Reviews of Great Lakes Truck Driving School (Driving School)

David Stefanko

Join a union. Dont pay for training when you can get paid for your training.

Larry Wurschum

Great school, very helpful instructors and a very nice facility. Everyone is very friendly. As long as you put in the work you will succeed with this school.

sam qamh

am a recent graduate of Great lakes class of August 2017 before I signed up for the class, I researched 4 different truck driving schools. Great Lakes trucking school is the best Choice you will ever take. I would like to thank all my instructors for the best job that provided to us during my course . Thank you again and God bless you all .

Kinnar Patel

This really is a great place. All the instructors are nice and explain everything to you in detail and help you however they can. If you are serious about getting your CDL, then this is the place to go.

From Beyond

Solid group of instructors who know the trucking / construction industry. Went back in 2015, and not one day do I regret coming here.

kinster davis

I recommend that any one looking for excellent truck driving school go or come to great lakes truckdriving school. They have the best training experience in the trucking industry. I rate them 5-stars hands down! Student-k.davis,jr.

Eric Dobson

Went there good people

Alaa Al Attar

Good School, GREAT STAFF, MIKE B. THE MOST PATIENT INSTRUCTOR .... overall all the staff are awesome and great

marcin MUNIEK Lezuch

thank you guys and RUSS his a grate teacher

Shirley

Great school. Good instructors.

Ez Riot

I just finished my 40 hour refresher course here March 03.2018( haven't driven for 22 years) and I am really happy with my experience.I researched other schools and they insisted I take the full course. I want to thank Don, Mike, Terry, H and all the other instructors for their patience as I was really rusty at my skills. Yesterday I just passed my road test for the great R+L Carriers out in Columbiana Ohio and wish all of you the best! Thanks, Troy

Shawn Bernett

Went to this school and I’m telling you had the worst Experience in my life only good thing in this school was some of the instructors and teachers but the good ones left or were let go other than that completely waste of time and your money all they care about is getting you graduated and that’s it they said they would help you find a job but they could care less, I would not waste my time or money ever going back to the school. You’re better off just learning from a family member or a friend that already has a CDL that will teach you. You will save so much time and money.

Frederica Attab

My husband had bad experience...administration is good but instructors for drivings part not good .i suggest stay away

Renaissance Management Group Llc

Great Lakes Truck Driving School Is Really Great!!!!!!

Terry Filsinger

Great place to learn. Fantastic instructors. They go above and beyond to make sure your prepared for your state test. Highly recommended.

Cory Pruchinsky

Great school instructors are nice and pleasant to learn from. Good facilities and plenty of trucks to learn from.

Anthony B.

UPDATED FROM JULY 2017, SEE BELOW I wish I could leave 0 stars as my experience here differ from the 5 star ratings that you "potential clients" see on here. Therefore, this lone star represents the instructors (the underpaid, backbone of this outfit), the receptionist, the placement guys, and the admissions reps as they were great. Apparently, consistency has dropped off in recent months as i am a recent grad (within the past month; with pictures to prove it), but it's very possible that there is some sort of favoritism, or discriminatory agenda here. I voluntarily demoted myself from a class A to a class B CDL to save on time as my unemployment compensation was running out, and time was not on my side. This school's front office pretty much forced me to stay longer than needed (if I didn't, no graduate), stating I still needed 200 total hours of course work (that's for a class A, not B..class B doesn't require near that many), because they didn't want to give any grant money back to the government (I was told this was the reason by one of their employees; this greed will now come at a cost as i will not be referring anyone to go here), this extra wasted time put me in a bad situation as I haven't found a driving job yet, my unemployment compensation has run out, and now I'm forced to go back to the seasonal roofing job I was at before I started school just to make a temporary paycheck..I enrolled in this school to obtain year round stable work because I'm tired of seasonal and unemployment compensation! Also, my Class B CDL has an "automatic only" restriction on it because I had to take the best course of action to ensure me passing at the testing sight (I saved them money here also by cancelling a refresher session), when I was first using a manual vehicle (which i didn't get quality time to use..a recipe for failure; which i succeeded in doing my first time out at the testing sight)...Mr. Nease informed me that the school will pay all fees associated with the lifting of this restriction if I chose to do so in the future, I even offered to pay for my license! He never sent the email (he gave his word) of our agreement, or returned any of my phone calls (I called twice), but I did save our texts messages of this agreement, also this restriction just cost me a job with MPW Industrial Services! The front office needs a makeover! Between all this, and the hassle of their possession of only one class B manual vehicle (it was broke down for 2 weeks, inconveniencing me further), giving another class B student (recent grad) more practice time than I received, and them cramming Class A students (who didn't want the automatic restriction on their license, so they used the B manual vehicle to prevent this) back there (training yard) with me, thereby robbing me of precious time with the manual vehicle to better prepare for the state test, and move forward with my life; I WOULDN'T DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!! I will be contacting the Ohio Department of Public Safety to look into all the standing around going on out there in the training yard, as the hours they are reporting are not the true hours the students are receiving. Now, I'm sure that Hamrick Truck Driving school would've been a better choice for me..I'm deeply saddened, and very upset by the way I was treated and it's outcome, and I hope none of "you" have to go through similar nonsense!! P.S. the review you see on here from Jeff Rhodes is fake, as he's an instructor of this school, not a recent graduate..that review was added in an attempt to counter the facts that I've laid here before you, also there isn't close to 35 trucking schools near Ohio! Thanks for reading, and good luck to you all... Update as of today 5/31/18, I have been informed that the State is currently investigating this school because it received numerous complaints that are similar to mine, also State financial grants also have been put on hold for this school. Thanks be to God!

