The posts about writing the essays oneself are similar to posts about doing well on SAT/ACT without tutors - happens all the time, but doesn’t mean there isn’t a test prep industry that many people complain about.
I more or less write all the time for my job. I wouldn’t be very good at writing college application essays and the experts at writing these essays wouldn’t be very good at writing my stuff without a fair amount of practice. Context and audience matter immensely.