Unusual personal history and how should i incorporate it?

[J. R., MPPA]

Hey folks, I'm trying to pen my SOP and am having difficulty with pretty much all of it.  I'd like to focus in on the personal adversity portion though for this post. I have read a lot of advice on writing these things, and most of them talk about adversities such as working during school, having a kid, etc.  Problem is that none of this really helps me in my particular situation.  These are my adversities in a nutshell:

 

100% disabled veteran

 

Was homeless for about a year

 

Stay-at-home dad while wife was in hospital for cancer (6 months inpatient)

     ( I have a couple of F's in my transcript history and this is why it happened.  I have since had them removed via  Academic Renewal, but they still show even though they aren't included in my overall GPA calculation)

 

8 year old daughter is a Type 1 diabetic, had to drop some classes here too so I could stay at home at take care of my daughter

 

I was morbidly obese and showing signs of type 2 diabetes.  Since then I've lost 130lbs and am now no longer overweight

 

Since all of this though, my GPA for my Jr. Sr. year is 3.75 and I've got a handful of profs providing strong letters of recommendation.  I just can't figure out how to write this d*** SOP. 

 

(GRE 159V 156Q, Applying for Masters in Public Policy Analysis and PhD Public Policy (and/or Political Economy)

 

 

 

[Anne00]

My recommendation, although I am no expert, would be to limit your adversities to the ones that had the biggest effect on your achievement, for better or worse. For example, if you earned your 3.75 GPA while supporting your wife through cancer or being homeless, I would say simply "Despite such and such, I maintained a GPA of 3.75." Or conversely, "Although I was serious about my studies, the adversity made it near-impossible to achieve my academic goals. Nevertheless, I overcame this difficult period as evidenced by my rebounded GPA" or something like that.

 

I personally weaved a story of my strengths and how they correspond with my research interest, while dropping subtle hints that I overcame a lot to be the successful person I am. <- not trying to sound conceited but I don't think any of us should sell ourselves short.  

 

Hope that helps. Good luck.