Terrence Keyes

My experience with Great Lakes was one of a kind when I first came I didn't kno what to expect because of the unknown but as time revealed its self and I started to apply myself to the training the instructors helped me accordingly I started to feel more and more at ease with the trucks because of there understanding of each student were not all the same and we grasp things differently but I seen and felt they knew that when I was learning my way around these trucks I mean what more can u ask for as a student from a teacher

Art Wyzykowski

Good teachers and they move along at a good pace. Very friendly and helping.

gifted First4sure

Just from hearing the reviews from graduates verbally and those that was posted online, this is a good school with good instructors. The only problem is, that if you live in cleveland, at least where i am at, it takes 45 minutes to get there and the same time to get back. That may prevent a challenge for people. Especially if you dont have a vehicle and using a wia gant to pay for tuition. Besides that, i believe it would be a wonderful place for a individual to learn the basics and possibly move forward to a long carreer in trucking.

Ameer E.

By far the best learning experience that I’ve had. If you go through the courses and do what you’re told to do the right way, you’ll pass everything you do the first time. I absolutely love and respect the yard instructors here. Huge shoutout to Tony, Rick, Danny, Eddie, Vince, Gerald aka honky with a donkey, Joe, Dave, Marty, chuck, doc, and Phil. All great instructors and people in general. They are all properly secured, not cracked or leaking except for Jerry. Jerry’s all kinda of cracked, broken and leaking. He had me all kinds of bent and twisted with some of the experiences that he put me through but I did not let that stop me from getting my job done. A special shoutout to Don and the best financial office ladies I know. They’re awesome! I’ll forever represent Great Lakes Truck Driving School

Jeff Rhodes

I am a recent graduate of Great lakes class of July 2017 before I signed up for the class, I researched 35 different truck driving schools. I had visited all of them looking for the best training to start my new career as a truck driver. Great Lakes had hands down impressed me.This began with the first call where I spoke to Theresa and she provided me with helpful resources & information to the initial visit to the school where Chris, Roger, Christine, Holly, Mike, and Doris (the owner) made me feel welcome and a part of the Great Lakes Family. They really took the time to explain the program and answer all of my questions and concerns. Gary ( the yard master) has a wealthy knowledge base and was willing to go above and beyond to help everyone and can multitask like no one else. Traci who takes care of all the hours and scheduling for class and tests is very thorough and very approachable. She also follows up after your testing and will provide you with excellent care and service. The instructors in the yard and classroom focus on your success and they have a desire to teach skills and technique and how to perform them safely, not just to pass the test. Their focus is to create a professional and competent truck driver. Jerry in the classroom keeps your attention and focus. H, Rob, Mike, Bill, Jeff, Tony, Dave, Cedric, Terry, Brandi, and Coleman not only teaches you the fundamentals and skills required of every driver in their yard but they make you feel a part of the family at Great Lakes. They provide personalized instruction for every student as they feel like your success is also their success. I highly recommend that if you are pursuing your career as a truck driver that you look no further. The team at Great Lakes goes above and beyond to help you and guide you to your new profession. I am thoroughly pleased and confident in the choice I made and if I had it to do over again, there is no doubt in my mind that it would be Great Lakes all the way!

Mike Dawson

Great School great instructors. I couldn't have picked a better school for training. Thanks for opportunity.

Daniel Webster

Outstanding and knowledgeable staff excellent courses and overall outstanding experience!

hillbilly trucker

great teachers very knowledgeable and very helpful great all around atmosphere

Tone Gotti

Jerry is a Very great instructor he helps out alot

Curtis Moore II

Called everyday this week just to set up an appointment. No answer or call backs. Then I got hung up on by the rep because she was sick of me calling. I just want my CDL

Andrew Schultz

Good place, good trainers, nice environment.

