How to ace your motivation letter for studying a master’s

Writing a motivation letter is one of the most important parts of the admissions process when applying for a master’s degree.  

When I applied for the prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship to study South European Studies, I put a lot of time and energy into showcasing why I was the best candidate for the programmes I applied to. Some letters took me several weeks to finalise.  

A motivation letter explains why you should be accepted onto your programme of choice. It’s often 500-600 words long, although universities will have different requirements, and is usually weighted to be around 20-40 percent of your overall application. 

Universities receive thousands of applications each year. All applicants provide a transcript, educational certificates, work experience information and personal details, but the motivation letter is completely unique to you. It’s the most helpful way to show the admissions team who you are as a person and how the master’s degree will benefit you and your future.  

How do you make your personal application stand out among the thousands of others that the admissions staff will read? Here are my tips on writing a motivation letter for your dream master’s programme and what mistakes to avoid. 

Before you begin your letter 

Carefully read the requirements for each university you’re applying to. Some universities may ask for one long essay and others may ask you to answer multiple questions in a shorter format.  

Before you launch straight into the letter, try answering the following questions: 

• What motivates me to gain knowledge in this area? 

• Why do I want to study at a particular university or programme? 

• What makes me different from other candidates? 

• What skills do I already have? What skills and new perspectives can I bring to my class? 

• What personal experiences and interests motivate me to study this programme? How did my interest in this area develop? 

• What are my career goals and how do I think this programme and university will help me towards that? 

How to structure your motivation letter 

If your university has provided questions for you to answer in your motivation letter, I recommend that you start with an introduction and answer the questions in order of how they were asked. This will make it easier for the admissions team to assess.  

When writing my letter, I kept to the following structure:  

1. What has led me to pursue this degree? 

2. What is my goal for the future? 

3. Why am I choosing this programme at this university? 

4. How will this programme help me to reach my goals? 

Make sure you provide evidence of your key skills, including any research, critical thinking, communication, organisation and planning, and time management skills. I learned that it’s helpful to draw on your own experiences as examples. 

How to make your experiences shine 

In my motivation letter, I wrote about the projects I worked on during my undergraduate degree, including activism and participating in language clubs, and how they helped me to grow my network. I also talked about my volunteer experience in local organisations, at international conferences and on exchange programmes abroad.  

Instead of simply listing them, I emphasised the importance of a handful of experiences for my personal and professional development. When talking about your experiences, show how you were affected by each one.  

Are you a member of a community? Have you written any papers, or won any awards, scholarships or prizes? Have you worked on any relevant projects, dissertations or essays? Do you have any relevant work experience or volunteering and internship experience? It’s all important.  

Most importantly, talk about what makes you you. You can be personable and talk about the things that you’re interested in and passionate about. They want to see who you are.  

Mistakes to avoid  

Reading other people's letters for new ideas is great, but I don’t advise plagiarising the entire content. It will be obvious that it hasn’t come from you and do you really want to gain a place at university based on someone else’s experiences? You can absolutely do this for yourself.  

Tailor your letters for each programme you apply to. I learned that you should adapt your motivation letter each time you apply for a degree. You can absolutely take parts from other letters, but if you want to illustrate how that specific programme and university will be a great fit for you, you must be specific. 

Another mistake to avoid is writing your motivation letter without thoroughly researching the university and programme curriculum. It’s important to know that the course structure, module options and format of the course work for you. You can also look into the academics studying on the course to understand what expertise they have that you can learn from.  

Ask for help 

One final tip: Don’t be afraid to ask for help when writing your motivation letter. You can speak to your university tutor if you’re still studying at undergraduate level, or the careers service.  

Alternatively, it can be helpful to check your letter over with friends or current master’s students who have experience studying a similar subject. A second pair of eyes is always helpful when you’re writing something important that could impact your future.  

Remember that every story is unique, as are you. If you’re true to your wants and goals, and can show how the programme will help you reach your dreams, you’ll do great.