Student Spotlight: Joey Longo: Community College FIRST, then Transfer to Charleston

Welcome to From Carpool to College, a show for parents who are trying to get ahead or just keep their sanity while navigating the college planning landscape. Welcome to from Carpool to College. I'm Tracy Amadeo, Tara Harritz, and we have a special guest today. I'm so excited. This is an extra special guest. Yeah, because it's my son, Joey Longo, who is home for a week. That's it. Yep, one week. I didn't know that he was home for the summer. Nope, okay, why is he not home for the summer. I'm a working man, he's a kid, he's a responsible kid. He's a working man. That's good that we're going to have him talk a little bit about his college path, his walk because a big theme of our show, Joey, we tell our parents that every kid has a different trajectory when it comes to what they want to do after high school and how they do it, and they also have their own time. I mean, look at you and your brother. You're as different as the fingers. On my hands, right, So, just like all the other listeners and their kids, every kid's different. We had Santina in here earlier she was talking about her walk with her going to Miami and her music studies and her performing arts. So we are going to talk to you a little bit about your process in where you are. So why don't you tell us right now? Let's start with the here and now, boots on the ground. Where are you going to college and what are you studying? So I am studying business administration at College at Charleston and I'm a rising senior, So I'm going into the home stretch here, So the home. Stretch and when are you predicted projected to graduate. At the end of the fall semester and then walking like for the nice ceremony in the spring. So it's too bad we're not on YouTube, Tara, because the cameras would capture my smile because Joey is graduating a semester early. Oh, I know, you did a good job. We did the work, and I am blessed that he actually listened to me. Because parents, as we know, it's a really tough time because we're pushing our kids towards independence. But now we have this college planning process and we are that delicate balance of hands on, hands off. It goes back to our very first episode again, like how much do you jump in with your kid? I know, Joey, I was annoying the heck out of you often when it came to college planning. So I'm here and there, you know, here and there right, Well. Thank you for the feedback, because to me, I felt like I just what I said, crawl up your butt with a cactus your mom. I'm a mom, right, but I'm also a mom who's a college planner. And Tara has a daughter who is a rising senior, and she has an eighth grade son, so she's totally in the thick of it too, so it's tough for us parents. So you're at College of Charleston. Now you're graduating a semester early, and what do you attribute graduating early to? How are you able to graduate a semester early and save this family thirty five thousand dollars? Thank you for that, by the way. Yeah, you're welcome, definitely, because like going to community college. First and then all the dual enrollment and. Aps from high school, so like just getting like a head start with not free credits, but credits that are like way cheaper and you can bang out way quicker than doing about a four year institution instead. So exactly, so we decided when Joey was in high school. Tower, I'm telling you this because you might want to think about this with Lucas who's going into high school, and for our listeners who have children in high school. There's a great option that you could do in high school, and that's called dual enrollment, where students are taking. Courses and you pay for them. You have to look parents, look at the course catalog to see what our dual enrollment classes, which means the high school class is also earning college credit at either like a local a regional campus. Like what did you have, Brilly Dickinson? Was it? Yeah? I think FDUS, Yeah. The FDU business courses. And Alex took like a can't did you take an No, you took accounting at CCM. Yeah, yeah, I did like marketing and uh right, I did want more TA television. You did tell the TV production yea. So we did two dual enrollment classes under the roof of the high school and I paid two hundred and seventy five dollars for each class. Right, it's like, okay, two seventy five, but I know Tower shake in her head. So two seventy five and he was able to get six college credits. Amazing. It's wonderful that transferred. So now if we're talking about the end in mind, a bachelor's degree is one hundred and twenty credits. Now we're minus six. Like, let's keep the ledger. So now we're minus six. Okay, So you also took in high school some AP classes. Yeah, I did. Well. Also, going back to those those classes, I took the dual enrollment ones. They were really cool too, because it wasn't like too strenuous. It wasn't like more difficult than a normal high school class. It was just it was like different and more in depth. So it was like totally manageable for like a high schooler because it was presented in like a high school format. But I learned so much more than like a normal high school class would provide, So so I really