The Summit College Counseling, LLC -

JoAnne Murphy

One of the best decisions I ever made was hiring Veena Rao owner of Summit College Counseling to work with my son on the college process.

My son had a very specialized track he wanted to pursue (animation) and I knew NOTHING about how to even go about finding out what schools he should look at, how he needs to build the right content for his portfolio and then what he needs to do in High School to make him a strong candidate for the schools he's ultimately applying to. Veena did an amazing job with all of it, she found about 15-20 schools that my son should consider, he applied to 11 and got accepted to 10 of them. And for 8 of them, he received merit scholarships. And I was very proud that he was not only accepted into his #1 school (The Savannah College of Art & Design) but he was awarded multiple scholarships.

But beyond her structure and support of my son's High School classes, extracurricular activities, suggestions on how to be a strong applicant, ACT prep, essay prep and for him, portfolio prep she truly got to know my son and cared about him. She worked with him for 3.5 years in a way where he felt not just comfortable with her but also motivated to do what he needed to do.

Given all of that, I am using Veena's services again for my younger son. She's absolutely worth it!!!

Jenni Rosen

Having Veena on top of everything reduced the stress and tears since I was really worried about meeting deadlines and not getting into huge fights with our child. Veena had so many wonderful ideas for our daughter; it allowed her to think out of the box. Working with Veena was invaluable. The college list Veena created got us thinking about schools we hadn't even considered. Our daughter has now committed to a university she is so excited about starting this fall. We highly recommend Veena to everyone! --Jenni, Class of 2024 parent

Heather Brundieck

The best thing we have done was hire Veena to guide our son through the college admissions process. She started by helping him explore careers, then selecting the right colleges to apply to, and finally advising him during the essay writing process. He is now thriving in college and we truly believe Veena was the key to his success!

Aadi Bagga

Veena helped me out so much college admissions, especially since I never had a "plan" in highschool to try and boost my college application. Veena helped me make my activities and essays the best they could be and supported me every step of the way, and I am extremely grateful!

Sonal Shah

Veena Rao has been a true guide and immense help during our Son admission process. She was always a text or phone away when we had questions. Thank you very much for all your help.

Betsy Welch

From a father that went into professional sports and a mother who went into family business, we were struggling to navigate the college applications process. Veena has provided extreme support by creating deadlines, joining meetings, editing essays, helping us narrow down colleges, answering questions, and helping us navigate financial aid. Veena is very knowledgeable, efficient, and supportive; we couldn’t have asked for a better college counselor.

Diane Angulo

On behalf of the Fulfillment Fund, I would like to thank Veena Rao for the support she provided our students throughout the school year. Veena did a fantastic job of helping us implement a virtual college essay workshop series for rising seniors. The exercises she created, were well thought out and easy for students to navigate. Fulfillment Fund students benefitted greatly from this workshop series. Veena devoted her time in developing college access resource guides for our high school students. These resource guides consisted of scholarships, extracurricular opportunities, and college essay writing templates, which our students still use today. Veena also did an amazing job of providing intensive one-on-one college counseling support by creating college lists with juniors and seniors based on their individualized needs and interests. She did a great job of introducing in and out-of-state Private Colleges to many first-generation college going students interested in the fields of science and engineering.

Diane Angulo
Director, College Access

Terry Robin

My son is a Jr this year and he wants to go to college and study computer science. A subject I know nothing about. We had no idea where to start our college search and we are right in the middle of COVID and finances were tight. When I looked into college counseling everyone was offering large packages that I was not interested in. I specifically wanted help finding a list of colleges my son would be able to get into and that we could afford.
Veena was able to offer an a la carte option just focused on a school search that was very reasonable priced. Turns out I got more that I paid for.
Veena was excellent and extremely professional through the whole processes. She spoke with my wife and I and my son to find out what each of us was looking for in a college. She had us fill out surveys so she could get more detailed information. In the end, Veena provided us with a large list of colleges that fit what we were looking for. She included lots of detailed information on the school admissions, campus life, information about the major and scholarships and student aid.
Thanks to Veena we have a map to investigate schools and pick out the one that is best suited for my son.
I would highly recommend Veena to anyone who has a kid getting prepared for college. She was a tremendous help and we will be going back to her if we need any help with the application process.