One of the top reasons I chose USTDS was because all of the 5 star reviews. After attending I realize that many people who pass the CDLA, no matter how many times it takes them, are just so thrilled to have passed that they will give 5 stars out of exuberance & not out of experience. I have over 2 decades as an instructor, I've helped create a training curriculum for a major metro public transit system. I've trained first responders, and owned my own training business. I'm reviewing USTDS from a value for money standpoint, as well as the training promised vs received.

First and foremost, the name of this school is false advertising. USTDS is NOT a "truck driving school." If you are someone wanting to work independent, or to go work for a small or privately owned company, someone who has a language barrier where English is your second language, or someone who maybe doesn't grasp things immediately and are not a technical person, USTDS is NOT for you. They're not going to teach you how to be a confident and safe driver, they're not going to teach you about tracking freight, and communications systems, or anything about loading and securement. In fact, you'll never see the inside of a trailer. They're not going to teach you ANYTHING about being a truck driver. They're only going to teach you how to pass the CDL A exam. They are a CDLA school. They teach the test and nothing else.

All but one day of your first week you stay home and watch a terrible, outdated training program from 2004. The narrator is the monotone AI voice that puts you to sleep so you have to watch modules over and over. Some make no sense, the narration doesn't line up with the presentation, or it's too fast to keep up with. I don't know how many times I watched the transmission and the axle weight modules but it was way to many. This is a terrible online course you could probably buy yourself for $50. They're doing it to maximize their profits while providing you the minimally necessary training to meet the FMCSA requirements. It's theft, and it's disgraceful. You're paying 5 to 7 grand to train yourself 30% of the time, unable to get clarification or ask questions, with material from 2004. Mind you, they're planning on DOUBLING their tuition in 2022.

Jared is their rockstar instructor. He knows how to teach to the student, since everyone learns differently. He keeps it simple and breaks it down so you know not only what to do, but why you're doing it. They have guys that are very knowledgeable but don't know how to instruct to the individual student. They will stand next to you and say "left, right, straight," but they're not telling you why. They don't explain what they're looking at to make those determinations. Then when you say you don't get it they get frustrated and say things like "I don't know what you don't get." Honesty, if it wasn't for Jared coming out to the yard to help us on our final day training, I don't believe many of us would have passed the test. Until he explained the difference between a pivoting axel and chasing, and explaining that you have to look at the front of the trailer in relation to the back, not just the back, I would have never understood what I was doing. Several of us were so frustrated in the yard we were getting truly upset until we finally went to Jared and begged him to come out and help us.

They had at least 3 people failing every week we were there, at least 2 in my class as well. They claim 90% passing rate, but that must be with all 4 tries at the test, since they were less than 70% while I was there. I spoke to a guy from CDOT who had stopped by the school. He said he was having trouble with backing so they convinced him to get a CDLB instead, which was not really his goal. They stick the people who failed back into the yard with you the week after they fail, so you lose out on training time because they're there burning your time. And there is no organization so these guys just jump in between everyone else and get in trucks. I had 2 attempts at parallel parking in 4 and a half hours, and finally got into it with one of the remedials because he tried to jump in front of me as I was getting in the truck. Very discouraging and unprofessional.

Then, they have some awful instructors that have no business being an instructor. They have a guy named Bill. He's like 100. He was the instructor who was supposed to teach me proper clutching techniques, and he's physically incapable of doing the job himself. He couldn't turn the crank to couple the trailer. His leg hurt too much to operate the clutch on the crappy International truck he picked to teach us. He tried to show us the in cab inspection, but didn't know where the horns were, where the lights were, where the fire extinguisher was. His entire lesson was "Shift at 12" and "Press the clutch in 6 inches." (I've since learned neither is accurate.) He didn't listen (or couldn't hear) very well to the questions others were asking, and he was hard to hear when he spoke. He told one guy to stop 6 times without ever taking any physical action to make him stop when he didn't. I finally yelled stop before he got hit by another backing truck in the yard. Bill had no idea what gear I was in when he told me to shift up. I was in 5th, and when I activated the range selector, instead of saying NO, he physically struck my hand. That was the last straw, and I went to Jared and said he had to teach me because Bill was incompetent.

Their Yard is in awful condition, full of ruts, holes, and ditches that will throw you out of your seat. They said you didn't have to wear a seatbelt in the yard, but I did anyway because at any time I felt like I would be tossed. Their yard training vehicles are garbage and falling apart, if they start. Their mechanic cared more about walking around and telling students what to do (in direct contrast to what the instructor said to do) than repair trucks. I never saw a truck go into the shop there, and the only repairs I observed were made by outside, mobile mechanics. He's definitely not keeping up with supplies, since we had a truck with low coolant and all the antifreeze barrels were empty.

And the road trucks aren't much better. They rattle, and back and have things wrong with them that should be fixed. I'm sure between them and the god awful trailers, had we been pulled over by DOT we would have been parked and fined big time.

I only received 10.5 ACTUAL hours on the road driving. Their transcripts say I drove 45 hours, but they make up numbers. I have a signed DOT logbook for every day I was there, and I have 10.5 hours of driving on the road total for the whole 3 week course, sans the road test. In fact, they teach you to drive in week 2 and then you never once get back on the road until you take the test. They said "observation time is just as good as driving time." Anyone who has ever taught a 16 year old how to drive knows that's ridiculous. If this was remotely true, why would you ever let your kid drive your car? Make them sit there and observe and then they should be fine to pass their test.

I was LUCKY to get Everette as my road instructor because he is very good, I heard some very bad things about some others. The instructors are not on the same page and each teaches things differently. I heard from several students that Craig would say "I don't care how they told you to do it, with me you do it my way." Apparently he also told some to turn left from a double left, which is incredibly dangerous. Then the equipment you train on may not be the same as what you test with. I spent all week on the road with a Volvo. I tested on a Peterbilt, which has a longer front end, doesn't turn the same, and has a narrower hood so my lane placement was off almost the whole test. Twice the tester said "I don't know why you take that turn like that" when I did it exactly the way I was taught. (Button hook turns). They're all just not in sync and there is NO standardization.

You don't get your money's worth with this school at $4500, (You definitely WON'T at $8500!!!), I would not recommend them to anyone I cared about. Their accelerated program is just another way to say "selling you short." They rush you through to maximize their profits at the detriment to the student, the public, and any company you work for.

Yes they're really nice people (Tammy and Peggy are just the sweetest and kindest people you ever want to meet), Yes I passed, but it was thanks to my previous experience and myself and several students demanding more help. I just happened to have a positive outcome to a bad experience. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while...