Writing a letter of motivation for a scholarship
In this article, I will try to explain my personal views on how to write a letter of motivation for a scholarship. I will provide my own letter of motivation, wich I used to apply for the Excellence Scholarship to ETH Zurich. Looking ahead, I can say that I was awarded this scholarship.
More about the Excellence Scholarship in ETH Zurich you can find by following the link.
How to write a letter of motivation for a Masters program you can find in my previous article: Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering.
This article will highly depend on the previous one (Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering), so if you haven't read it yet, follow the link above.
Because an admission office and a scholarship committee are two different offices, we can use our previous letter of recommendation as a basis for the new one. So, there is no need to come up with totally new ideas and structure, though, of course, you can do it if you want.
I am not that much of a literature person, who can come up with a lot of perfect stories and writing styles, so I improved my letter of motivation which I used for the application process.
As in the previous article, I will begin with a structure that I used:
The hook didn't change at all. It is 100% the same and just explains why I even think about applying to the university and a scholarship program.
This part is again absolutely the same as in the previous letter. There is simply nothing to add, because you can not predict any specific things: if you write very strong sentences like "I will...", it seems like you can't reasonably think and predict future problems and changes. It is almost impossible to predict anything a year or two years in advance.
Actually, your supervisor, research problem, or even the field of interest can change after you study for a while and learn a little more information about the university, professors, and different labs.
In the very end of the letter you must sum up all information (if it's possible), make a conclusion that you are determined to succeed, to make the most out of the scholarship, and to thank the committee for considering the application.
Now you have a complete motivational letter, which shows your knowledge, explains your passion for studying, why you need the scholarship, and how you will use it.
How to write a letter of motivation for a Masters program you can find in my previous article: Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering.
This article will highly depend on the previous one (Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering), so if you haven't read it yet, follow the link above.
Because an admission office and a scholarship committee are two different offices, we can use our previous letter of recommendation as a basis for the new one. So, there is no need to come up with totally new ideas and structure, though, of course, you can do it if you want.
I am not that much of a literature person, who can come up with a lot of perfect stories and writing styles, so I improved my letter of motivation which I used for the application process.
As in the previous article, I will begin with a structure that I used:
- A hook
- How my previous studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
- Why I want the scholarship;
- How my future studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
- Future plans;
- Conclusion.
A hook
The hook didn't change at all. It is 100% the same and just explains why I even think about applying to the university and a scholarship program.
Previous studying
This section was changed a bit: I added the information about how my research interests developed. Because the program I applied for is a combination of mathematics, physics, and computer science in this section I provided an information about why I decided to learn all of these fields of study and the consequence of actions I performed.
The main idea of this paragraph, in my opinion, is to show why this program is for you, how you came to the decision that you want to excell in this particular program or field of study. The scholarship committee must see that you gave much thought about your science path, personal interests, and prepared for the program.
Why I want the scholarship
I hope you understand that this section of the letter is crucial. There are thousands of other students, and there will be those who deserve the scolarship more than you (it always happens, you can't be better than everyone else), so you must explain why exactly you must obtain it. You can use different techniques in this section: from pity to exceptional erudition.
I can not boast of exceptional knowledge, therefore I decided to write why and how this scholarship will help me to achieve my goal: a mental support and integration of different ideas.
Future studying
This part is again absolutely the same as in the previous letter. There is simply nothing to add, because you can not predict any specific things: if you write very strong sentences like "I will...", it seems like you can't reasonably think and predict future problems and changes. It is almost impossible to predict anything a year or two years in advance.
Actually, your supervisor, research problem, or even the field of interest can change after you study for a while and learn a little more information about the university, professors, and different labs.
Future plans
This section is very small in my case, but if you have a good considered plan in your mind, then it is possible to write about your plans: the structure, sequence of actions, long term goals, and problems in great details.
Conclusion
In the very end of the letter you must sum up all information (if it's possible), make a conclusion that you are determined to succeed, to make the most out of the scholarship, and to thank the committee for considering the application.
Now you have a complete motivational letter, which shows your knowledge, explains your passion for studying, why you need the scholarship, and how you will use it.
A letter of motivation for the Excellence Scholarship to ETH Zurich
(Computational Science and Engineering MSc program)
I have always been fascinated by space travel. After much research on this topic, I discovered that space flights are extremely dangerous and many things can go wrong, thereby causing serious, even life-threatening, problems for the crew of the spacecraft. Human life is something sacred, something that we must protect by all possible means. That’s why my desire is to make space travel safer. Inarguably, one of the most important and dangerous stages during any space flight is the process of landing, which consists of several stages. Probably, the most difficult stage to analyze is the entrance of a spacecraft into an atmosphere. Successful completion of this task requires numerical calculations and analysis of the dynamics of plasma flowing around the spacecraft. The result of these calculations provides the necessary spacecraft dynamics information, and whether the materials, which the spacecraft is constructed of, will withstand a given temperature.
To be able to solve this problem requires a synthesization of mathematics, physics, and computer science. Throughout my university years, my research interests developed in unusual ways. Sufficient knowledge in computer science and calculus led me into studying neural networks and machine learning. Understanding that quite a lot of concepts in these fields were borrowed from physics made me study mechanics and electromagnetism. When I started to understand these topics I found my passion in the form of hydrodynamics and tensor calculus. Trying to understand whether hydrodynamics and electromagnetism have any relations, I learned about magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) and one of its particular applications in explaining low-temperature plasma-dynamics. In addition, although all my term projects don't contain an original research, they still took a lot of time and effort to find, analyze, and structure all necessary information without any supervision. All these shows that I am not afraid of hard work and I will make every effort to solve the particular problem.
I am not in a position to be able to continue my studies in my country or abroad without outside financial assistance, as my family is not in a position to support my studies. I would be the first person in my family to seek a post-graduate degree. This scholarship is not just a financial support for me, but also a mental one as I know that my skills and training will not go to waste. Therefore, I would be very grateful to be provided with this scholarship to improve my education and enhance my career prospects. Moreover, this scholarship opportunity I perceive as an extraordinary opportunity to interact with students and scholars from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds coming from all over the world. This type of networking is very important for integration of different ideas and perspectives pertaining to diverse global issues.
On the ETH E-Collection, I was able to find quite a few fascinating works in the field of both theoretical and computational MHD, the area in which I hope to concentrate during my MSc studies. Such works like “Computational Magnetohydrodynamics with Discrete Differential Forms” and “Experimental and numerical study of electrically-driven MHD flow” from the ETH E-Collection can be used as tools for solving my problem. The research interests of Dr. Mishra Siddhartha from the Department of Mathematics “Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations” and “Computational fluid dynamics” are the main theoretical tools for solving MHD problems; these and his lecture series about “Numerical methods for MHD equations” and “Numerical methods for hyperbolic PDEs” could usefully inform the work I hope to do. After contacting Dr. Mishra, he said that he is interested in my particular problem and that he may supervise me.
To me as a person, it’s clear that in our lives knowledge is truly one of the most important things that we should gain. But it’s not of less importance to share achieved knowledge with others. My long-term goal is to become a professor who will be able to explain the subject in detail, becoming the bridge between theoretical and applied sciences in that particular field.
At the end, I would like to point out that I am determined to make the most out of the scholarship program. I believe that it will give me the framework to utilize my full potentials.
Once again, I am grateful for considering my application and I look forward to a favorable reply.
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