I don't know how they do things now, but my class was called on a Friday morning to show up at 1300 that afternoon. They filled out the paperwork for taxes, and insurance. They also got boot vouchers for Red Wing boots. They could then go to any dealer and get some boots. One of my classmates said that he left his old job for lunch, and never came back.
The actual class started on Monday. We got our lanterns, switch keys, radios, and rulebooks. We did basic things like learning how to give hand signals.
We had no definite start date. This position was in IL, and I applied while out helping a friend start a business. Things weren't going well with the new business, so I moved back to Connecticut. They let me slide on the Friday session. I just packed up some things, and headed out to IL for Monday.