How to turn something negative to positive in SOP? I did not pass my PhD candidacy twice and planning to apply at other institutes to pursue my PhD dream. In that case, should I mention my failure in candidacy to my SOP? If yes, how can I convert that to something positive to make my application impactful. Please suggest. Thank you
Did you graduate with a master's degree? If yes, then one option is to avoid discussing this altogether. You can approach this (honestly) as &quot;I earned my master's degree and now I want to get my PhD.&quot; They may guess what happened (or your letters of recommendation may spill the beans), but it still lets you avoid dwelling on a negative in your SOP.
Your other option (and only option, if you left without a degree) is to provide your own perspective on what happened. &quot;Turning a negative into a positive&quot; is probably too much to hope for, but you can take some of the sting out of the negative. I would suggest to: acknowledge the failure, explain what went wrong, and explain why things will be different next time. You can do this very concisely -- just a few sentences.