How to write a letter of recommendation

How to write a letter of recommendation

July 27, 2017   application, bachelor, letter, master, recommendations, university,

Every university in America or Europe requires a student to have at least one recommendation letter from a professor, teacher, or employer in their application.

The thing is that this concept of writing recommendation letters for students and employees is not spread in all countries or universities. Sometimes teachers and professors are willing to sign recommendation letters, but not to write them. A lot of my friends from Russia, Algeria, and Vietnam asked for a recommendation letter and ended up writing it themselves.

If this is your case, then you are extremely lucky, because you decide what to mention in the recommendation and what to elude. There are several rules to follow when you write a letter of recommendation:

1. Write about your best qualities: how much a hard worker you are, how social you are, that you are a problem solver, that you achieve your goals and don't give up.
2. Lie! Show how perfect you are even if you are not. Add all best qualities to your persona. Write about something extraordinary that you have never done, but what will represent you as a better candidate for the program. Write about all events, school or university clubs for other students that you organized, about how much you have done for your previous educational institution, about how perfect you are comparing to your classmates.

Here are five examples of letters of recommendation.

Recommendations for a Bachelor degree student

     I am writing this reference at the request of (student) who is applying for (university). I have known (student) for three years in my capacity as a teacher at (university). (student) took English from me and earned superior grades in those classes. 

     As (student's) professor, I have had an opportunity to observe (student's) participation and interaction in classes and to evaluate (student's) knowledge of the subject matter. (student) is an outstanding student in all respects. (student) has proven that through hard personal work as well as teamwork, (student) can accomplish tasks in a courteous and timely manner. 

     In addition, not only did (student) always excel at (student's) home assignments, (student) also always tried to base all (student's) projects on a business or economic topic. One perfect example of (student's) outstanding work was (student's) presentation and a research paper about the Dot-com bubble. The original assignment was to write a simple story and to tell it to the class in order to practise difficult tenses. Instead of a simple story, (student) decided to understand a challenging topic in economics, which sometimes uses quite complicated vocabulary. Hitherto to those my students, who have the same assignment, I give this particular example of a truly splendid work.

     Based on (student's) grades, attendance and class participation, I would rate (student's) academic performance in my class as superior.                             

     In conclusion, I would highly recommend (student) for this academic program. If (student's) performance in my class is any indication of how (student) will succeed, (student) will be a positive addition to the program. (student) is well equipped to grow from challenges that (student) is presented with. (student's) language skills, teaching ability and aspiration for the business industry prepare (student) beautifully for your program.

   If you should need any additional information you can feel free to contact me at abc@abc.com anytime. 

    I am writing this letter to give my highest possible recommendation for (student) who was a student at (school) where I am in the capacity of the principal. I have known (student) for the last three years as an exceptionally talented student who showed exceptional qualities both in academic results and in the social life within the high school and beyond.

    From the first days of studying in high school, (student) showed himself not only as a responsible and academically talented person, but also as a socially active student. During the three years of the high school, (student) didn’t skip any school event. Moreover, in most cases, (student) was that person, who tried to organize these events in a way that everyone would like them and actively participate in them.

    All the teachers that have taught (student) witnessed how responsible and serious (student) is. In addition to such an important characteristic as a responsibility to (student's) work, (student) also is able to handle the pressure of deadlines very well. These qualities together with everyday hard work allowed (student) to excel in every subject and, as a result, (student) has been always the leader in every aspect and has held the highest position in (student's) class' rating for the three consecutive years. 

    On many occasions, (student) used to help classmates in various subjects, especially in English, History, and Literature. (student) was even able to organize (student's) own school club and to gather smart students together in order to help others to understand some difficult topics in school subjects.

    (student) is one of the most brilliant and kind-hearted students that I have encountered in my career. (student) has an extremely amiable personality and is popular not just among classmates, but among almost the whole high school as (student) shows great consideration and deep respect for everyone.

    In summary, I strongly believe that (student's) intellectual ability and enthusiasm for learning and working are qualities that will help (student) well in (student's) future studying and life. Without any doubts, (student) is the type of a student who has the potential for a great success at the college level. 

