Alcohol Related Charges

Okay so more news! The guy who ran the background check, I think he only ran it for this county or something. It wasn't thorough. We called a court clerk from the county it happened in and it's definitely still on my record. Good thing is it happened longer ago than I thought. I have tried almost all the companies on this site that offer free company CDL classes. I'm only 21, so Steven is out of the question. I haven't tried Werner though. If I had the money, I'd pay for school myself at A private truck driving school, but I'm barely getting by right now...which is another reason I'm really interested in a trucking career. Itd be plenty of $ for me because I'm young (21), I don't have kids, I live with my mom (and she already said I can keep living here and save money if I started truck driving), so no bills except for this stupid car note I'm stuck with! Yeah sorry to ramble on this but I bought a 98' Honda accord with 133 miles and in the long run, with interest, I'll be paying 10,000 for the car. Talk about a rip off! Car dealerships prey on young girls like me who don't know much about cars :/ okay sorry end rant. Back to trucking,...so yeah I think my best bet here is to wait until October. It'll have been 3 years since my misdemeanour and I'll start calling recruiters again then. What do y'all think?

I was talking with a recruiter from roadmasters about the charge and he said he'd see what he could do. Well he ran my background check and nothing was there! Great, right?!?!!!

Wow. It's a good thing you took our advice and did a thorough check of your background records. And make sure to thank the guy at Roadmaster for almost making a mess of things for you.

Trucking certainly isn't going anywhere so waiting until October might not be a bad idea at all. If will give you a lot of time to prepare. You'll get a chance to take our High Road Training Program, go through our Trucker's Career Guide, and get a little money behind you to pay for meals and minor expenses until the paychecks start coming in.

Getting your trucking career started is really challenging and stressful. The extra time may be a huge blessing. The better prepared you are the better your chances of success. If you feel like you've kind of exhausted your options right now and that charge is standing in the way, I think it's a fine idea to wait until October.

The only concern as far as waiting goes is that the slow season in trucking will begin in a couple of months and so will wintertime. It's nice getting your career underway in the spring or summer because you can learn the ropes and get better at handling that rig before the snow flies and the miles slow down a bit. But it isn't a make-or-break kind of decision. You can make it work out either way.

I was talking with a recruiter from roadmasters about the charge and he said he'd see what he could do. Well he ran my background check and nothing was there! Great, right?!?!!!

Wow. It's a good thing you took our advice and did a thorough check of your background records. And make sure to thank the guy at Roadmaster for almost making a mess of things for you.

Trucking certainly isn't going anywhere so waiting until October might not be a bad idea at all. If will give you a lot of time to prepare. You'll get a chance to take our High Road Training Program, go through our Trucker's Career Guide, and get a little money behind you to pay for meals and minor expenses until the paychecks start coming in.

Getting your trucking career started is really challenging and stressful. The extra time may be a huge blessing. The better prepared you are the better your chances of success. If you feel like you've kind of exhausted your options right now and that charge is standing in the way, I think it's a fine idea to wait until October.

The only concern as far as waiting goes is that the slow season in trucking will begin in a couple of months and so will wintertime. It's nice getting your career underway in the spring or summer because you can learn the ropes and get better at handling that rig before the snow flies and the miles slow down a bit. But it isn't a make-or-break kind of decision. You can make it work out either way.

Yeah that's what my mom was worried about. I have no experience whatsoever driving in snow ha but I'm just gonna go back to school for a semester and see how things go.

So here's a little update for those who were wondering and if you guys know about this, let me know. I'm from GA and my aunt in Delaware has been wanting me to come stay up there for the longest. They have a tech school there that has the certificate program to get your CDL AND a Commercial Transportation Studies program and I can use my financial aid for this program an they help you get your CDL too! I'm so excited. Anyone here ever get a degree in that or use it to get their CDL?

Ok, I went to their website and read it over. So everyone can get up to speed on this, here's what it says about their Commercial Transportation Studies program:

If you’re interested in becoming a business owner or manager in the transportation industry, this program will provide you with skills you need, as well as prepare you to test for your CDL Class A or B driver’s license. The 32-week diploma progam is designed for the student who plans to advance his/her career beyond just truck driving. In addition to hands-on driving, the diploma program includes coursework in areas such as motor fleet safety, vehicle systems, computer applications, and business studies. Our diploma students also take courses in human relations, business mathematics, and composition – all designed to help graduates succeed in the management field.

To prepare you for your CDL license, this program offers classroom study and practical experience behind the wheel of diesel powered tractor trailers. You will learn on a private training range, as well as on public streets and highways. Our graduates have a 100% pass rate on the CDL exam.

Diploma program graduates can test for their CDL Class A and B Operator's Licenses, earn 30 college credits, and receive a college diploma.

Ok, first things first. Tech schools, generally speaking, are absolutely awesome! I love em. As far as CDL training goes, tech schools tend to do an excellent job as they do with all of the careers they train you for.

Now as far as this Commercial Transportation Studies program - if you're only interested in becoming a truck driver, then that program won't do you a bit of extra good. It certainly won't hurt! But it won't help either. I can say with almost complete certainty that nobody is going to hire you as a driver because you have that certification. Trucking Companies that hire inexperienced drivers out of school will do so based on metrics like the hours of classroom time, hours behind the wheel, and the total number of hours of training. I'm certain most (if not all) major companies will hire from that school, but the certificate for the Commercial Transportation Studies program is just icing on the cake.

Now if someday you'd like to move into the offices of a trucking company, that program may or may not help. Again, it won't hurt, but I don't know if it will get any recognition in the industry - and that's the key. Will trucking companies recognize that diploma as something valuable? The only way to find out is to ask some of them and see what they say.

So the bottom line is this - that course is long - 32 weeks - where most private schools are only 4 to 8 weeks. I know you'll get financial aid and that's a very big deal, but I don't know how much the course actually costs. If it's quite expensive, you may just wind up taking a course that's 4 times as long and 4 times as expensive as any other Private Truck Driving Schools would be and you'll wind up with the same job in the end anyhow. That's the thing you have to look into - are you really going to get value for your time and money?

Also, did you ask how long you have to live in Maryland before you qualify for a student loan? If it's a Federal loan it may not matter. If it's something through the state, they may have a minimum length of residency to qualify. Same goes with tuition. There may be an "in-state" versus an "out of state" tuition. So that's something to look into if you haven't already.

The bottom line is to make sure you're getting your time and money's worth from their program. It's like, you wouldn't want to pay $40k per year to go to MIT and get a Master's in aerospace engineering so you can go home and build paper airplanes. Well this may or may not be a less severe version of the same situation. No sense in paying a bunch of money and spending a bunch of time for nothing. Make sure it's worth doing.

Well money was the issue, not the time. I have plenty of time. Since money was the issue for a private school, I finally found a solution. I was interested in a longer program anyway because I have financial aid just sitting there. I get pell grant and it's more than enough to cover out of state tuition and other fees I will need in Deleware, so no problems here. I also had that alcohol related charge and it won't be 3 years old until October, so that's another reason why time isn't an issue. And maybe one day the degree will come to use. Who knows, I might want to manage a company or something. Thanks for the info.

Seems like you've looked into it pretty well and get to take advantage of some nice grants and financial aid so that's great!

And don't forget to get the High Road Training Program done before you begin your schooling. You'll have a massive advantage over the rest of the class and the materials will be a breeze for ya.