A motivation letter is one of the main documents for every scholarship or university admission or job application. For scholarship and admission, a motivation letter holds around 20-30% weight or even more in the whole application process. A good enough motivation letter can change your life. Therefore, every higher study aspirant should provide extra care while writing a motivation letter. In this article, a basic format of a motivation letter is provided. Including the author of this article and also many students who secured admission and scholarship following the structure. Let's discuss How to write a perfect motivational letter/ Statement of purpose in depth.
How to write a perfect motivational letter/ Statement of purpose
To make it simple, a motivational letter must have 6/7 passages depending on the need and every passage should answer a specific question.
First paragraph - what is your motivation for higher study?
This paragraph should include a story from your life that motivated you to pursue higher study or a specific job.
Second paragraph- discuss your undergraduate courses or subjects if you are applying for a master's and discuss both bachelor's and masters if you are applying for a Ph.D. position. Mention which courses you liked and which courses are related to the course you are applying to.
Third paragraph- discuss why you are applying for that specific subject. What motivates you toward that specific subject. Mention if you did any project related to that subject during your previous studies.
Fourth paragraph- here, you mention your research and thesis experience. If you have any job experience also mention that. Mention what did you learn from your thesis and job. If you learned any specific subject-related software or programming also mention that.
Fifth paragraph- mention your short and long time goals. What is your plan after your bachelor/master/PhD? Where do you want to see yourself in the next 10 years?
Sixth paragraph- concluding remarks. Mention- you will work hard and stick to your plan. Finally, mention why did you apply to that specific country/ discuss the scholarship or university country (culture/food/international students).
Tips for writing a motivation letter
Follow the guidelines- In many cases, universities or scholarship authorities provide a format for motivation letters. You have to follow that format strictly, otherwise, you will be directly rejected. For instance, Central Queensland university provides a guideline for writing where at the very beginning you have to make a table mentioning your name, job experience, and IELTS scores.
Write with personality- Write in correct and fluent English. Do not mention anything which sounds too exaggerated. Always try to maintain a flow and consistency as if you are telling the story of your life. Remember, humor can be misinterpreted, so opt for a more serious tone.
Simple language- Language should be easily understandable and the readability of writing should be high. Try to avoid complex sentence structures. To avoid misinterpretation, try to write short and active sentences.
The focus on your strengths- Try to mention all your strengths. Mention strengths with real-life experiences. It always makes a positive impression.
Mention limitations and how you overcome them- Remember, the admission committee knows you are a human being and all human beings have limitations. Therefore, besides mentioning your strengths also mention your limitations, but you must also include what you do and how you overcome those limitations.
A very important thing to remember is that do not mention things that are already mentioned on your CV, Cover letter, or in any other place of the application. The motivational letter/ statement of purpose is a document to express yourself and let the admission/scholarship committee know the stuff that they do not know about you and not mentioned anywhere else in the whole application. Also, remember that the committee is very busy and they do not put much time on one applicant, therefore, your introduction must be very strong so that it forces them to read the whole letter.
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For some more knowledge on how to write a motivational letter, watch the below video published by Vilnius University.