Survivor1993

One of my letter writers advised me to make my SOP more personal, and my thought was basically "how can I make it personal without exposing the insecurities, anguish, and trauma that I dealt with for 20 years, and the ongoing damage my toxic/narcissistic parents do to me?" I submitted one SOP with some very emotional comments about how moving away from my home state at age 25 and becoming a full-time researcher basically saved my life and helped me develop the social skills I was never given an opportunity to cultivate when I was younger. I actually cringe when I re-read this SOP, and I scaled back the emotionality in my other statements, but guess what? That emotional SOP got me into the highest-ranked program I was accepted to. I probably can't credit my SOP with putting me over the top but it was not a deterrent and might have helped show that I am emotionally mature enough now to handle a PhD.