    I think (student) would be an outstanding asset to your program. I give (student) my highest recommendation.

Recommendations for a Master degree student

    I am delighted to recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov, with whom I had an opportunity to interact over the last 7 years as his math teacher prior to his enrollment in the university, and then as the consultant when he studied mathematics in the “Applied Mathematics and Computer Science” department at the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University).

    Throughout this time he has demonstrated himself as an individual who is constantly working on self-improvement, striving to proficiency in his elected field. He does not stop once he achieves success, but puts forth maximal effort to continue developing. His work on computational gas dynamics deserves especial attention, and was recognized as the best work in his class. It is also noteworthy that Evgenii was the only student who met the deadline on turning in his work.

    Interaction with him gave me a great opportunity to better understand the aspirations and interests of the students who plan to continue work as scientists. His ability to get his bearings in the education process and select proper and interesting solutions allowed him to successfully grasp the complex education course of the university and establish his future specialization in science. He possesses the ability to clearly and precisely express his thoughts and views.

    I believe that all these qualities make him a worthy candidate to enroll in the Master’s Degree program of your university.

    As to his personal character traits, the first and foremost is his openness and interest towards his peers, hunger for knowledge and ability to share it with others.

    I strongly recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for continued education in the Master’s Degree program of your university. 

    Evgenii Kolesnikov was one of the leading students of the “Applied Mathematics and Computer Science” department, and undergone his study at the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University) from 2012 until 2016.

    As the dean of the faculty, I had to often interact with Evgenii in the professional capacity throughout his education. Over his time here and our interactions, Evgenii has proven himself a remarkable individual, showing high interest towards everything related to mathematics and physics.

    His ability to set goals for himself and put forth effort necessary to achieve them is quite admirable. He is capable of analyzing scientific information and efficiently applies it in his study. A great example is the term project he wrote in his 3rd year “SVD – decomposition and its practical applications” (see https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1609587.v1). It took him several months of tedious independent work in the area of linear algebra. But being goal-driven, he was able to grasp not only the theoretical and numerical analysis methods of linear algebra, but also how these methods could be implemented in practice.

    Evgenii is not afraid to undertake complicated tasks. He is known for his self-confidence, ability to solve problems, and readiness to start and complete new tasks in the best way possible.

    One of his positive personal traits is that he is happy to share his knowledge with colleagues. He is able to simply and easily explain complex topics, which made him popular among his peers. A testament to that is the fact that he was allowed to deliver several lectures during the course of his study, which included lectures on the theory of heat conduction, numerical analysis methods in gas dynamics, interaction between MPI and CUDA, and numerical analysis methods of SVD in linear algebra (https://www.youtube.com/user/Rjktcj456rjktcj/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0).

    He has great desire to pursue future academic and pedagogical career. I am delighted to recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for continued education in the Master’s Degree program of your university, and am certain that if given the opportunity, he would use it to its fullest potential and demonstrate his professional and personal qualities. 

    I happily recommend Evgenii Kolesnikov for enrollment into the Master’s Degree program, with whom I worked on scientific research over the last two years. While in his Bachelor’s degree program, Evgenii specialized in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, but he also demonstrated great interest towards research in analytical mechanics and celestial mechanics. Under my supervision he completed the course of analytical mechanics and some parts of the celestial mechanics, while he worked diligently and continuously. I even scolded him on occasion for working too much. I am certain that he will display remarkable effort in studying in the Master’s Degree program.

    Evgenii has a mathematical mindset. He strives for in-depth understanding of the subject, and meticulously studies the mathematical proof, while solving a vast amount of problems. His passion for abstract knowledge has to be limited by applied problems. Due to his persistence, he has substantially increased his knowledge in analytical and celestial mechanics and became a leader in his class. His graduate thesis, dedicated to the problem of numerical investigation of the uncontrolled drift of the Earth satellite under the gravitational pull of the Moon, is recognized as one of the best in his class (https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3464087.v1). I would also like to note that Evgenii is in the top-3 students at the “Applied Mathematics and Physics” faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute (he is in 3rd place).

