Admission to a foreign university, an internship, training on special courses (e.g., NBA), applying for a grant – in all these cases, the applicant must prepare a motivational letter or essay. When students hear about this requirement, they often get lost. How do I write a motivational letter for admission? What should the document be? Will the admissions committee read it? We will try to answer these and other questions in our article.
What is a motivation letter?
The admissions committee of educational institutions has an important task – to choose among the many applicants worthy of getting the title of a student of this or that university. The task is difficult, especially if we talk about popular faculties and directions. How to cope with it, if there is a package of many applicants, excellent diplomas or bachelor’s degrees, victories in competitions and many other achievements?
A motivational letter will help you make the right decision. It is a document written in the form of an essay. The volume is small – 1-2 pages of A4 format. In it, the candidate talks about why he or she is a worthy applicant for:
admission to a master’s program;
receiving a grant;
an internship at a prestigious foreign firm;
admission to undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral programs depending on university regulations.
The author has a difficult task. It is necessary to talk about his merits, talents, and skills, about the purposes of admission, so that the admissions committee does not doubt that it is necessary to enroll him in the university. As the first acquaintance, the essay forms the impression of a person.
It is essential to find the appropriate words so that university representatives understand that in front of them are the documents of a person who:
- Is ready to make every effort to enroll in a particular institution;
- can clearly and competently express his thoughts on paper (the style and structure of the speech is also evaluated);
- has a high level of academic preparation (it can be confirmed by using special terminology while writing the essay);
- can master the program of higher education, completes studies on time, without any problems with academic performance;
- is communicative, open to communication with faculty and students;
- can represent the university’s interests at Olympiads and other events.
The difficulty of writing a motivation letter lies in the fact that you need to fit a lot of information in a relatively small amount of text. Unfortunately, not everyone has literary talent. But nowadays, it’s not a problem – you can also enlist the help of the paperhelp reliable writing service, which aims to assist students with their writing assignments. But in case you decide to make it on your own, we bring to your attention a few tips that will help you create a logically connected and easy-to-understand text.
Recommendations for writing a motivational essay
Most universities provide applicants with a list of questions that they want to be answered in a motivational letter. An essay is not a quiz that requires answers to questions. A list of them is provided to applicants to understand exactly what they need to write about. You need to pay attention to each point, but the information should be presented in a simple form.
How to write a motivational letter for admission so that the admissions committee will pay attention to it? The essay must be:
Informative. The document should not seem formal and superficial. Before writing it, the author should carefully select the information that may interest the admissions committee and then beautifully put the data on paper.
Logically related. All the facts listed in the document should be set out sequentially. Do not “jump” from one question to another; everything should be set out in stages.
It must satisfy the interests of the university. Above, we talked about the fact that universities make a special selection of questions, the answers to which they want to get in the essay. Usually, the list is published on the institution’s website. You should not ignore this list. In the letter, you need to give information on each item.
It should be done by the requirements of the university. The university may publish recommendations on the design of the essay (the font and font size in which it should be printed or a request to write the document by hand). They should definitely be taken into consideration.
When writing an essay, it is important to set the accents correctly. The document’s main purpose is to show and confirm with facts why the applicant wants to study at a particular university and for a specific department. The essay should include this information, regardless of the established requirements. Correctly chosen arguments will help the admissions committee decide in favor of this or that candidate.
It is necessary to understand that excessive modesty is inappropriate when writing an essay. Even the shyest candidates will have to praise themselves. Describing your positive sides, you should tell about all the talents, merits and hobbies. Information should not be presented as a list but set out beautifully and interestingly. Telling about yourself it is necessary to specify what existing skills the candidate wants to develop.
When preparing an essay, one should not forget about the language of writing. It should be simple and accessible. It is necessary to avoid:
complex and incomprehensible words;
colloquial vocabulary;
long sentences.
To cope with this task, you need to read aloud the material set out on paper to identify and replace poorly drafted phrases.
