Big Orange here I come, I hope!!
 

Well, got my call from Schneider National last night. I was told everything on my application looked good. I have my formal interview on 2 April. Looking like I will be headed to Dallas the third week of April as long as I pass my DOT physical and drug screen, that should not be a problem.

I want to thank everyone on this board for the all the help in making my decision. Schneider is definitely a good fit for me at this time and I excited about getting this started. Thank you again and I will keep everyone posted as I progress along.

You could do a lot worse! I started with them in 92 and drover for 1.5 yr and then went on to 13 more years in mgmt in the trucking industry. Good outfit that didn't feel like a big outfit due to the OC environments.
Best of luck...be safe.

Well, had my formal interview this morning and it went well. I got the congrats speech at the end and was told to prepare for Dallas and STA on the 26th of April. I have my DOT Physical and Whizz Quiz next Tuesday.

I am so excited I can barely contain it. Schneider was definitely one of my top 2 choices and I am glad it is all set and I am ready to go!! I want to thank everyone on this board again. All the information I obtained from here made my decision a lot easier. I am one step closer to seeing everyone on the big road. Be safe out there!!

Hey irishfan466 do you have experience?

Unfortuantely I don't. I looked into several other options such as Crete and CFI. The only issue I had with them is they will only recruit out of one school in Oklahoma, Central Tech in Drumright. I applied with CFI, but never heard anything from them. Not sure if my app fell through the cracks or what. Schneider fell into place for me and seems to be a good fit for me at this time.

Well I dont either except 7 months local but that dont count towards OTR so I think I might go with them around that time also or maybe the week before, I might see you there.

Irishfan466, please do keep us up to date because I will be following your adventure. I will be returning to Oklahoma after being away for 20 years in the Navy and plan on attending Central Tech in Drumright for my CDL.

I have been researching here on CAD since Sept 2006 and most questions have been answered without having to ask. Thanks to those of you that take the time to keep us informed.

My intro: http://www.classadrivers.com/phpBB2/...t=39&start=465

You will not be disappointed in your decision. The training that SNI offers is some of the best in the industry. You will know more of what I'm talking about when you get a few months solo under your belt. 8)

Just pay close attention to the trainers in school and also your TE. They WILL teach you to be a SAFE, courteous, professional driver.

I do appreciate everyones input. To be honest, that is the reason I chose Schneider. You can read just about anything you want on these forums, from the good to the bad on just about every company. Someone said, and forgive me I forgot who said it, you have to weigh the good and bad. Look at all a company has to offer and make a determination on whether or not they are a good fit for you. What is good for one may be horrible for another.

I will definitely keep everyone posted on how I progress. sbatson, hopefully I will see you there. Let me know if you decide to come down the same time. We can hook up and study.

Sub Doc, first of all thank you for your service. I too spent a few years wearing the uniform. Everything I have heard about Drumright is that it is the premiere school in Oklahoma. Like I previously posted, I intended on going there and trying to get on with CFI or Crete. Things just didn't work out that way for me. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely pleased to be going to Schneider though and I have absolutely no regrets at how my situation turned out.

Yep, only draw back is the pay's a little low BUT they do treat you well and you will learn a lot

Sub doc WELCOME HOME :!: :rock:

Well, it's official. I have everything done and will be headed to Dallas STA on the 23rd of this month. If anyone else is headed that way at that time, feel free yo PM me. Looking forward to getting this started and to seeing you all out there!!

Juat got home from STA last night. I head out Monday morning with my TE. Everybody that told me STA was tough, you were exactly right. It was one of the toughest things I have done in a long time. For that reason, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. The instructors were very patient and found a way to make me understand the information.

I will never forget the first day out with my in-truck instructor. I didn't think it was possible to sweat that much driving for only an hour. I thought the AC wasn't working on that side of the truck. My instructor told me the AC doesn't work on that side of the truck for several days. Well, it finally started working and I settled into driving. STA was a lot of hard work, but I did enjoy every minute of it. Now I am looking forward to getting out with my TE and ultimately getting my own truck.

I want to thank everyone for their answering all of my questions. Schneider defintely was the best choice for me. If anyone has any questions about STA, feel free to ask away.

