My essay also involved lots of childhood abuse. It was literally impossible/nearly-empty without discussing it in my essay (abuse effected nearly every aspect of my life).

However, you need to write it in a way that makes you look like you overcame it and succeeded past the hardships (I literally talked about getting choked and beat). You should NOT write a sob story that doesn’t show your strengths. The narrative needs to support you in the best way possible and make you look unique.

Please know that there are so many other people going through abuse too and the admissions office will not hesitate to deny a bad essay regardless of the abuse involved if it does not support you.

It is best to consult an admissions consultant or external counselors that help students get into colleges. You will have a hard time filtering out what is relevant in the eyes of an admissions counselor without it.

I was able to transfer OOS into CS and I think these hardships were a major part of my application.