Can You Upload an Application Without Letters of Intent
Past Rebecca Isjwara
If you take applied (or plan to utilise) for a coveted spot in your dream institution, you know the feeling when you stumble upon a very daunting two words:
Motivation Letter.
It is there, information technology is in every single access folio that y'all visit, and it confuses you to no cease because you lot have never encountered this pair of words earlier this whole ordeal of pursuing a further educational degree.
And then what is a motivation letter, anyway?
Merely put, a motivation letter is a mini-essay that states the reason for your awarding to that specific plant (be it for educational purposes or for a job). A "motivation letter" can likewise sometimes be chosen a "personal statement", "argument of purpose", or some variation of information technology. They all serve the same ane purpose: to persuade the choice committee to acknowledge y'all as their latest add-on.
Candidates often undermine this chemical element of the application process because information technology does not seem equally "official" as your bookish transcripts, your reference or recommendation messages, your identification documents (birth certificates, passports, visa applications), or even your CV or resume.
Yet, the motivation letter serves a purpose that these documents cannot: to convey your story to the choice committee. It is the only component that is open to some level of subjectivity or can entreatment to the committee's emotional side, so apply it is important to use this to your advantage.
A motivation letter is the only chance for the choice committee to get to know you as a person, not simply for the awards or the internships you have scored and listed on your CV. It is the all-time way to convey your personality, which they could apply to appraise your compatibility with the institution you have applied for.
By submitting a motivation letter that represents your personality well, the committee would be able to come across a side of you they would non have access to otherwise.
Find the list of universities in Europe here!
What are the elements that are present in a motivation letter?
There is no ane specific formula for a motivation letter, as the best motivation letter would be ane that represents an individual wholly and uniquely. If you happen to read a few of your friends' motivational letters and observe that one differs from the other, do non fret near it - it is supposed to exist that way. However, there are certain elements that consistently comes together to make up a good motivation alphabetic character.
In no particular order of advent, these elements should exist somewhere in your argument:
1. Your professional or personal life goal
Do yous wish to save the world past healing cancer?
Do you want to convalesce poverty by creating a startup that enables micro-lending services to undocumented migrants?
Practise you have a dream of being a CEO of a Fortune 500 company?
Highlighting your life'southward purposes is one good element to have in your motivation letter of the alphabet, as it not only allows the selection committee to evaluate whether or not yous are a skillful fit for the institution, but also for yous to assess whether or non this institution's purposes marshal with where yous want to go in life.
2. Your reason for choosing this programme
Are yous attracted by their state-of-the-art neurology laboratory?
Put that downward.
Are you amazed past their extensive commutation network and/or partnerships with other universities?
State that besides.
This is the part where you not only flatter the establishment a little scrap, only it also lets them know which primal features they have that are attracting potential students like you.
Also, listing out why yous would want to go to this institution is a big portion of why they choose to have you onboard as their latest student/addition to the organization.
3. Why they should choose y'all for the programme
This is where you sell yourself a little.
Not but should you highlight your achievements, your relevant experiences, and/or your qualifications, you should too offer something in return. This is where yous can say confidently, "I will bring x, y, and z to the table if y'all acknowledge me in your plan."
What exactly can you bring to the table?
Your roots or culture of origin might be one point. Every establishment present wants to be international or globally linked, and then bringing a new culture to the mix is a prissy splash of color. Your expertise and/or skills could also be of use to the institution in enriching their latest student accomplice.
Then, do I basically land my CV?
Nope, you exercise not.
A CV is somewhat chronological and is filled with facts and numbers of your achievements and your qualifications (your education, you certifications, or the job descriptions of your previous job). A motivation letter can be (but is not limited to) the story backside some of those aforementioned achievements.
Sometimes, motivation letters could highlight some part of yourself that is not included in your CV, such as a life-changing event or a personal experience that does not fit the resume format merely is crucial in why yous desire to pursue a sure degree or why you take a sure view on the world.
That does not mean that your motivation letter'southward contents should be mutually exclusive to that of your CV'due south. It could all the same incorporate some highlighted experiences, but be careful to not repeat yourself. The choice committee would have read your CV thoroughly already, and they do not demand a repetition of it in your essay.
In brusque, your motivation letter should complement your CV, and the ii should be able to showcase you as a whole person, both from the achievement side besides every bit your personality.
Where can I discover inspiration from?
A good starting point is to inquire people who were admitted into your dream establishment for their motivation letters.
This can exist done by either asking your friends if they have any contacts in that specific university, or by browsing through your dream institution'southward pupil ambassador pages and reaching out to them.
Some other underrated place to look is Facebook.
Most universities would have Facebook groups whose members are international students of the respective universities, so do submit a request to join and/or attain out to the administrators of the group.
If you could read what motivation letters make information technology into the establishment, you might have a meliorate idea of how you want to shape your letter.
For more information nigh Report in Europe, click here.
Sounds good! But how exercise I kickoff writing my motivation letter?
The get-go footstep is always, always research.
It is important that yous look up as much information as possible about the institution you are applying to, so yous have a general idea of who they are, what they do, and what they look for. Acquire all you need to larn virtually the programme you wish to enroll yourself in as well.