Please elaborate on your experience, if you dont mind. Why/what did you find hard or pressure packed? Thanks in advance! Congrat's and Good luck out there, be safe :)

For me it was getting my left leg and right arm to work together. The problem I had was I wanted to shift the truck like a regular five speed. I was also using way too much of the clutch. After I figured those things out, my shifting smoothed out a bunch. I still have a long way to go, but I feel I can safely operate the truck now.

I think I put way too much pressure on myself, that old male ego thing kicked in big time. All I needed to do was relax and "drive the truck", as my instructor tried to tell me. Once that happened, it all seemed to fall into place for me. Of course, the simulators did help with that. The only gripe I had about the simulators was the shifting was nothing like it was in my instructor's truck. It did help me with my double-clutching though.

Our first day in the truck, we went to a long stretch of frontage road and did nothing but upshifting and bump and runs. The next day we were driving in downtown Dallas pulling a 53' trailer in traffic during rush hour. We did a lot of driving in town. My instructor said, if you can drive in this, you can drive on the highway. We did get a bit of highway driving as well as rural county roads.

They are a pretty good company, ive been with them for 1.5 yrs now doin the local gig in southern CA. Good luck an dont give up to easy, the first year sucks but it gets easier after.

I have no intentions of quitting, unless all hell breaks loose. I have certainly enjoyed my time so far. Spoke to my TE last night and I think we are going to get along just fine. He seems to be straight laced and upfront. I am not taking my laptop with me so I will update everyone when I get back from out on the road and SQT. Everyone be safe and if you see a pumpkin drive by with a driver that has a huge grin, that's probably me. See ya'll on the big road!!!

Good Luck!

The TE time is where you will start to put everthing together you learned at the STA. Especially the trip planning stuff. It's much easier to do on the raod than in a class room. When I was with the TE I had, I was asked if I was ready to go after a week because he thought I was. I decided to spend an extra week with him and I'm glad I did. Pay attention to how your TE deals with the problems that come up, it will really flatten out the learning curve (ie. dealing with weekend and 2nd shift and trailer searches).

Like you I enjoyed my time at the STA (I trained in Carlisle). The instuctors were awesome and if you showed them that you wanted to learn and go the extra mile to do so they would return the favor and go the extra mile for you.

PS
Make sure you get lost once or twice just to figure out how to get unlost with supervision.

In retrospect, my TE was a good guy, tried hard. but he was very tightly wound and he would tend to jump in sooner than he should have. half the time i felt like i was in the way. He also didn't speak good english.

So i just toughed it out and got thru it ok. Afterwards, i was glad to be rid of him ;)

Finally got finished with all of my training. Got throught SQT and CDL Prep then took my road test. I got my truck assigned to me, but don't actually get it until tomorrow. I was able to go out in the yard and find it though. I was like a kid in a candy store. I can't wait til tomorrow and finally get my chance to do this by myself.

Congrats, I hope everything pans out for you. If you live in/near OKC there is a Schneider drop lot at the intersection of SW 134th st and portland. It's not very big, but it will do in a pinch.

Great to hear! I remember the day I got my truck at Werner back in 02. I was so happy. No 1, to get out of that training truck. And No 2, to have a company truck of my own, and later a load to my home. :D

This is critical info here. You'll get a map with terminal locations, but you need to start finding drop lots. They're not advertised, but they'll save your bacon. For example, there's a big, secure droplot in S. Kearny, NJ that I didn't know about, and wound up paying to park -right up the road-.

Best of luck with SNI. Stick it out for a year, two if possible. 2 years of clean driving under your belt will open many doors for you.

I know what you mean. I just found out about that drop lot in Moore. I live right up I-35 from there. However, I have a Pilot about 10 minutes from my house that I intend to use when I come home. Do you know if Driver Services keeps a list of those drop lots and locations??

I know the recruiter didn't know. Which is why I never went the way of the pumpkin.

somebody has to know.
i think every drop lot has a customer code.
get with ur stl on that

Go to www.pumpkindriver.com
and you can find all the OC and droplot codes there.
Also your pumpkinpad will have alot of the droplot locations on the back cover.