    Evgenii is active in sports. Since 5 years of age he has been involved in combat sport, and even became a ranked athlete. I am certain that his organization in studying and remarkable work ethics is driven by his sport discipline.

    Evgenii is an exemplary and responsible student; an honest and reliable friend. He has positive influence on his peers, does not run from problems, and is self-confident. I strongly recommend Evgenii for enrollment in the Master’s Degree program of your university. 

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Writing a motivational letter for a Bachelor of Business Administration program

Writing a motivational letter for a Bachelor of Business Administration program

June 29, 2017   administration, application, bachelor, BBA, business, letter, motivation, university,

Previously I explained how I wrote a motivational letter for a Master program in engineering and a motivational letter for a scholarship.

A person who has a bachelor degree in engineering, natural sciences, or any other sciences has a field of interest or at least a subject which he likes the most. So, in this case, the person has at least an idea or a path, in which he must write the letter. 

Those people who are planning to apply for a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) are in totally different situation: there is simply nothing to write about. Applying to the business administration program implies that you will apply the obtained knowledge in a business, but not all families have their own businesses, and in this case, it is quite challenging to come up with a topic for the motivational letter.

Because the idea of the letter changed, the structure changed as well. Now the letter is divided into the following parts:

1. A hook;
2. A long term goal;
3. An intermediate targer;
4. Why decided to study abroad;
5. Belief that you will succeed in studying;
6. Why you applied to this university;
7. Conclusion.

You can see that the structure is more complicated and the motivational letter is longer than the previous ones.

A hook

If you apply to a science program it is much easier to come up with an anekdote or a particular interesting problem which motivates you. When a program has such a broad name as "Business Administration", it gives you much more topics to write about, but at the same time it loses specifics, therefore, vast majority of people can not come up with a valuable concrete topic.

Here are a few topics which you can think about and write a simple motivational story or just your opinion:

1. Your family business: why is it bad and how you want to improve it;
2. A successful international corporation whose success motivated you to create something;
3. Some problem in any location which you want to solve (starvation, murders, crisis, depression, ...);
4. A simple quote of a businessman with your opinion about it (wheather you agree with it or not);
5. Your passion (activity or object) and how much you want to create a business, which will help people to experience those great emotions that you experience.

In my opinion, the "quote" topic is the easiest and, at the same time, very effective one. It can show your mindset, knowledge, and expertise in some field of business.

Unfortunately, I didn't know any quotes of famous businessmen which I could use in the motivational letter, so I googled it for about a half an hour (yes, apparently it is not the easiest task) and found the one of Robert Kiyosaki: 

Many people start a business only to make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough mission.

In my opinion, it is a very interesting deep quote and at the same time suites the spirit of any university. Most of the time universities don't like if a student's motivation to study is only earning a lot of money. In this case, it is possible to show that even though money is extremely important, it is not everything. It makes an impression that the applicant thinks further and deeper than simply about the income.

A long term goal

A long term goal is usually a big and, almost always, unsolvable problem, which worries a lot of people: in my case it is poverty, hunger, and unemployment. This section is the continuation of the previous idea, that the applicant is interested in serious problems and not only in money. It also shows that the person can analyze the situation and draw reasonable conclusions.

An intermediate targer

A huge unsolvable problem is very good, but everybody understands that it is unsolvable or almost unsolvable. So, it is of the most importance to reduce this huge goal either to a step of easier problems, or to a subproblem, which partly solves this problem or just in a small region.

The purpose of these two sections are to show your ambitions in global problems, but at the same time to demonstrate that you are able to think deep and analyze by concentrating on a smaller problem, because common sense and objective assessment of your capabilities are crucial skills for a business administrator. If the leader can not sensibly estimate a situation, then he is a fool, and most likely will not succeed.

In my case, I reduced the problem of hunger, poverty, and unemployment to improving lives of people in need by creating a big international company. I also added a few sentences about how the university can help me to do it. 