If the information is available online (or via a phone call or two), effort to detect who their pupil ambassadors are and look at their stories.
Generally, top universities would showcase their students' stories and experiences through a university weblog or a You might be able to find a common thread betwixt the stories that are available on the schoolhouse blog.
For instance, if you notice that a lot of the pupil ambassadors speak almost entrepreneurship, and then mentioning your entrepreneurial traits might help heave your chances in getting into your dream institution.
Okay, so can we start with the writing part?
Create an outline first!
I cannot stress this important enough. In order to brand a cohesive and coherent statement, yous would demand an outline to string all your ideas together.
Offset by brainstorming the overarching theme or topic for your desired motivation letter, and see how you lot can elaborate each point. Play effectually with the dissimilar ideas, and mess effectually with it. Write them downward on postal service its, stick them all over your wall, and rearrange them to your liking. Create a structure out of your ideas, and y'all have an outline!
Once you have that gear up, y'all tin can commencement drafting your motivation letter of the alphabet. Just write everything downwards (and write equally much as possible), and disregard the word count for now. The platonic length for a motivation alphabetic character is around 500-700 words (or whatever length is recommended by your dream institution). Worry most this after you end writing the draft though, and only go along this in mind when yous are trimming your draft down to a presentable length.
Be ruthless when trimming downwards your motivation letter, even if yous terminate up with 300 words left. You have such a short space to encompass your whole self in information technology, so it is important for yous to exist every bit concise as possible. If you do end upwardly with less than the ideal length, then brainstorm for more content, and not filler words.
What should be the tone of my motivation letter of the alphabet?
Your motivation letter of the alphabet should be factual, concise, and firm.
Flowery language does non necessarily fare well amongst the selection committee as they are reading your letter to get to know y'all, not how beautiful the sky was when you won your first gold medal. The selection commission could also be going through hundreds of motivation letters before narrowing information technology downwards to their desired quota, so it is best that you become straight to the point.
This is not to say that yous should not tell your story - as long as yous proceed information technology concise and limit it to, say, one or two paragraphs for dramatic event, you should be good.
Do I need to remember the contents of my motivation letter later I submit information technology?
Absolutely!
The selection committee might refer to your motivation alphabetic character during your interviews, then be certain to write about topics you lot are completely knowledgeable about.
If they bring up related topics, you should exist prepared to answer them as well. It is important that you have an extensive knowledge on what is written downwards in your motivation alphabetic character to show your grooming.
For more information about Erasmus+ Scholarship Programmes, click here!
Any concluding tips?
Of class.
Here are a few things y'all should not overlook when preparing your motivation letter of the alphabet.
1. Check your grammar
Proofread your essay for grammatical mistakes, or get your grammer-obsessed friends to practice that part.
Non only is it important for you to get your points across properly (grammatical mistakes might preclude the option committee from agreement what you mean), but submitting a grammatically perfect letter also shows that yous pay enough attending and care to this of import element of your application procedure.
Aside from that, English proficiency could also be something they are looking for. In short, in that location is no harm in having a grammatically perfect argument.
two. Get your letter proofread multiple times
Find the harshest critics among your friends and nowadays your motivation letter to them. Go them to be brutally honest and comment on your argument, and filter through those critiques to decide which suggestions you lot desire to incorporate and which to ignore.
Past gathering opinions from multiple people, you would be able to revise your letter accordingly to appeal to the selection committee.
3. Have a strong showtime and a stiff ending
In other words, begin your motivation letter with a claw and end with a memorable point. Bonus points if the claw and memorable ending are linked.
Afterwards going through hundreds of motivation messages, the attending span of the selection commission volition be relatively short, but a strong offset and catastrophe volition lead to higher chances of your essay in beingness remembered by them when they review your application and compare information technology to others'.
Additional points from scholarship recipients
1. Flesh out your background
Affan Giffari, a STUNED scholar studying at Tilburg University, says that it would aid to explain your background or upbringing in your motivation alphabetic character. Affan recommends putting it at the beginning of your motivation letter, then yous could relate it to the subsequent contents of your essay, such as how it would relate to your future plans or how it boosts your continuing at the moment.
Read Affan Giffari'due south story here.
2. Give your letter a break
Abdul Rahman Ismail, recipient of the Swedish Establish Scholarship and current student at Uppsala University in Sweden recommends setting aside your letter for around two days before taking another await at it for revision. The time apart from your letter of the alphabet would requite yous the distance and perspective needed in guild to look at your writing with a fresh centre, allowing you to be more than disquisitional towards your motivation letter.
Read Abdul Rahman Ismail's story here.
3. Exist realistic
Shantya Shafa Paramitha from Wageningen University mentions that although it would exist amazing to really make yourself stand out past outlining your ambitious dreams in your motivation letter of the alphabet, you lot still have to be realistic. Mention an outcome or two y'all are concerned about, exercise a fiddling bit of research, and put a fleck of your findings in your motivation letter. Not only volition the facts bulldoze home the strength of your dreams, only it will also prove that you are aware of what is going on with the issue(southward) you are passionate almost.
Read Shantya Shafa Paramitha'southward story here.
Source: https://ehef.id/post/motivation-letters-all-you-need-know-about-writing-it/en
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