Me and the wife are thinking this might be the best route to go to getting our CDL with no "owing any company for training".

Is Drumright a well known and respected school? Will it be easy to get a job driving TEAM once we are done?

Any thoughts on this will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Jon

Central Tech has the rep for being one of the best schools in the nation.

Now I do not know if they offer a PTDI and a non PTDI course or just the PTDI. If they give you a choice go with the PTDI. It tends to be more in depth than a standard course and there will not be a company that turns you down because of the school you went to (unless, like Millis, require students attend their training school).

What is PTDI or non-PTDI? Sorry, I am not familiar with the abbreviation.

Thanks!

PTDI stands for Professional Truck Driver Insititute. It is an organization that is attempting to improve and more or less standardize intitial training (CDL school). In order for a school to be certified by PTDI they must meet or exceed certain standards which include: Classroom time and materials, hands on training, and behind the wheel time.

http://www.ptdi.org/

Another thing, I am seeing that most companies want you to do a 6-8 week in-house training (OTR I mean with their trainers) before really starting. It might almost be better to just go with Schneider or something in that case or would we still be better off since we'd owe nobody??

In my opinion you would be better off to go through school on your own. That way if the first company you choose to work for does not work out for you, you will be free to seek other employment options without the worries of breaking a financial contract.

No matter which way you decide to go you will be looking at 2-6 weeks of school and 4-6 weeks of OTJ training.

take your time .. you'll find a company that works best for you and your wife .... :wink:

MNcouple, my wife and I are at Central Tech as I write this. We are pre-hires for CFI team drivers. CFI pays a portion of the tuition with no contract requirement.

This is a second career for both of us and we are extremely pleased with our choice. Everything at Central Tech is first rate and the training goes well beyond just getting a CDL they expect you to be highly proficient in all areas and be acceptable to any company. They are PTDI certified as well as several other certifications. PM me if you would like more info. Good luck on your choice.

Is this the same school JB Hunt uses?

I'm thinking of going with JB Hunt through their military program, and the recruiter was kind of vague. Their website says " You'll begin with an accredited 104-hour driver-training course." 104 hours isn't a lot, but the recruiter did tell me it's in Drumright.

Yes it's the same school, and it's an excellent school, I've never heard a bad thing about it. I graduated from there myself. Also I've seen students who had recently graduated from other schools, who didn't have half the knowledge that my class left school with. Best of luck.