There is also another trick here. As you could notice, I used specific subjects: “The European Business Environment”, “Asian Economic Development”, “European Economic Development” from the program's syllabus. It was done on purpose, because it shows that the applicant made a thorough research on the university's website to understand if the program suits his interests or not. Most of the time universities appreciate the fact that you studied their website and all their documents: it shows that your decision was meaningful,  based on the knowledge, rather than a spontaneous haste in order to be accepted anywhere.

Why did you decide to study abroad

This part is an easy one. But it's necessary to provide serious reasons: "because I don't like my country and I want to immigrate" is definitely not a reason you want to mention (even though it can be the only thing that motivates your actions).

I will repeat again, the most important idea. Truth is necessary with your friends a family. In the outer world you must know how to represent yourself so other people think you are smarter than you are, more reliable than you are, and in general -- better than you are.

In my motivational letter I divided this part into two subparts:

1. The evaluation of local universities and their programs;
2. The evaluation of possibilities that will open to you if you study in the university with elements of flattery.

The first part is obvious and I will not even talk about it. On the other hand, the second part is not so obvious at all, and it requires a thorough thinking to write it. Again, the idea is to show your long-term thinking and analysis of serious questions. 

One of the most important things to perform is a "flattery". Without a doubt, everyone loves to hear good things about themselves. So, you must try to flatter as much as possible, but at the same time represent it in such a way, which doesn't let the readers think that you are flattering at all. So, your flattering must be logical, reasonable, and moderate.

Belief that you will succeed in studying

Whenever you do anything, you must have a positive thinking about what you are doing: if you don't believe in your success, it will never happen. Write about how much you believe in achieving everything and even more. Prove that based on your experience, knowledge, and hard working abilities you will overcome all problems and difficulties.

And again, by accepting the difficulty of your intentions, you prove that you sensibly estimate your goals and, therefore, you are a smart and mature person. The secret is in what and how you write. 

Why you applied to this university

This is the longest, extremely important and one of the most difficult sections of the motivational letter. For each university this section will be totally unique, but the idea of this section is to show why you think this university suits exactly you and why not any other university: provide examples of your research about the

1. University (why the university is so good: strong science program, program that you need, qualified professors, internships, society); 
2. Location (why you want to live in this particular location: beautiful, clean, safe, quite);
3. People (maybe you like people's mentality: friendly, supportive, thoughtful); 
4. Traditions (celebrations, events);
5. Religion (the religion of your preference is prevailed in the area);
6. Food (you like the local cuisine);
7. Lifestyle (quite and slow lifestyle or, on contrary, noisy and active);
8. Quality of life (developed country/city/area);
9. Hobbies (the city and people allow you to develop the hobbies you are interested in);
10. Opportunities (a lot of companies, startups, and other opportunities where you can take part in).

In my case, I mentioned four points: accreditation (the education is recognized in the USA and Europe), improvement of language skills (improving German language skills) and those skills which are necessary for a business (team work and leadership skills), quality of the city (frequently ranking among the world’s most livable cities).

Conclusion

The conclusion is nothing more, but final words about how the university is perfect, how many opportunities it will give you, and how much you want to study there.


Now you have a complete motivational letter, which shows your knowledge, explains your passion for studying, why you want to be accepted to this university on the program you applied for, and that you are a reliable student who is interested in serious topics.

Letter of Motivation to UIBS Zurich

(Bachelor of Business Administration program)