enjoyed them. But back to the AP stuff that we're going to bring up. I did AP LIT, AP LANG, AP psych, and oh A push us history. Right, and how many of those were we able to get college credit? I think three out of four. Yeah, it was weird because I remember when I went to CCM County College after high school, CCM did not take my a push score and my LANG score, but when I and I eventually transferred to College to Charleston, they took them. So it was kind of funny. It was interesting that the community college had like a higher standard than coll to Charleston. But at that point I had taken so many classes at CCM that I didn't even bother transferring those credits over because I didn't I transfer too much over, like I was kind of getting near my cap. Right, we'll talk about that too. Remind me to circle back to the cap because there is you know, we could wheel and deal as much as we can to a limit, to an extent, because the College of Charleston and all fouryer colleges have their branded degree that's accredited, so they have to have a certain amount of credits that are delivered by their instructors with their curriculum under their roof. So when we play the transfer game, which we did, we played it. We were like varsity level with this stuff. I think we really did a good job. We can you know, we can only do so much, and I think typically the ceiling is sixty credits. Yeah, in that neighborhood, Yeah. So so you took the classes, the AP courses, oh, which. Is two years, right, credits is about sixty crisis about two years, right, that's amazing. We forgot to bring this up. I did the senior privilege going to CCM, so let's. Probably go back to that, right, so let's talk. So that's another way of so we were all. About collecting credits to Tara, we were all about how many college credits can we collect before we end up at our four year college. And we weren't sure about getting the associate's degree at the community college because frankly, they sometimes it doesn't transfer. So you can spend all of this time and money thinking that, oh, this is an associate's degree, it's a guaranteed transfer that my kid only has two more years of a four year degree. But that's not always the case. So we were kind of making sure we're getting all our general education classes in and what was highly transferable. So we had our dual. Enrollment traditional under the roof of the high school, delivered through a high school teacher, as Joey said, like in depth, and that was delivered over a whole school year, right, it. Wasn't semester, whole school year. Yeah, so forty weeks and you get the junior year, Junior year, sophomore year, sophomore year one, sophomore one, junior something like that, something like that. Okay, yeah, they're pepper throughout one. Actually the TV production was Senior Year. Nice. Nice, nice. So then we did the AP and we got some credits that way as well, and then the fun part which I admire you so much, And actually Joey won the Baseball Scholarship because of that. Telling the story about how committed he was to his academics and baseball at the same time. Tell us about how we pulled this off. Yeah, so at I went to Morris Knowles High School and they have like the Senior Privilege program thing, I'm not sure what to call it, where usually every other day you can leave a block or period early and kind of like beat the rush and get out. So what I did was instead of just going home, I did it was like another dual enrollment thing. Was it through Morrisinals. Yes, it was called option two, Option two. There we go, Option two. So I did Option two and that entailed me leaving high school early with the rest of the seniors who are leaving early. But I would go drive to community college and take like the intro to business course, and it was it was awesome because I remember I would show up sometimes I would have like a high school baseball game that day, so I would get out of high school early, put on my baseball uniform, drive to the community college, take my class, and then drive back to high school for my baseball game. Right. Or we got special permission from the athletic director that he could drive directly to the games from the college. Right Yeah, the away games. Yeah, the away games. So it was incredible. That's its fu fall. It was fun. I made for some interesting looks in the hallway at the at the county college. Why why is he wearing a school high school baseball uniform? Ye? Did he really peak in high school? Hard? Like not. I was still in high school. I was not living in the past. Yeah. But I will say, I feel like the professors had so much respect for you. Yeah, it was it was cool. Definitely, like first day, like syllabus week, they would you know, got some eyebrow raises, you know, but but it worked out great. Yeah, it's amazing. And the really good professors there too, So yeah. The community college professors very much are practitioners, so they haven't always been behind you know, the lectern and there they've been in the business. Like you talked to me. Yeah, well the guy who you're accounting teacher. Oh yeah, tell me about. That professor Ved at CCM. I had him for accounting and he was a phenomenal professor. But he wasn't like always a