To stand out from the crowd, you need to show personality. When preparing your letter, it is essential not to overdo it. You should avoid jokes and the non-standard format of presenting the information. You should avoid jokes and jokes in a non-standard form. Pictures, pictures, and other images should be inappropriate if the school does not require them. A literate essay written by the style and formatting will help emphasize the author’s individuality.
You should not use the same letter when applying to different universities
In each case, the essay should be individual, written, taking into account the requirements of the higher education institution and the chosen department’s specifics (specialty). When applying for different programs or grants, this should also be kept in mind.
Try to get away from templates and standards
when preparing your paper. Imagine yourself in the shoes of a member of the admissions committee, who has to study dozens of letters written “just like copies” in one day. Bored? Naturally! No one forbids standard phrases in an essay, but they will be of no use unambiguously.
After completing the work, you need to show the document to someone you know
It should be a person knowledgeable in the matter or a philologist. A specialist will help identify deficiencies, point out errors, and advise how to rephrase the material presented.
You also could be interested in: 10 Best Writing Help Online Resources Every Student Must Know
A few words about possible formats. Experts recommend using one of the following formats:
“Past-Present-Future.”
The applicant who chooses this format should describe what skills he or she has that allow him/her to enter a particular university. Next, you need to specify what knowledge the candidate expects to gain for his/her professional development. Such an essay concludes with a description of how the applicant sees his/her future.
“I-You-We.”
This format also allows you to describe the actual situation. The candidate describes his/her capabilities and draws attention to what the curriculum (course, school) can develop them. The essay concludes with a description of expected prospects.
“What-Why-Why.”
After describing his/her credentials, the candidate talks about the goals he/she is pursuing and the results he/she wants to achieve.
Another letter format can be used. The main thing is to determine its structure and strictly adhere to it.
Components of a motivational letter
Any document should have its own structure. Otherwise, the author may lose track of the topic, mix something up, or include unnecessary information in the document. A letter of motivation contains the standard components:
introduction;
the main part;
conclusions (conclusion).
There is no need to use these elements as subheadings. They exist to help the author write a competent essay. Usually, members of the admissions committee pay attention to the first and final parts of the document. It isn’t easy to study each paper in detail with many applicants, and from these sections, you can see what the candidate represents. But the main part should not be overlooked. It should be no less interesting and informative.
To forget about anything, you need to make yourself an approximate list of questions
- Why did this specialty attract the candidate’s attention?
- What information can the applicant provide to confirm his interest?
- What exactly attracts the applicant to a particular university?
- Why did he/she decide to study at a foreign university (if it is a continuation of studies outside the country)?
- What career is the candidate planning to build?
- What financial, physical, and social barriers did the applicant overcome to achieve his/her goals?
- What skills does the applicant have, and what are his/her personal qualities?
- What has the candidate accomplished professionally?
- Have you been able to demonstrate your strengths, and how have you done so?
- What might make an admissions committee member make the essay stand out from the rest?
- To make writing an essay easier, you can use a sample motivation letter.
Briefly about the mistakes that can ruin an essay
We have talked in detail about what a competent motivational letter should be. In conclusion, let’s go over what you need to avoid when writing. It is possible to spoil an essay if:
- The letter is copied from someone else’s letter (you can use examples, but you can’t just paste in your data);
- The applicant will try to flatter or persuade members of the admissions committee to enroll him or her in the course;
- The introduction written by the author will be long, boring, and irrelevant;
- unnecessary, unrelated factors were cited in the letter;
- The tone of the essay may seem pathological to readers;
- There are words in the text that are highlighted with the Caps Lock key;
- There are quotations in the document (the admissions committee is only interested in the candidate’s opinion);
- There are repetitions in the text (the volume of the essay is already too small to mention something twice).
- Unconventional writing can attract attention, but you shouldn’t get carried away.
Also read: How To Boost Your Paper Writing Skills
