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I am currently working on my CDL through Swift Driving Academy in Richmond VA. My only recommendation is to NOT train through Swift. There is blatant favoritism to those with previous military experience, specifically males. Myself and other women are told we are "afraid of the truck", we are "too emotional", and too busy "giggling" to take things serious. My experience here is disappointing at best.

The class sizes are too large for the number of instructors, available equipment, and size of the range. Racism, sexism, and prejudice run rampant, and the instructors use intimidation, yelling, and other verbally abusive tactics as their only repertoire of instruction..when they are actually instructing. Often, students are shown how to do a skill, and then the instructor disappears, and will be seen sitting in a golf cart across the range chatting and drinking coffee. They rarely stay to assist in correcting skills, and when they do, they holler "what are you doing", "ok, do it your way", "stop the truck", etc.

Off-range driving is horrendous. Trying to coordinate actions, be safe and conscientious, while being yelled at, is stressful at best. For example, I missed a gear and had a continual tirade of "get it in, get it in, stop the truck and get it in gear", followed by a disgusted "tsk", and a head shake. The next guy immediately after me (who was military) missed his gear, he got an elbow bump and "it's ok buddy, you'll get it, you'll get it, it just takes time". This is just one instance, unfortunately there are many more. Additonally I've noticed my driving time is significantly shorter than the males I am with.

I used Trucking Truths review of training schools as my guide in choosing a school and chose Swift based on locale, convenience, and price. Sadly, I am now finding that there are other considerations of which to be mindful; specifically ensuring that as a female, you are treated with respect, given equal time, and ensuring you are actually going into a training environment, not just a driver puppy mill.