teacher, and he had like studied I believe it was the universe or Steve Bombay. I could be wrong, but like he studied in India and studied in America and worked all over the world, and then he was my community college professor and it was phenomenal. It was awesome. Yeah, but that's when I was at community college full time though that wasn't for the high school, right, but still regardless, I was still eighteen years old learning from this guy and it was amazing. So right, So Tara's daughter is coming up on her senior year and she's going to have her first experience with the whole May First Decision Day. Yes, yes, so every year May First rolls around, the photographer goes to, you know, take pictures of all of the students. They wear their gear. Tell us about it for you. So that was that was a funny day for me because I was going to community college for many reasons, but one of the reasons was I just didn't I just didn't want to go to a four year school right off the bat because I didn't want to put myself in school that was near or far in some program or major that I wasn't completely sure of yet. So that's why I chose community college. But it's not really glorified as much as say Penn State University. Right, So we joke, we joke all the time about we love Penn State. So I know, Stacey, you're listening. Hi, Stacy, I'm friends with the admissions counselor. We we love Penn State. But everyone from New Jersey wants to go to Penn State. Everyone. It's like it's like New Jersey West. Yeah. I can't even hate on it because all my friends go there too, I know, but it was it was really funny. I I this might come as a shock to you guys, but I didn't have any community college swag, so I didn't wear anything on my first Sorry, I just I think I just wore my Washington Redskins jersey to school. Which I will refrain from making comments. Giants fan whatever, it's a thing. Yeah, I mean I didn't really I know for some people, like I definitely know for some people that were going to uh community college, or some people I knew that we're going to community college to play sports. As I said before, it's not as glorified as going to like I mean in a social sense as going to like a big name school. So I didn't have any problems with not, you know, being there with my gear on and my sweatshirt, you know, hands across the chest. We are Penn State, where I'm I'm hating on Penn State too much. It's coming to mind, it's coming to mind. So it's very popular amongst the North crew. But I know, like sometimes that gets to some people like that, you. Know, there's a lot of social pressure. But for me, I didn't really care. I was just ready to just have fun and just go to school. So yeah, and you did, and you certainly did. What advice would you give parents about talking to their kids about the possibility of going to a community college instead of four year right away? So I'm biased because I think it's I look back on my one year of community college, and I can like firmly say that was probably one of the best years of my life. So I'm biased though, because I had phenomenal professors. I met so many cool people at community college from like all different walks of life. I had a friend group there and we were all like so different but so fun. And I was working thirty five hours a week still and going to class in the morning, working at night, or working in the morning going to class at night, and I was just busy, productive, saving so much money and it was I had a blast. So I think it. You know, every kid is different, and you know plans are all different, but if to all the parents out there, yeah, if your kid is like remotely responsible or hard working, they can make community college such a rewarding experience. And I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but transfer to Charleston. I know so many people there who went to a two year school, like a county community college before that, and the reviews. Are pretty much like that. Wow, the consensus was like I would do it again like that, like over and over. So oh, that's interesting because the culture of the Northeast Terry. You were talking about that with your family member. Yes, the culture of the Northeast. The rat race and the college college where your kid goes to school becomes a status thing. And it's right, it's very much. It's a rat race in many respects, and it's not like that across the whole country, right, that's right. So we're so deep in it. So just to go back to dual enrollment a little bit, because I know this has come up with some of my friends who have students, you know, children that are in high school right now, and so many of them are aware of dual enrollment. And it's no fault of their own. It's just something I feel that's not talked about or advertised as much, or sometimes it goes under a different name or whatever. So I think it's really important that we mention that to parents that every school has usually some sort of program. It may not be called duel enrollment, or it may be you. Know, called early college sometimes, but certainly the partnering with a four year institution or a community college. You have to look for it. You have to look for it, ask about it, right, find out a little bit more. I