These common mistakes in motivation letters will make you fail to achieve a scholarship or get admission. Here is a complete guide about how to avoid mistakes and tips to write a successful and strong motivation letter.

If you are applying for international scholarship, learn how to write an email to get acceptance letter.

MOTIVATION LETTER # 1

It got admission and a scholarship too. (written in 2018)

I am applying to the Information Technology. Master of Science (Computer Science). I am positive that I need to pursue a profession in research in the field of Computer Science. I am much eager to adopt and know new technologies. This is only one stage towards my objective.

I started learning computer as a subject in secondary school and always it was the focus of my interest. I got my BS Hons in Information Technology with a 3.56CGPA (77.67%) from the University of Gujrat and my MS in Information Technology with a 3.35CGPA (82.43%) from NUST which is 87th in Asia and 417th in the global ranking. Grades could be better but financial problems make that hard, still thanks to scholarships in BS and MS who made it possible. Currently, I have been serving as a lecturer at the University of Sialkot, Sialkot for more than two and a half years.

Having more than 12 years of interaction with computers and mobile devices, I have used and seen the differences in applications which include advanced concepts like face recognition. Most of the advanced mobiles now have these features pre-installed. Efficiency and implementation of these features is an active research.

The idea to improve the previous knowledge or provide an alternative better solution is the way that the world is advancing so much in technology. My primary interest is in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. That’s the reason I am applying to UEF.

During my BS period, I learned computer language including C, C++, JAVA, C#, and web language including PHP and front-end development languages along with theoretical concepts and subjects. Now I can code in the above all, but my prime interest is JAVA. I also have the know-how of Python and learning it further as it is important in research. My BS thesis was “Feature Identification for Online Urdu Handwriting Recognition” and my MS thesis was “Speech Recognition Bases Automated Technical Support System” using the tool CMUSphinix, SRILM. I am interested to learn new things and to implement them for a better future. Also, I am learning Kaldi which is a speech recognition tool and supports DNN and Python. I love problem-solving, critical thinking, and working on new ideas, research is a gateway to do new things. I have 3 publishedconference papers which details can be seen in my CV. Further, I am working on speech recognition-based applications and ideas for my learning. In all these years and work if I may conclude myself ten I will say “I am a good learner”.

Research area:

My major research area was speech recognition (NLP) during my MS. Now I am expanding my knowledge by working in this field along with my students and we are positive to publish some papers in this field.

Why MS form UEF?

My primary goal is to get a Ph.D. position but the problem I am having is my previous MS major courses were in the networking field. I have not studied Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence courses in my degree. So, I want to do MS in one of these fields further and pursue a Ph.D. UEF has very high faculty and staff. I explored the website and it precisely describes the greatness of UEF. Computer science includes a wide variety of research topics, but I am looking forward to pursuing machine learning and artificial intelligence at this esteemed institution.

(In this letter, we can see that it’s pretty good.

Bold words highlight good points of the letter while underline words written in italics show mistakes).

MS and Ph.D thesis paper writing guide.

MOTIVATION LETTER # 2

Got admission but not a Scholarship.

 The university gave us some questions and these were:

1. Give any reason why you have an interest in pursuing a Master’s Program.

I am Adnan Ali from Pakistan. I have a BS Hons in Information Technology with a CGPA of 3.56. Now I want to increase my knowledge in the field of data science and want to become a data scientist to join the industry. This will be a step toward my final goal. The University of Tartu is ranked in the top 350 universities in the world. Getting an education from this university will be an honor for me. The main reason to join this university is that it is located in the Republic of Estonia, because of its high level of economic freedom, it is ranked 6th globally and 2nd in Europe.

2. Choose one of three specializations of the Master’s program and explain your choice.

  • Theoretical informatics
  • Distributed Systems
  • Data Science

I would like to go with data science.