Atiya Cost

I first and foremost would like to say that I attended Great Lakes because of the personal references I got. However, my time at Great Lakes wasn’t the best experience. They left a sour taste in my mouth unfortunately so here is my honest review. If you’d like to attend a school that dictates how they treat you based on your RACE, wealth, religion or name come here! My first day of orientation a tall slim white male at the front desk made rather disturbing comments about my Arabic last name and 9/11 like I had something to personally do with the Americans lives that were lost & the receptionist was definitely unfriendly. One time during lunch I had brought a soup but didn’t have spoons a white Female student told me to get one from the front desk so I went up to the desk and asked she said she didn’t have any spoons I went back and told my friend and she said uh yes she does let me go up there she went up there and wow surprisingly came back with a spoon. (That showed me how Racism still lives) Another time I went up front to get a coffee cup but the receptionist said the school was "no longer providing coffee or cups because it got too expensive" so I said fine I started to walk away but turned around to get water from the water fountain and overheard her discussing with someone how she purposely hid the cups and wouldn’t be providing coffee again until my class specifically was graduated. So people can spend all of their money at Great Lakes but not get coffee when it’s well below 30 degrees ? Spend your money else where!! Not to mention the two weeks in class was annoying and pitiful the instructor whom I thought would be instructing cried about how people come to the school to get an unemployment check to make sure there benefits don’t get cut off, don’t show up to school and make a bad name for Great Lakes. The issue I had with this is .. we are paying to learn regardless of what other persons reasons are for coming don’t make other people feel bad for not having cash to pay for the course, payment is payment whether it’s thru a loan, thru OMJ or cash the education and experience should be all around Speaking of payment you pay for a course but have to train in RUSTY OLD trucks, some of the doors don't close, gas leaks, seats dont adjust. It's pitiful. My bad experiences outweighed my good. Other than that I didn’t see any other issues with the teachers except one that while he was talking to me decided to repeatedly poke me right in my breast my husband had to call up to the school in speak with the Vice President Mr. Nease which consisted of him pretending to care yet not providing any real reasons on why his instructor would touch a female in that area in the first place moreover I heard this same instructor Mr. Cop-A-Feel telling one of the male students he wouldn’t recommend smoking marijuana again until after he has worked for his company for a year.. Another instructor was telling some of the guys how to grow weed, and make chocolate covered hallucinogens. This school is GHETTO to say the least. I have plenty of stories, the one that disturbed me the most was seeing foreigners getting treated so bad, a lot of the teachers are mentally unstable they yell and scream at you all day and wonder why you can't drive properly. The instructors cry about their pay, and have attitudes. An issue I really had is, seeing the instructors have favorites, they pick and choose who they want to treat nice One of my again caucasian friends told me an instructor personally let him meet the examiner that was going to test him down at NORWALK before he got his CDLS. So if you would like to attend a school that lies, and cheats and is ghetto, go here, It's a mess but if you can deal with being screamed at while trying to do something you have no idea how to do than come to Great Lakes, all I'm saying is don't rely on the reviews for first impression I thought this was one of the best schools turns out they just bribe their students to give them good reviews with incentives. I just wanted to leave my real unbiased opinion.

andrew Taylor

The instructors are well experienced and very knowledgeable of the truck driving industry. Also they school is financially affordable and even have educational loan programs for what your financial aid doesn’t cover. Good hands-on equipment and they have a good, safe, and fun learning environment. I’ve learned so much already and I’ve only had one week in class out of the eight weeks I have. They have a wide variety of trucking companies that have recruiters come out to the school in the class rooms and give information about their company to help students decide where they want to start their trucking career. Altogether Great Lakes Truck Driving School’s stuff works together and hard to make sure that their students get the knowledge, the training, and the experience they need to be well prepared for the trucking company they choose to go with after graduation.

CHRISTINA RUBANER

My Husband Loves it there.

Des McDonald

The instructors really teach well and are patient but at the same time reassure you that u have what it takes to be a commercial driver.

kat Langford

Really like the fact i can get my cdl,oilfied and gas course very professional

Willie Conway

Great school. Caring instructors

ron smith

BEST SCHOOL EVER

Naz Al Kunni

Well where do I start, if there’s any bad review don’t beleave it, just go see nd Experience it yourself, Bc I read some bad reviews And i judge the school wrong.. It’s a good school that you can find, the managers , owners all those guys in there are great people nd they help you if you have any questions My instructor in class David Welch your the best and a great teacher and thank you for everything. The instructors on the field ; John, Derrek, Mike, Gonzalez, Jeff, Big Ed. And specially one person (Mr H) you are the best Instructor there is no one like you, your techniques

kirk lehman

Friendly and very informative.

Matthew Nameth

Awful company! Awful experience!

charles gardner

Awesome school and even better staff and instructors

Rick Mitchell

Hands down the best trucking driving school in ohio.

Ben Schreck

Can't ask for a more positive staff !

Cindy Taylor

Great

Mohammed Sulieman

Hands down the best school for people who want to get into the truck driving business. The instructors are the best, and most caring individuals. They genuinely care to see you become successful. I will never forget Toni, Marty, Rich, Joe, Vinny, Dave, Danny, Fast Eddie, and "Honkie with the Donkey!" You won't find better. The guys in charge Chuck, Doc, and Phil are truly the best, when I asked for more time on the road they gave it to me, when I asked for more help with pre trip they gave it to me. This school is built with class. Thank you Roger for running such great organization, he has the best staff in place his financial aid ladies are so awesome and kind! If you guys are looking for a school this is the one ask for Don!