Two datapoints- I took advantage of this service with one of my kids. And the message from an experienced adcom (not a 25 year old kid- this was a grizzled veteran) was “Don’t apply to Brown. We are not a good fit for what you are looking for”.
Second datapoint was a close college friend whose kid was told “Apply of course if you want what we offer. But your chances are about the same as any other applicant.” Only “hook” was legacy, and kid was denied, ended up at Northwestern (so not a slouch academically but perhaps borderline at Brown given the pool that year?)
So the “aside” shouldn’t be that the counseling was a glide path to admissions. At the time it was thought to be a nice amenity for the alumni community when we were all sick of umbrellas and tote bags. I know many classmates who are harboring various degrees of anger/surprise that their kids were not admitted- I don’t know how many of them took advantage of the counseling, but we have all concluded that legacy is not that meaningful anymore- and probably hasn’t been for a while unless you are a US Senator or have recently won a Grammy (thereby qualifying you for EGOT status next year once your movie is released).
Carry on.