Motivation letter / Statement of purpose: Part 1: For Master's Degree

I wrote my motivation letter / statement of purpose for masters degree in 2013 when I was on 3^rd year of my bachelors degree. I wasn’t surrounded by anyone who would help me because in Turkey going to a grad school is totally different and no you do not need a letter explaining why. They’d rather ask you this question during the interview.

I googled few examples but none of them made me feel very interested about the way they wrote them. I googled how about what to include in motivation letter and the output wasn’t very clear either.

During one of the Fulbright meetings they told us very important 3 things

1. It should reflect who you are.

2. It should interest the reader so they read until the end.

3. Why do you really want to apply for grad school and why that specific school.

I am a more linear thinker so if I know the general idea I can shape it however I want it to be. Give me key points and I will come up with something interesting. So here is how I structured it.

1^st paragraph I explained why I chose to become a civil engineer

2^nd paragraph how I spent my 4 years of my bachelors degree

3^rd paragraph why I want to study in such university under such department and why they should hire me

4^th paragraph plans for the degree – research related

5^th paragraph accept my application

One very important thing is that you make sure you write your motivation letter. No one is expecting it to be perfect. We all use language differently. This such school will accept you for your uniqueness. Unless you’re not applying for literature or language related degrees it is totally fine to make grammar mistakes. But one thing to avoid is making spelling mistakes (make sure to use right spell check – USA or British English).

I hope this will be a guide for someone to start their motivation letter today. Good luck and do not hesitate to contact me if there's anything I can do for you.