Personal Statements-- Trauma or no trauma?

[einalemjs]

Hi guys,

The last question I have before I send out all of my applications with a big kiss is how strong discussing personal struggles are in personal statements.

I just found this article: https://psychology.unl.edu/psichi/Graduate_School_Application_Kisses_of_Death.pdf which is specifically for psychology graduate programs, but gives a good overview of things you can do to put off app committees. 

The relevant bits to my question are here (both from page 7):

"Personal mental health. The discussion of a personal mental health problem is likely to decrease an applicant’s chances of acceptance into a program. Examples of this particular KOD in a personal statement included comments such as “showing evidence of untreated mental illness,” “emotional instability,” and seeking graduate training “to better understand one’s own problems or problems in one’s family.” More specifically, one respondent stated that a KOD may occur “when students highlight how they were drawn to graduate study because of significant personal problems or trauma. Graduate school is an academic/career path, not a personal treatment or intervention for problems.”

"Excessive self-disclosure. Promiscuous self-disclosure characterized another KOD in personal statements. An example of such disclosure was “a long saga about how the student had finished [school] over incredible odds. Much better to have a reference allude to this.” However, one committee chair noted that graduate admissions committees do not always view this type of information negatively if an applicant has written it in a professional manner that is appropriate for the context of a formal application."

The difficulty for me is that my personal struggle is very personal, although definitely qualifies as an external struggle. It is very powerful stuff. Reading this article kind of scared the shit out of me for even thinking of sending it. But let's keep in mind it was written in 2006, and mental health has seen a nearly unimaginable upswing in perception change since then. But I do have another version of my personal statement that doesn't talk about it at all, and I'm leaning pretty heavily toward sending this one to be safe. 

In sum, my question: based on what you know, what you've experienced, is it good to write about struggle (for graduate program admission SPECIFICALLY. I can't believe I'm even asking this question...)?

In any case, I've taken some useful advice from the above article. When discussing my future academic goals, I should talk engagingly but professionally about my background and what inspired me and what kind of experience I have, and then mostly about what kind of research that I want to do.

Edited January 10, 2020 by mjsharif

[Sigaba]

1 minute ago, mjsharif said:

In sum, my question: based on what you know, what you've experienced, is it good to write about struggle?

@mjsharif this issue comes up several times each application season. Unfortunately, applicants with traumatic pasts who come here seeking guidance rarely return to the grad cafe to disclose what they included in their SoPs or to share how the disclosures impacted their prospects for admission.

[einalemjs]

1 hour ago, Sigaba said:

@mjsharif this issue comes up several times each application season. Unfortunately, applicants with traumatic pasts who come here seeking guidance rarely return to the grad cafe to disclose what they included in their SoPs or to share how the disclosures impacted their prospects for admission.

Hm. I've thought about it, and unless someone can change my mind, I won't be one to change that pattern, even with you telling it to me. Not because I don't want to--I've just decided to take what I find meaningful from thinking about this and having written the more personal "personal" statement and submit my more straightforward essay. Even though I have much to say about this and find it rather unfortunate, I'm not willing to take the risk.

I will however be using the personal personal statement as a part of a separate scholarship application, so I most certainly will come back on here and write about the outcome there.

Edited January 10, 2020 by mjsharif

[KARW]

I wish I had seen this post before applying. I noted being a veteran with PTSD in one statement of purpose. I can see how that’s a liability for a school now. Wondering if I should upload a different file and statement since they don’t have all my documents yet. Or if they take the one uploaded. It lets me write over it. I didn’t mention it in another statement for a different school since it didn’t seem relevant. I did mention it in this particular one, because the program of interest was about gender and violence, I had included it. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by KARW

[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.

[WomanOfLetters]

I came across this article earlier: https://electricliterature.com/how-applying-to-grad-school-becomes-a-display-of-trauma-for-people-of-color/?fbclid=IwAR0K_bY7nDQAxiXWoecR2-kKu7kQge-MjvtPUYfB7HVMr_rkjGXTI-1wCas and have been thinking if I should write about my struggles - not exactly mental health struggles, but the struggles of simply keep failing and keep trying - given that I am not white? Is this really going to help with my application? I've been applying for PhD programs for a few years in a row (has since done an MA), and would love to have any advice on how to get into one. Thank you very much!

[Pubmed22]

Anyone who got in and wants to now let us know their outcome.

In my case, got accepted to Masters with a background of trauma but got rejected to PhD with a personal statement that detailed the trauma. (Both are t5 programs in public health)

 

Want to apply to PsyD sometime after my masters and would love to know how this panned out for others