       Robert Kiyosaki promotes an idea that “Many people start a business only to make money. Just to make money is not a strong enough mission.” For me, business is a tool to create a product or a service, that will improve people’s quality of life or make their lives more convenient. Some people will say, that it is almost impossible to change people’s lives, but “not everything you try can be done, but nothing can be done until you try.” And with this mindset, I am applying for the Bachelor of Business Administration programme at the Zurich campus of United International Business School (UIBS).
       My goal in life is to be useful for people, to improve their lives, for me that is the ultimate success. I live in Nigeria, the country which is mostly not developed, where people don’t have a steady income or satisfactory quality of life: poverty, hunger, and unemployment are well-known and widely spread problems in the country. As a result of what I’ve seen and experienced, I have a strong idea of what I want to achieve.
       Currently, the goal I try to reach is to start and develop my own international business in the middle east area and Africa, which will improve the economic situation of countries and, at the same time, improve lives of people in need. I want to collect the information from classes like “The European Business Environment”, “Asian Economic Development”, “European Economic Development”, and use the gained knowledge of European and Asian business and economic strategies and solutions, which have been studied for years, in the middle east and Africa to develop those countries and, therefore, to improve the quality of life there.
       After doing some research into Nigerian universities and their business programmes, I realised that this country cannot offer me the education I need to achieve my goal. The level of specialisation here is quite poor and teaching methods are mostly oriented on theoretical knowledge which, in my opinion, is nearly useless when it comes to real-life work.
       Looking at my future, I understand that the only way to be successful in today’s business world is to make it in an international context. Because UIBS is an international university with branches in different countries: Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, and Japan, a lot of students from all over the world transfer to different countries to study and, therefore, you provide an outstanding network of people from all over the world. I will be able to use this opportunity to create a bigger social network which will be very useful in a real business to solve complicated international problems. In UIBS, I will also learn how to communicate with people from different backgrounds to achieve the best working results which I believe will be the next big step in my development.
       I understand that studying in a university abroad is going to be the most challenging step in my life so far, but because of studying for 9 months in New York on a “University Preparation” program at EF, I learnt a lot about high quality education, met a lot of people and cultures, gained important insights into such areas as global business and international affairs, that now I am positive that I can withstand any problems I will face and make the most of the knowledge and experience gained through this study programme. I hope to contribute my talents and efforts to your university and become a worthy member of the team.
       The decision to apply to the branch of UIBS in Zurich is not a rush act, but rather a result of a thorough research among a wide variety of universities from all over the world in which not only was the quality of education process taken into consideration, but also opportunities for the personal growth and the quality of life in the city where each university is located.
       First, UIBS provides a top notch education: BBA program in the branch of UIBS in Zurich received accreditations from the ACBSP and ECBE, which means that the education is recognized in the USA and Europe.
       Second, studying at your university will significantly improve my English skills. As one of the most important languages in the world, English will help me to form new connections and expand my social network to a global level. The fact that the university is located in Zurich will allow me also to master my German skills and, as a result, knowing and fluently operating four languages: Arabic, French, English, and German will allow me to develop a better social and business network.
       Thirdly, the BBA programme majoring in Global Business and minoring in Small Business Management will help me to develop myself as a team player and cultivate the leadership skills necessary for my future career. I will learn to be responsible not only for myself, but also for the whole team which is essential for a business manager.
       Finally, Zurich is the top 12th best student city according to “QS Best Student Cities 2016”. Not only is it the largest city in Switzerland, it is also one of the wealthiest in Europe, which means that Zurich is clean, safe and immaculately maintained, frequently ranking among the world’s most livable cities.
       In conclusion, I think that the harmonic combination of theoretical and practical knowledge that is provided in the BBA program at UIBS Zurich together with a unique international society of smart prospective students will give me the framework to utilize my full potentials both in studying in UIBS and in my personal business after the graduation.

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Writing a letter of motivation for a scholarship

Writing a letter of motivation for a scholarship

June 27, 2017   application, letter, motivation, scholarship, university,

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:

1. A hook
2. How my previous studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
3. Why I want the scholarship;
4. How my future studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
5. Future plans;
6. Conclusion.

You can see that the structure here is just a slight extention of the previous letter: "Why I want this scholarship" is pretty much the only section that was added. Of course, other parts of the letter were slightly improved and extended, but overall it is the same letter.

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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Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering

Writing a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering

June 26, 2017   application, letter, motivation, university,

In this article, I will try to explain my personal views on how to write a letter of motivation for a Masters program in engineering. I will provide my own letter of motivation, wich I used to apply to ETH Zurich for Computational Science and Engineering MSc program. Looking ahead, I can say that I was accepted to the university with this letter.

More about the Computational Science and Engineering MSc program in ETH Zurich you can find by following the link.

