Together.

We hear this often — and we're parents too. Kids should absolutely have space to enjoy being kids.

Our early work isn't about college applications — those are years away. It's about helping your family understand what motivates your student, how to make thoughtful academic and extracurricular choices, and how to have productive conversations about the future before those conversations carry the weight of deadlines.

Eighth and ninth grade are the last years your student has real freedom to explore. Course decisions made in 9th grade shape the academic profile colleges will eventually see. Starting now means more time, more options, and better decisions later.

Most college counselors begin working with families in junior or senior year and focus primarily on the student.

We start earlier — because we've seen from inside enrollment offices what happens when families wait — and we include the whole family, because the decisions ahead aren't just the student's to make. From choosing colleges to understanding how education will be funded, parents and caregivers are part of every major decision. Our approach creates space for shared conversations, aligned expectations, and informed decision-making.

Your counselor serves as a navigator — helping the entire family move forward with clarity while discovering opportunities and possibilities along the way.

We greatly respect the work that school-based college counselors do. In fact, it's their dedication and expertise that inspired our programs. We've crafted our curriculum based on the essential conversations that counselors have with students and their families — and more importantly, what they wish students knew earlier.

Our programs are designed to ensure students and their families are as prepared and informed as possible for the college admission process. That preparation gives them the tools needed to fully benefit from the services provided by school counselors when the crucial time comes in junior and senior years. Armed with organized data and a confident understanding of the process, they can interact with their school counselor from a position of knowledge rather than uncertainty.

For those families who opt to continue working with us into the junior and senior years, we provide a concierge-like service that complements their school-based counseling. We align our guidance with the school's timelines and expectations, providing personalized assistance that fits seamlessly within the framework of the school's resources. This level of support can help alleviate stress, enhance student understanding, and ultimately, optimize each student's path to a successful college future.

We do not promise admissions to specific colleges — no ethical counselor can. What families gain is clarity, strategy, and preparation: a student who understands their interests and goals, a family aligned on expectations and financial realities, a thoughtful academic plan, and the communication tools to navigate the years ahead together.

Families consistently tell us the most valuable outcome is the shift in how they talk about the future — from guessing and worrying to planning and understanding.

This is common — especially with 8th and 9th graders. Thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds don't typically volunteer for conversations about their future.

What we've found is that when a young person feels genuinely listened to — not lectured, not directed — they open up. Our student sessions are designed to be engaging and student-centered. We meet them where they are, not where we think they should be.

SUM TOTAL is a new company, but our experience is not. Our founders have spent decades inside university enrollment offices, as leaders and as team members. Both have served as presidents of major regional college counseling organizations.

We started this practice because we saw the same pattern year after year: families arriving at junior year with decisions behind them that couldn't be undone. We believed the counseling industry should serve families earlier — and when no one else did, we built it ourselves.

Our goal is simple: to help families approach the college journey informed, aligned, and confident — long before the pressure begins.