Despite the widespread opinions of parents and applicants, the “I overcame adversity” theme is not a “winning topic”.
First, because, for the AOs, it’s just a story. They have no idea whether you’re telling the truth or whether you are a reliable narrator, and, however difficult your situation was, somebody else has a worse story. Second, it rarely tells the AOs much about the writer, It’s almost invariably about the experience. That does not give the AOs much insight as to who you are, and how you would fit in their college, or, more importantly, whether you would do well in their college. AOs, especially for colleges with many applicants and few acceptances, are rarely risk takers. They want to accept students who have a good chance of succeeding. Most of these essays focus on all the difficulties the students has had in their life, and then will end up with a couple of sentences on the theme of “but I persevered, etc”. This can leave the reader with the feeling of “this person is still suffering from their trauma, and we don’ think that it’s a good idea for them to attend such a challenging college as ours.”
Finally, these types of essays are the ones for which students commonly try to tell the reader about their experiences, violating the most important rule of creative writing.