Question:
Will be attending a Trucking School for three weeks (3 weeks of work days M-F) 7AM - 5 PM.
It is part of Lewis and Clark State College in
Idaho.
Realize that my driving skills will be very limited after this short (Mill), but am wondering how much homework there is and if there is homework over the weekends?
The school has a Driving simulator, but the simulator is not used until after driving for a day or two..
What will be expected of me by my Carrier after such a short school?
How is shifting, backing and braking taught?
Thanks for the help!
Onramp

Answer:
More than likely you'll take a driving test, get asigned to a trainer and have to spend a few weeks with them to learn the ropes in a short period of time.
Then after the designated training is over you will be solo and expected to run like everyone else does.
just hope that whatever company you choose, won't treat you and your trainer as a team, but as a trainer with a trainee..
You can probably do a search here and get an Idea of the big comapnies that treat trainees with trainers as teams..that way you can avoid those companies..
My husband went to a Vocational school, his course was 9 weeks and he did have to study sometimes over the weekends, also every now and then the class went on road trips, he'd be gone from 3-4 am till late afternoon..
But that was his school, don't know about yours..

Answer:
It all takes time these companies that hire trainee drivers know about what your abilities will be. No way will you leave that school with these skills mastered! I still miss agear once in a while or screw up a back, particularly the easy ones!

Answer:
Have heard from a reliable source that the USxpress school in Medway, Ohio is 3 weeks long
(21 days) with out a day off...
6 Am to 5:30 PM daily.
The mens dorm or bunk house sleeps 78, like in
seventy-eight snorers.
Way out of town, eat at the Company "convience store"...
Sounds better than CR Englands school in Salt Lake City, but not by much.
Even the Military has better hours than USxpress's school.
This is the only school that I have ever heard of that goes 21 days straight for 11.5 hours per day.
Guess they figure they have to cover everything in class because many students won't crack a book in the evening ?
Anyother tid bits I need to know about the USxpress intense school.
Onramp does it in on the Ice, slush and snow..

Answer:
Before I chose a school, I contacted the companies that I was interested in working for. They can tell you whether or not they except students from that particular school in that particular state.
I think that 3 weeks has been sufficient time for myself to learn and retain the information, and the basic skills. However, it will depend a lot on your ability to compile a large amount of information, your organizational skills, and your physical coordination to determine if this is adequate time for you.
There is one man in my class that has failed his permit test 6 times so far, and insists that he drove OTR for 9 years in the 70's, and the DMV's tests are all wrong!!!!
Another was so overwhelmed with information, and he was a nervous wreck in the truck decided he would switch to part time school so he would have more time to "take it all in".
What is right for you? You decide.
db

Answer:
Ya , usxpress are a bunch of aholes. They put u through their school useing autshift transmissions
because after u attend u cant quit cause u cant drive a 10 speed. They do that on purpose. Thats messed up if ya ask me .
Then when I was at the medway terminal I came out to my truck and found a bunch of students and teacher looking over it 4 the pretrip. I almost told all of them that usxpress is horrible and go over to Swift in columbus, OH.

Answer:
onramp ,is that school in Lewiston? I use to get their all the time. Swift has a good 11 western
and I was in lewiston a couple times a month.

Answer:
nofxn40s...
Planning on attending the Swift school in Lewiston, Idaho this February.
Have a few questions for you if you don't mind?
Does Swift keep you mostly in the West? I live in Eastern Washington and have room for a truck on my one acre.
Any New York City?
Are the directions better at Swift than USxpress?
What did you like about the Lewiston terminal?
birdmansz@lycos.com