“I did not want to be packaged which is one of the reasons I did not want to hire someone.”
I myself have never “packaged” anyone in the way I understand packaging – from my years in marketing. College applications and admissions considerations are far more individualized than that. I think any good counselor will simply bring out aspects of the student that are truly there and don’t need to be “packaged” but which the student is somewhat timid about, minimizes, etc. because he or she assumes the college won’t be interested. They’re not adults; that’s why they think the college won’t be interested. Alternatively, involved parents can coax that, but, as has been said by other parents here, the relationship, however close, does not always work for an endeavor like this, for a variety of reasons and depending on the people involved.