You have a white sheet ahead of you, nothing in the head and when you started to write you realized: ,,It’s not the right letter.’’. How should I write a motivation letter? What should I write about? What shouldn´t I write about? And more important question — How do I get started??? You ask yourself these questions and you don´t know an answer. We will give you some advices, but don’t forget, there are no right instructions to write the motivation letter. If you will follow by our tips, your chance for acceptance will increase, but you always need a little bit of luck.
How to start?
Motivation letter is a very important thing, because it is the only possible ticket to a course and only thing, which you can influence in decision making process. Make a time and find quiet place to write the letter! There’s nothing more stressful than writing the letter in a last minute and when you are done and want to upload that letter, you find out the server crashed and it is not possible anymore. Keep at least one day before deadline, and try to prepare some points in advance.
Read the course information carefully. What the course will be about, what kind of participant they are looking for. Reading the „Survival Guide“ can be very useful! You should realize that organisers have to read a lot of text and they are tired of reading the same thing over and over and they are looking for something to wake them up. To get between about 25 lucky participants, you have to stand out from the others and capture their attention by something interesting, original, unforgettable! This way they will remeber you even when they have read hundreds of motivation letters. Don´t forget, the course is international, so the letter must be written in English. You can also show knowledge of the local language. It has never hurted, it rather pleases. 🙂
What to write about?
It shouldn´t be missing something about you — your name, what you do, what you enjoy, … to get some picture of you. Don´t forget mention your super-ability, why they should pick you. Like, you playing in drums, you can prepare Spanish drink „Sangria“, you sing like Beyonce etc. Mention something, which captures attention and shows them they will have fun with you and you will not be bored in a corner or locked in your room. You should say why you chose this course, this country, this topic. If you name some sights, or interesting facts about that city or country, you will show you made a small research so you have insterest about it.
Very important is to write answers to all the extra questions (Many LBGs take a big attention of these, so you should be the most original).
What not to write about?
Organisers are students like you, so there is no need for formalities such are „Dear Sir/Madam“ etc. Don´t focus on yourself so much to make it your motivation letter looks like curriculum vitae. The motivation letter shouldn´t be too long. One A4 page is good, but you can capture interest with shorter text. Don´t send the letter in the last minute, because the server can be overloaded and you can miss the deadline. Avoid submiting the same motivation letter for multiple courses.
These are just general advices how to start, but don´t forget you can also write three memorable sentences or fabricated story about aliens and it can be the most interesting letter. There are no limitations for your creativity.
Examples:
Spring 08
Valladolid – Environment, Safety and Telecommunications: Could they travel in the same car?
Hola BESTies! 😀 Qué tal en Valladolid? Soy una chica de Zagreb, Croatia y estoy perfecta por su curso! 🙂 Por qué? Porque tengo mucha gana a conocer la gente de toda la Europa, porque quiero salir cada dia y ademas, a mi me gusta la tema y siempre quierro aprender algo nuevo! :))) También estoy enamorada de España, de la gente y la clima, del idioma… Vale, eso fue en español, pero ahora me voy a continuar en ingles. So… 🙂 By the way, I’m Nina, 21 years old, I’m on biotechnology…
Summer 09
Bratislava – Big City Life – What can you do in public places?
…Moreover I don’t want you to think that I only care about parties… so if you’re looking for a person that will get 100% involved in the lectures and won’t fall asleep during them… then once again… YOU NEED ME FOR DOING IT! I think that the design of public spaces is an extremely interesting topic and I have an idea about it, as I have studied Industrial Design Bachelor prior to the Master… so let’s see what’s wrong in your city and find a solution together 😀 and if learning can get fun… even better :)…
Summer 10
Uppsala – There is no Planet B!
…Also, I love Sweden (and generally the north) because you are a very green country and I like it so much!! and the idea of riding a bike everyday is like a dream for me!! Maybe I can achieve this dream in my city in a few years!!! I also would like that everyone know more about my country, Spain!. So I’ll bring you some food, wine 😛 and music! and I won’t have any problem teaching you how to dance „sevillanas“ :P:P or make SANGRIA :P!! (It’s really good xD)…
Summer 10
Budapest – MONSTER Machines
Hello there, lovely BESTies from Budapest! How many letters have you read yet? I guess lots, haven’t you? Getting bored? Well, I bet you can stop after mine… why? Because I know I’m THE person you are looking for! And as I don’t want to bore you… why don’t we just get to the point? So… What do you want to know about me? Who am I? Which are my interests? What am I studying? Which kind of music I like? Even if I sing in the shower? =) Well, glad you’re asking because it’s a pleasure for me to answer these questions!…
Autumn 10
Valladolid – WineIsNobleElixir: Diving into the Secrets of Wine
School is really a very good thing, but I think, that travelling and meeting new people, having fun with them and learning new things from them is much more better – it is the best thing you can do. I think, that this is the best school of life, because here you are learning not only many foreign languages, but also you learn there many about different foreign cultures, their traditions and also about truth, that all the people around the world are different in some way, but also, that they have much more things in common.
And why I’m interested in joining course in Valladolid? I study Pharmacy and during my study I heard a lot of things about medicines. Most of people don’t like to take them. They don’t taste good, people must take them at specific time of the day, sometimes they can’t eat and drink whatever they want while taking specific medicines… But wine! That’s something different! Everyone loves to drink a glass of good wine, especially in combination with delicious food. And then I asked myself: »What I really know about wine?« OK: I like to drink a glass of good wine with my friends and in combination with delicious food, I love to taste some new wine. But what I know about this how we get a wine from grapes? Oh, something about this can I learning in Valladolid!
That’s the only reason! NO!!ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!? Warm autumn,crazy BEST spirit, swimming in River Pisuenga, having picnic on the beach, warm Spanish people? Those reasons are even stronger for somebody who is addicted to all kind of sport activities and parties!!!
They didn’t accept me!
Never give up! The competition is large and you will always need a bit of luck to get on the highest priority course for the first time.