I’m teaching a class called “Introduction to Data Science” at the University of Management and Technology Sialkot Campus. To prepare, I’m taking two online courses at the same time: “MITX: 15.071x The Analytics Edge” and “Microsoft: DAT101x Introduction to Data Science” on EDX. I really enjoy working with data – it excites me! Whenever I need to make a decision, I gather data first, analyze it, and then make my decision based on what I’ve found. I feel like I’ve been doing this for a long time, even though I’m just starting to formally learn about it. The internet is packed with data, and it’s growing fast. Being able to understand this data and use it to make smart decisions can help organizations and even whole countries to succeed and grow. Converting raw facts and figures into meaningful information and then visualizing it in different dimensions is so fascinating for me. It looks great when numbers give you meaningful information and cover decades of data in visualization. So, my interest is Data Science.

3.  Which programming languages and tools do you know best, and how confident are you in your skills with them?

Being a teacher and teaching mobile programming courses gave me a chance to learn multiple languages, I have very good programming skills. For C# and Java, I’m proficient in designing interfaces, developing console applications, and handling advanced concepts like threads, socket programming, and database connectivity with Access, MySQL, and SQL servers. While I’m relatively new to Python and R compared to C# and Java, I’ve been using tools like Jupyter Notebook and PyCharm to learn Python, and I’m currently working with R language and RStudio, steadily improving my understanding. I will complete the above-mentioned courses which include concepts like Regression, Trees, Text Analytics, clustering, optimization, data visualization, etc. Some of these are completed and some are yet to come.

4. What’s the most challenging programming, engineering, or scientific project you’ve tackled? If the result is available as open-source software, could you share the link to the public code repository?

As the primary author, I’ve published two articles [1][2], with one appearing in a journal with an impact factor of 2.47. Additionally, I’ve contributed to three conference proceedings [3][4][5]. I’m constantly in learning mode, eager to grasp new technologies. Among my projects is “The Voice Scholar,” a Java-based tool designed to assist in preparing datasets (text and voice) for speech recognition training and testing. Modules of this project are

  1. Text preprocessing
  2. Recording
  3. Audio format conversion as per Speech toolkits

In the first module, it takes text files as input, and then after some preprocessing

it cleans the written data from the non-verbal characters, changes numeric values to text values, etc, and makes chunks of written data as per user input. In the second module, the user can record the data as per the required format of speech toolkits like CMUSpinx and Kaldi. In the third module, if the user has already recorded files using some other software, he/she can convert them in the required format of the above–mentioned tools easily. Currently, this tool is testing phase and will be available online as soon as possible. This is a link [6] of my website and I will update the GitHub repository link there as soon as possible.

Another tool is a speech-to-text conversion for the Urdu Language, in the start, I made this tool to work offline on mobile. The idea was to make an application that can convert speech to text offline. However, due to the processing power limitations of mobile devices, it doesn’t well offline. So, with my students, I am working on this project to make it online as mobile and as a web app.

Note: I created my own Urdu Language dataset of 77 hours of speech. Then created a language model. I didn’t use “Google Speech API” or any other API.

5.  How do you increase your proficiency in algorithms and mathematics, particularly in your chosen specialization? Moreover, are you interested in and have you gained experience, advising on new algorithms, and implementing complex algorithms, in assessing the efficiency and correctness of various algorithms?

I possess strong mathematical and analytical skills, as evidenced by my excellent grades in mathematical and statistics courses during my undergraduate studies. I am knowledgeable about various data structures and data science algorithms, such as linear and logistic regressions, decision trees, Naïve Bayes, and KNN. Additionally, I’m familiar with algorithms like Dijkstra, as well as searching and sorting algorithms, including B and B+ trees. As mentioned earlier, I have a keen interest in learning and am always happy to explore new concepts. This drive motivates me to contribute positively to our world through my work.

6.  Explain your choice of field in which you would like to write your master’s thesis.

I am interested in Data Science and will write a thesis on it. My primary focus to apply in this course is Data Science and I am pretty positive that I will get it.

(This is not good answer because data science is a vast field and the answer should be more specific).

