Conflicted how personal I should be

[DPDoubleTrouble]

I'm applying for Masters Political Science, and all the schools mention a generic "statement of intent;" 1 page for some schools, while some are capped at two, so it's relatively short.

I had written all my statements and was going to submit it but just been conflicted over the past few weeks. How personal should I be? I generally believe that personal life should be separate than academic life, and the whole idea of affirmative action, however where I currently stand is deeply impacted by my life, especially when you compare me to someone else in the same spot as me right now.

Here is a bullet list of my life:

• Have a diagnosed learning disability (like an actual disability, not some ADHD ploy to get adderall)
• Abusive alcoholic father so parents divorced officially when I was a young child, otherwise single mother my entire life
• Lived in homeless shelters with my mom and sister as a child, and government housing since
• Mother was impaired in a severe accident a few years back so she's been on disability, so I've been paying for my entire education etc with many jobs simultaneously throughout high school and university
• Close friend killed himself in Grade 12
• Once again, a friend killed himself in my second year of university

As you can imagine, my grades haven't been the best, but this past year my grades in fourth year have been really great at 3.9/4.0 (across only fourth year poli sci classes so put it into perspective how well I'm doing), so I have a one page addendum on my transcript that details this, but purely factual/objective, no sap story. Essentially a bullet list but in sentence form.

As it stands, my statements are purely academically oriented right now, but they're all at about 1 to 1/2 pages. Furthermore, my references don't know about my personal life, so their letters would also only talk about my academics and my very strong extracurricular background.

 

Should I keep the route I am doing; aka only talking about my personal life in my addensum on my transcript and just academics on my statements, or should I mix it up? If I mix it up, some of my statements would need to be reduced to make room, so factor that in. 

Suggestions would help! Thanks!

Edited December 23, 2018 by DPDoubleTrouble

[paraent]

I'd say, pretty close to the route you're doing. SOP should definitely be a professional document most of the time. Would recommend in that transcript addendum that you emphasize your resilience and emotional/mental readiness for graduate school in case they get worried about trauma preventing you from completion. Just, yknow, cast your experiences as a strength rather than (or in addition to) a scar.

Edited December 23, 2018 by paraent

[PsyDuck90]

If the schools specifically ask for a "statement of intent" or "statement of purpose" then it should be academic and directed towards your professional goals. If they specifically ask for a "personal statement" then you can break away from the academic a little. I would stick with how you've done it. 

[DPDoubleTrouble]

Thanks for that! Will maintain my current statements in that case!

On 12/23/2018 at 5:01 PM, paraent said:

I'd say, pretty close to the route you're doing. SOP should definitely be a professional document most of the time. Would recommend in that transcript addendum that you emphasize your resilience and emotional/mental readiness for graduate school in case they get worried about trauma preventing you from completion. Just, yknow, cast your experiences as a strength rather than (or in addition to) a scar.

 

On 12/23/2018 at 8:25 PM, Hk328 said:

If the schools specifically ask for a "statement of intent" or "statement of purpose" then it should be academic and directed towards your professional goals. If they specifically ask for a "personal statement" then you can break away from the academic a little. I would stick with how you've done it. 

 

[Psyhopeful]

The only thing I would add is that if there is a personal reason that has made you passionate about your area of study, I might mention that briefly. Otherwise, I would keep personal stuff in your personal statement.