was talking to the friend of a coffee shop the other day who said, I wish that our high school did this and I had to explain, we do. And this is a very very well read individual, you know, So it's it is interesting that that those things are not kind of broadcasted. Right right, and and Joey bit right into that apple, thank goodness, and was able to take those dual credits. Yeah, right off the bat, I do want to talk about online classes nice, So we'll talk about the good, bad, and the ugly right, Because what we're seeing is that students in college underclassmen first year assume that their online course is going to be like the Bobo versions of online courses that they had during COVID. Yeah it's not. Yeah, So can you tell it? Because oh, because you're actually starting to online courses today. What classes are you taking online? I don't know the name of them, but they fill my pre modern and modern history requirements so perfect. Perfect. So tell us a little bit about your experience with online courses. I love them. I think that like they're the absolute best. I uh, whenever I like since going to Charleston, whenever I have gaps in the semesters summer, winter, late spring, I I'll log on and try to fill it in with little online classes from community college just to fill it in and like get credits as you go, like during like the summer and stuff, because they're not like easier than normal class, but you can do them at your own pace. So what I'll do is I'll start the class and I'll do I'll work like ten hours a day for like two days or three days and just. Grind it out. If it's like a four week class, I'll just sit down for like five days and do the entire thing and finish it. And like I enjoy doing that, just to get it done and out of the way. So I'm gonna do that tomorrow probably perfect. And those course the courses you're taking this summer are through the community college as well. They're through community college. So again a way to kind of lessen the cost, right, absolutely, Yeah. And what I actually had to do is I went I did like a transcript audit with my advisor at Charleston, and I went through the credits that I transferred from community college, saw which ones were kind of just dead like dead weight that they transferred over as credits, but they didn't count towards my major. So what I did was I declined those I went, so they were already accepted, like a year and a half ago, I went and I declined them to make room for these that I'm going to take now that are actually account towards my degree. So I'm kind of you know, pulling the puzzle pieces and swapping them. Out and whatnot. Wow. So, but it is good to speak with someone from the college on a fairly regular basis to kind of make sure you're just on track and that you have all of the necessary credits and if you are doing the online courses right so that you don't fall into any like problems where you're taking a course and then it doesn't work and it doesn't transfer. Yeah, what I'll do with my advisor is at the beginning of each semester, I'll sit down and say, you know, these are the classes that, to be completely clear, like to be honest, I would rather not pay Charleston money to take a history course for my business degree. So I would rather pay community college money for a history course about the ancient Romans than fill a fifteen week class in person at Charleston with that slot. So I'm basically doing like more gen ds or like just elective classes through community College so that the classes that I'm paying Charleston money for and I'm sitting there in person for fifteen weeks. Are my three hundred and four hundred level classes with you know that count towards my degree? In major? Is that I know he's a business major. Young adult? Sorry, young adult, Yes, my emerging adult. Tell us a little bit about what you're doing this last semester, like work everything, tell us everything, and you know what we were Also, something else I wanted to talk about is the social life in Charleston, which I'm sure you could talk about easily, but let's talk about academics, any internships and work that you do. So semester ends pretty early for southern schools, so I was done like around like late or late April, and since then I've been like working. It's it's a coastal city, so I'm working on boats and at marinas and whatnot. Tell us how you found that job. Oh yeah, one day I live. I don't live on campus. I rent a house with my buddies just outside the city. It's like eight minute driving campus, so it's pretty close. And there's a baseball field in the suburb that we live. And my buddy and I just walked down the road one day and saw a nine year old team practicing baseball and as if we can coach, and they said yeah, And then one of the coaches offered me a job to work on boats this summer. So that's what I'm doing. Perfect, perfect, So it's all the networking, right. Yeah, yeah, talk to people. Talk to people exactly and tell us you Charleston is a vacation destination. It's an expensive city. There's even a tax. What's like, there's a there's a tourist tax. There's there's tax on breathing, like there's it's a very expensive city. It really is. So tell us a little bit. And parents need to understand