Hello fellow forum readers,

I am re-applying to Columbia's MFA program after being put on the waiting list last year. Is anyone in the same position having difficulty rewriting their personal essay?

I believe the focus should be on how we've grown/what we've accomplished since the last application and why we're reapplying. That's going to take up a lot of space, so what I'm struggling with is...how much of the essay do you think should be dedicated to why we want to be filmmakers, our past experiences, influences, etc? I feel like that would be redundant and restricts our ability to give the committee new insight on us as re-applicants.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated :-)