great people at the Linden Campus.

 

Personally I loved this school-was there a year ago. Granted didn't have anyone else to compare to but couldn't have imagined it being better, especially in my condition. I have an above knee amputation so as you can imagine (or not) I had anxiety when I found out all the CDL-A trucks were manual (unlike what I heard initially when i signed up- my only complaint). All the instructors were extremely helpful and supportive. During the first week- in the class room- after a class, that instructor eased some of my anxiety when he had me jump into a truck and try out the clutch and all-round feel of it. Not gonna lie, the pedal was pretty difficult- especially the second week when we got into the truck. But after a while it became 'easier'.
When I finally went for my test, I passed with flying colors (no points).
Now I drive my own flatbed crane truck. Never expected to drive a semi but at least it's good to know that I can.
So yes, my experience with them was pretty good. As far as the point that was made about there being lines of guys to hop on a truck: considering how busy the place is, I believe they did the best they could. You can't offer one-on-one everyday to every student. Otherwise you'd have a hundred or so trucks in a lot with an equal amount of instructors. Sure, we all wished to have as much time in a truck as possible but that's not realistic. They're doing what works.