7. How do you plan to apply the skills acquired from the program in your future professional endeavors?

The world doesn’t have enough data experts, and every business is getting into data science. They want to make better decisions, use data for support, and analyze information to save money. I’m taking this course to learn these skills so I can use them at work to support my family. It’ll also help my country and wherever I live by being a productive member of society.

Evaluation Criteria:

– How well the student’s background and goals match the study program (75%)

– The clarity, logical structure, writing skills, and eloquence in English (25%)

(This letter is not written well but also not bad at all).

Also learn about, how to write a technical report.

MOTIVATION LETTER #3

 Got admission but it’s not well-written

I have completed my BS in Information Technology with a CGPA of 3.56/4. I have been a good learner throughout my study and I am still eager to learn new knowledge and skills. And I am a teacher at the University, I want to exceed my knowledge by doing a Master’s.

I have good programming and analytical skills. I have done coding in web client-side and server-side (PHP) languages as well as in Java and Android development. I love to learn new things. I am teaching at a University, I want to extend my knowledge with MS and want to learn more.

 I have applied for communication engineering and health Care IT. These two suit my interest. I already have development skills and good concepts in networking particularly third and fort layers concepts are better. Now these areas of study will give me a boost in learning and I would be able to make some real-time solutions. Specially Health care and IT include image processing and as I am from a developing country, I really want to contribute to my country for better health conditions.

I have a friend and colleague who has completed his MS from this university. I came to know from him that the people around there are really helping and caring. The faculty is highly qualified and the study environment is supportive. I am looking forward to joining this course.

So, all from this I also want to be part of reducing the gap between advanced countries and developing countries. Countries like ours really need advanced knowledge and skills in every field. I want to be one who gets knowledge and skills from this excellent university and then delivers in my country. So, we also could be better and self-sufficient.

(Italic underline words show that things should be more detailed. It’s not a well-written letter but as the university ranking was low and the program was not good, that’s why it made it possible to get admission).

MOTIVATION LETTER #4

Rejected: written for PhD

I am taking admission for the Ph.D. program in Computer Science at Program and uni name. I am positive that I need to pursue a profession in research in the field of Computer science. Also, I am much eager to adopt and learn new technologies. A Ph.D. is only one stage towards this objective.

Introduction: I started learning computers as a subject in secondary school and always it was the focus of my interest. I got my BS Hons in Information Technology with a 3.56CGPA (77.67%) from the University of Gujrat and my MS in Information Technology with a 3.35CGPA (82.43%) from NUST which is 87th in Asia and 417th in the global ranking. Grades could be better but financial problems make that hard, still thanks to scholarships in BS and MS who made it possible. Currently, I have been serving as a lecturer at the University of Sialkot, Sialkot for more than two and a half years.

Motivation: Having more than 12 years of interaction with computers and mobile devices, I have used and seen the differences in applications which include advanced concepts like face recognition. Most of the advanced mobiles now have these features pre-installed. Efficiency and implementation of these features is an active research. The idea to improve the previous knowledge or provide an alternative better solution is the way that the world is advancing so much in technology. Not just as stated in the above-mentioned fields, but also many other computing fields like Machine Learning, Computer vision, and Artificial Intelligence. And I just want to participate in this knowledge improvement process via a Ph.D.

Interest: During my BS period, I learned computer language including C, C++, JAVA, C#, and web language including PHP and front-end development languages along with theoretical concepts and subjects. Now I can code in the above all, but my prime interest is JAVA. I also have the know-how of Python and learning it further as it is important in research. My BS thesis was “Feature Identification for Online Urdu Handwriting Recognition” and my MS thesis was “Speech Recognition Bases Automated Technical Support System” using the tool CMUSphinix, SRILM. I am interested to learn new things and to implement them for a better future. Also, I am learning Kaldi which is a speech recognition tool and supports DNN and Python. I love problem-solving, critical thinking, and working on new ideas, research is a gateway to do new things. I have 3 published conference papers which details can be seen in my CV. Further, I am working on speech recognition-based applications and ideas for my learning. In all these years and work if I may conclude myself ten I will say “I am a good learner”.