I will begin with a structure that I used:

1. A hook;
2. How my previous studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
3. How my future studying and knowledge will help to solve the problem;
4. Conclusion.

One thing that everyone must remember is that admission office recieves tons of letters each year/month/day depending on the popularity of the chosen university. In this case people who read your motivational letter don't have enough time and strength to carefully look through the whole letter. What most of them actually do is that they read the first paragraph fully and continue reading the whole letter only if they think that it worths it, otherwise they end up reading only first sentences of each following paragraph.

A hook

I hope you understand now that the first paragraph is the most important paragraph in the whole letter. In this passage many people write so called "a hook". A hook is a little anekdote, or your personal view, or even joke. Pretty much everything which can attract the reader is a hook.

In my case I wrote about my lifelong passion of thinking about space travels and how to improve the safetyness of them. 

If you thought that everything in this letter is true, then you could not be more wrong! This is the biggest mistake which applicants from all over the world make. The purpose of the essay is not to write a truthful story (although it is also an option), but to sell yourself and your skills. I was applying for an engineering major, therefore I wrote about how much I wanted to solve an engineering problem and to change the world. In fact, I really chose this topic, because I love the rigour and complexity of the theory of magnetohydrodynamics.

But be careful with an anekdote! Not only should it attract the audience, but also it must show how this anekdote, how your real or fake interest, relates to your studying. Maybe you can give readers a few hints of how educated you are and how much you know already. In my case I wrote about a particular stage of landing process that I am interested in, mentioned how it relates to my academic field of interest and a direction of solving the problem, again relating to the academic program which I chose.

At the end, the reader must experience the following things:

1. He must be attracted to the story that you wrote;
2. He must see that you have a simple understanding of what you are writing about;
3. He must see that everything that you wrote somehow relates to the program which you apply for.

Previous studying

Now that you have a good introduction, it is time to write one of the main paragraphs. This paragraph is, in my opinion, the easiest one, because you must explain how your previous education and, therefore, the obtained knowledge will help you either in solving a problem or in studying in the university in general. My chosen program is a combination of mathematics, physics, and computer science, which is the exact combination of fields that I am and was interested in, dealt with, and studied.

Future studying

The second difficult part of the essay is the section where you write how the chosen program and the university itself will help you to achieve your goals in life. In this part you must persuade the reader that based on a thorough research and, probably, after contacting students who are studying on the program, or even a professor, you came up with a decision that this university and this program are the best possible option for you. In my case, I contacted a professor, who is specializing in my field (and who became my supervisor in the end), and searched through a university's online library of students' theses, looking for topics I am interested in, to show that people are working in this area and get results.

Conclusion

Last but not least is the conclusion. The purpose of this section is to summarize all what you have wrote so far with one idea in mind: "I am a student whom you want to accept". In my case, I also added a sentence about my long term goal to become a professor and that ETHZ will help me to achieve this task.

Of course, each university wants you to achieve your full potential, to do your best, so why not specify it?

Now you have a complete logical letter, which shows your knowledge and explains your passion for studying in the chosen university. That's precisely what the admission committee is interested in.


If you are thinking also about applying for a scholarship, here is another article which explains how to modify the written letter of motivation for the scholarship committee: Writing a letter of motivation for a scholarship.

Letter of Motivation 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, I concentrated in different fields of study: computer science, celestial mechanics, cluster computations and continuum mechanics are among them. This interdisciplinary interest makes me think that your CSE program is a good match for me because it allows for the continued study of most of these topics in combination. As an undergraduate, my intense and thorough study of my major area subjects, as well as those subjects that didn't relate to the program curriculum, made me achieve higher results and more in-depth understanding of some fields of study than others in my cohort did. This makes me a good candidate for your program.
       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 if I will be accepted to the university.
       In sum, I think that ETH Zurich is the best university for me to achieve my full potential and be able to make a valuable contribution to the ETH community. My long-term goal is to become an academic who will be able to break down complex subjects and explain them in detail in a way that would capture student interest, and I know ETH would help me on the way to this goal.

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