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Post by glennw on Aug 14, 2003 12:09:09 GMT -5
I am scheduled to start school a week from Monday at Alexandria Technical College(http://www.atc.tec.mn.us/). Alex Tech is not PTDI certified, but is an accredited institution of higher learning and is part of the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities System. Alexandria Technical College's Truck Driving program is supported by and a member of the Minnesota Truckers Association, Minnesota Safety Council and the Minnesota Motor Transport Association. The instructor says that their program exceeds PTDI standards. Do you think I'll have any problem finding a job after school since they are not PTDI certified?
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Post by Arcflash on Aug 14, 2003 13:05:03 GMT -5
Depends on the company. The school I enrolled in isn't PTDI either. The companies I applied for that didn't actively recruit there just had to verify the course length, and cirriculum.
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Post by Scott on Aug 15, 2003 5:49:47 GMT -5
glennw, A few years back more companies wanted students out of a PTDI certified school. Today, there are less companies that require this. Those companies were restricting themselves to a few schools with this very expensive certification. You'll be OK coming out of a Technical college. Scott
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Post by SilverBullet on Aug 19, 2003 4:35:41 GMT -5
There are good companies out there that won't look at a student who didn't graduate from PTDI certified schools. I know Crete is one of them. They are a good company with a pretty good training program.
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Post by Arcflash on Aug 19, 2003 14:14:37 GMT -5
I toured four schools. One of them was a PTDI course and it seemed like a good course. It was 80 hours shorter than the course I am enrolled in though, for the same amount of money.
The thing is that you can get into a PTDI course that is not acceptable to any major carrier. Their course length is only required to be 144 hours with 60 of it as wheel time. Of all the carriers I interviewed with they all required 160 hours of combined classroom and driving. There is definately more to look for in a school than PTDI certification.
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Post by SilverBullet on Aug 19, 2003 14:37:56 GMT -5
I agree Arcflash. I was just stating that there are companies who prefer PTDI. Myself? I took all the written tests to get my permit, then borrowed a friends truck to take the driving test. No schooling what-so-ever. So all it cost me was the price of the tests. That was in 1996. Now days, I don't think you'd get many job offers doing it that way.
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Post by Arcflash on Aug 19, 2003 18:19:58 GMT -5
Yeah, not a chance these days. I could do the same thing... I've had my permit for a while now and have access to plenty of trucks. Without that diploma they won't even talk to you though.
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