Research area:

My major research area was speech recognition (NLP) during my MS. Now I am expanding my knowledge by working in this field along with my students and we are positive to publish some papers in this field. A journal paper in the field of Cybersecurity (Graphical Passwords base authentication) is also a review phase. I also worked in Vehicular delay tolerant networks. I conference paper has been published, and another paper has been in the write-up process. The diversity shows that I can work in an interdisciplinary program. I am looking forward to narrowing down my future research but for that. I need a Ph.D. supervisor which I am hoping to find in IST.

Why IST?

IST has very highly qualified faculty and staff. I read this link and it precisely describes the greatness of IST, 45 professors, state-of-the-art facilities, scientists focus over 62 nations, and 200+ collaborations show the diversity. Computer science includes a wide variety of research topics, but I have an interest in machine learning and artificial intelligence. And I am eager to join this prestigious institute.

( This letter is too short for Ph.D level. Research area make no sense. It should be more detailed and specific rather than discussing multiple fields).

10 TIPS FOR MOTIVATION LETTER

1. Before writing your letter research more:

Don’t be hurry to find out about the company and possibly the job for which you are applying. Feel free to insert some of this information in your letter.

2. A letter of motivation must show your style

Motivation letters should be written personally and must reflect your personality.

3. Keep your message direct and concise

The purpose of a letter of motivation is to…show your motivation to the person who will read it. Avoid convoluted sentences and go to the straight point. Explain simply and clearly what it is you looking for and what you have to offer. Stick to what is important, the rest will be dealt with later. Make sure it is no longer than a page of A4. (For Ph.D. it should be longer).

The purpose of a letter of motivation is to express your spirit directly to the reader. Keep it simple and clear, stating what you’re seeking and what you bring to the table. Focus on your motivation for applying and your relevant qualifications. Avoid unnecessary details, as those can be addressed later. Aim to keep the letter to a single page of A4.

 For a Ph.D. application, it should be long to adequately convey your motivations and qualifications.

4. Discuss your positive strong points

Directly mention your strong points in your motivation letter.

5. Incorporate your CV details into the letter

Avoid simply reiterating the contents of your CV in your letter of motivation. Instead, focus on presenting yourself engagingly and uniquely. Highlight aspects of your personality, experiences, and motivations that may not be evident from your CV alone. Ensure that the information in your letter aligns with and complements the details provided in your CV, which presents a comprehensive picture of your qualifications.

6. Right balance

Of course, you have to show yourself in the best light and convince the recruiter that is you he/she should hire. However, don’t be arrogant. At the same time, don’t do the opposite and underestimate yourself or appear too modest.

Certainly, it’s essential to present yourself positively and convince the recruiter why you are a strong candidate for the position. While highlighting your skills, it’s important to maintain humility and avoid appearing arrogant. Conversely, don’t underestimate yourself or downplay your achievements excessively. Showcases your strengths confidently while remaining grounded and respectful.

7. Explain your motivation in a clear tone

This is the perfect job for you? Explain how this job offer corresponds to you. They should choose you rather than someone else, show them your qualities persuasively.

8. Write your professional goals

Feel free to share your future goals. Also, talk about what you want to achieve and what you are proud of your achievements.

9. Show what you are saying with examples

It’s not enough to say that you are organized and responsible. Explain with examples why you are organized.

10. Languages

  • Choose language accordingly British, American, and Canadian English are not all the same.
  • Avoid spelling/grammatical mistakes, use Grammarly, get someone to review it for you, or pay someone.
  • If you are willing to pay thousands of dollars in fees, then pay a few dollars to make your documents better.

So, avoid these mistakes and follow the tips to write a great letter of motivation. And be ready to reach your goal with this winning structure of motivation letter.

If you don’t know what is the importance of research in education, visit this.