It can be true. But there are limits. Parents in the US want their kid to have every advantage and if able to pay for a private CC why not? The essays aren’t written for them—but the CC might bring in a journalist, playwright or aspiring novelist to serve as editor. But don’t worry— legacy and $ are not guarantees. You get obvious advantage by applying ED— but so does everyone else applying ED with a private counselor who has advised every course, every EC, every volunteer activity since freshman year— staking out every advantage for standardized testing etc. But you’re not competing against them— they’re competing against each other. All the advantages count for part of the pool—not the whole class. No school wants just those kids.