What school did you pick and why???

After investigating the puppy mills(no thanks), I am now trying to attend Western Pacific in Modesto, Ca.
It's county funded and has great reviews.
You go home every night.
It's a 6 week course and the staff at the school is very helpful..so far anyway.
You have to get pre-hire letters to qualify unless you pay for it yourself. $4000.
So far I have 1 letter from CR England and am close to getting the second one.

If for any reason I get turned down by the county, I will find a community college and go there.

There are lots of vids on youtube from students at the mill schools, and they just look awful.

 

Sage.

1 on 1 training, Not to expensive, good rep.

 

Went to Roadmaster. It was 20 minutes from my house. NOW have my CDL and am currently at orientation with what appears to be a very very solid company.

 

Dootsons in Arcadia

- 1 on 1
-Priced and Timed to your Pace
-It seemed to me a lot of the schools in my area wanted a lot of time and money for stuff I considered to be common sense, when it came down to it the only reason I choose to even go to a school was so i had a truck/trailer for the DMV and could practice with a highly skilled instructor who lent me very helpful tips i still use till this day.

And my I will say I very much disliked "real" school..but truck school was FUN!

 

Im currently at sage, just started this week so I can't really give you my experience with them, but as to why i went with them, they take VA. so they get their money from someone else, and so do I lol (when you're in school you get housing allowance). that was a major reason for me. They also seem to have a pretty good reputation, the class size is really small, 3 people started with me this week and like said above, when u go out driving its 1 on 1 so ya take shifts with the trainers in 4 hour blocks (usually 4 from what i see on the schedule anyway)

 

I started with JB HUNT (2006) and they sent me to Central Tech in Drumright, OK. They were ranked that year #1 in the nation. not just saying it, I was there during the inspections. Anyhow, you can look the school up and actually see the range. It was 7 wks long, and the instructors were unbelievable! Awesome! between our class with 13 trucks and 2 other classes with thier flatbed trucks all on the range or on the road, we never got in each others way. we learned EVERY backing and curve and did it all day long. you dont sit in one lane and go forward and back , forward and back.. you set up at a backing area or dock, practice, then driver thru and around the range then pick another backing area and practice. they had 2 90degree areas, a wagon wheel for 45s, there is a teardrop to practice how to watch the offset of the trailer on ramps and curves, railroad crossing, and an S curve you MUST go thru to park the truck in the parking lanes. The range had enough room to practice shifting up to 5th gear.... then you had a turn coming up lol. But they are state funded and I paid under 3k. well, the VA paid it. But at the end and upon graduating, i would trust anyone with my life to drive with me from my class. Later, when I went to CR England the first time, i only had to do orientation and a road test since i just got off a truck. this was in Hammond BEFORE the actual school was ever built.... i watched the students there and thought, omg, what r they doing!!! the ones taking their test in the same truck as me almost killed me and jarred my back from not knowing how to shift.... one guy took 10 min to get in first gear, then stalled out on an on ramp in dwntwn chicago! none of them knew how to couple and uncouple trailers, never touched chains let alone the landing gear. All I could think was, hurry up and get me away from here and in my truck!!!! lol

But JB HUNT dont train anymore, which saves time and money i suppose. They say, if you need a trainer, we dont need you....one way to get experienced drivers lol... I dont mind.

 

I am attending Central Refrigerated's in-house truck driving school. I wanted experience driving in mountains, urban areas and in winter driving. I had been thinking about Sage in Indianapolis, but there aren't too many opportunities to learn how to brake going downhill. I want to learn in winter driving, and I figured there would be a greater chance of catching winter weather in the mountains.

In addition, let's say I decide to walk away from Central. The most they would come after me for is $3,000. I didn't qualify for retraining grants, so I would have been responsible for the $4500 or so at Sage. That by itself is a $1500 savings.

The worse thing about this experience so far was that I caught a 12 hour bug that hit me at about 6am my second day here. Made me miserable, but I was able to function enough to make it through. They don't put you up in a hotel until you've been here a week because they allow you to walk away from the contract until end of the day Friday. Instead, they put you into the "VIP suites" (AKA cells), tiny cinder block rooms. You need to provide your own bedding. On Sunday (and you are locked into the contract) they move the class into a Ramada.

They do have free shuttle service so you can make emergency trips to Walmart etc.

The downside to this is that you are essentially giving the company two free weeks to decide against hiring you. If someone walking by the classroom thinks you're sleeping, they will send you home on your dime. For many, another downside will be the 1 year contract. I don't care about that, as I can buy it out whenever I feel like it but not everyone has the financial wherewithal to do that. I just want a year OTR in a reefer unit and this school seemed the best for giving me the training I wanted (mountains, winter driving) and assurance that upon successful completion of the 2 week course I would have a job.

 

I went through 2 schools in my life.

The first was MTA school in Commerce City Colorado in the early 1990s. I loved it, good training, and the instructors were DMV certified they administered our CDL tests right there. From what I understand, MTA went under. What a pity, I considered them the best of the best.



Just late last month I went to CR Englands course (I had let my CDL lapse after a lengthy break from driving).

That school was a #### hole. Scummy motels with bed bugs, herded us like cattle everywhere. And it was tough, of my class, only 4 of us passed. I watched a lot of brothers who should have made it get sent home without anything.

Now I been sitting over a week waiting for a phase 1 trainer which I guess is not coming,,,,, and the school has me black balled with the other major carriers. Im having a hard time finding a new company to go with!