How do AOs differentiate between essays written by self vs written with help from paid consultants?

College Essays
1

I know there are several applicants who use paid consultants to help with their essays. My assumption is that these essays will be more sophisticated than others written by the high school seniors on their own. I am talking about regular high school seniors, who are not writers… People like myself.

I believe some schools ask applicants to explain what kind of help they received in the application preparation process, but most schools don’t.

My question is when the AOs read these essays, would they be able to differentiate between such essays?

2

I know I can’t do much about this now (that I have already written all my essays myself), but am concerned that others who used paid services may have an advantage over people like me.