where their children end up at college. If they're going to a school, say in Charleston or in Miami, or in Chicago or in New York City, the cost of living is going to be significantly higher than if they were going to a school that wasn't necessarily in a destination city. If you will, so tell me about cover charges for bars. There are a lot how much like twenty sometimes. Okay, so just to get into a bar college bar twenty. If you want, if you don't want to wait in the hour line, it's another fifty to the bouncer. So that's why I don't go to those bars. So how would you describe the like is it big Greek school or sororities, fraternities? This is interesting, It's it's pretty different. Like I might throw some shade on I'm not I'm not in a frat, so I'm a little bit biased here, but a lot of like frats and crorities at Charleston try to they try to like force themselves to be like an honorary sec school as far as Greek life goes, but it really pales in comparison. The real social scene is just the city and there's not like it's. Not in a bad way. There's not like too much like school spirit or school atmosphere because the campus is spread throughout the city so much. It's it's just like one identity of Charleston. Like I don't usually say, well, except for this podcast, that I go to the college at Charleston, I say, I go to school in Charleston. Interesting, that's that's you know, it's more of a city identity, and the social scene is more interesting because you got to the bar and or you go downtown and you could be hanging out with people ages like eighteen through thirty because it's a tourist city and it's not The bars are not college bars. There's no college bars. It's downtown bars. So you've got to mix maybe thirty percent locals, thirty percent college kids, thirty percent tourists, and it just kind of blends into this beautiful mess that is the Holy City. I love it. That's great. That's great. Is there anything else that you think parents should know about what we talked about today, about early college, about dual enrollment, about community college, about selecting a college. I think. I'm looking back at my experience and I wouldn't really change anything. And I think a lot of people who have a similar path that I do with my college years and whatnot will say the same thing. I don't think anyone regretted their time at a community college, because everyone always talks about, Oh, like, you go to college and not only you learn, you also like you're an adult for the first time, and you you know, you discover yourself and you know all this like self realization stuff. I did not go to afore year school out of high school, but I still like I still had that in community college where I was. I mean, you know, I lived at home, but you didn't see me. I was out, I was working, I was in school. I was doing my own thing, going to the gym. And even though I wasn't at a four year school, you know, the social scene is different. But I still learned so much about myself and found out how I work, how my brain works, like who I am like that after high school experience was was you know, in community college for me, and it was awesome. So and he seems a little lighter without all the debt, right, Yeah, I mean we're you know, we're looking at the College of Charleston's price is about eighty eighty Is that much? Yeah, I mean we get some financial aid and we get some stuff knocked off. But yeah, so to be able to go there right and experience it, but not come out of their having four years, right, four years of that kind of that kind of day exactly, exactly. I just love this whole conversation because it's it creates a whole new view of community college and everybody you talk to, even our generation. I took classes at community college. My husband took classes, and to this day we say those were some of the best professors ever, hands down, hands down, I think you. Know, I respect every professor you know for being an intelligent individual as they are. But mostly. But I some of like the most life changing professors and the best professors had they all they were all at community college. Like you could give him a shout out County College of Morris VET. If you go to County College of Morris and you were taking accounting, you better book ved. Okay, book them well book bet maybe we'll get him in here. That would be great, would be good. Thank you, Thank you so much, Joey for joining us today. I'm so happy you're home for a week. He loved Charleston so much that he's going back for the rest of the summer. Sound I would go back too. It sounds like he's having a great time. How far are your your eight minutes from the from the campus in ten minutes from the beach. Yeah, ten minutes from the beach pretty much. So yeah, yes, yeah, I would go back to maybe I will. Well. Thank you so much and thank you for joining us on from Carpool to College. I'm Tracy Amadeo, Tara Harts, and our special. Guest Joey Longo. Thanks for joining us today. Thanks Gres, Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. 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Will be like Paula and Carol or that Saturday Night Lives. Yet you know that we're talking about. This is getting edited right? Is that okay,