When you want to enrol to a college, especially If you plan to start or even continue your studies abroad, an integral part of the documentation would be your biography (CV), as well as a motivation letter. If you haven’t met the technique of writing a motivation letter during your schooling process, please check below the rules and tips and find out how to express yourself in the best possible way, in order to earn a high rank with both technical knowledge and impressiveness when enrolling to the college.
The motivation letter, together with the CV (your short biography) makes a unique summary of your professional successes achieved by now. The CV serves to briefly summarize your basic information regarding personal information, education, volunteering, professional business experience, as well as other school and extracurricular activities that have marked your life so far. On the other hand, the cover letter, we would say, represents your broader biography, a reflection of your personality, and a more personal essence of everything you have jotted down in your CV. The main and basic goal of the motivation letter is to make an impression on the reader, as well as to make him sure that you are THE RIGHT CANDIDATE for a certain university. So, its function is to somehow clarify and summarize information about your personality, your interests, competencies, but also your desire to enter a certain university, department etc…
In addition to the basic technical rules concerning the structure and content of structural units that we wrote about in the previous blog, which you can read by clicking on the LINK, special attention should also be paid to the STYLIST, and the tone and manner in which you write a motivation letter.
The first and basic rule concerning the style of writing itself is that it must be CLEAR, ACCURATE, UNDERSTANDABLE and written in a colloquial language. Avoid overly complicated expressions and phrases that you do not use even in your private life and that would only repel your reader, making you sound too pretentious or too arrogant.
AVOID GENERAL EXPRESSIONS AND PHRASES
When writing a motivation letter, you should try to avoid general expressions and phrases, but try to deepen certain expressions by presenting a particular situation, attitude or some experience from your personal life.
So, for example, instead of using the general phrase I am a very communicative person, you should actually describe an episode from your life in which you proved it: describe a situation in which you did something good with your communicativeness, gained some success, provoked some good comments … On the other hand, if you want to say for yourself that you are creative person for example, list a specific project that you have designed, a situation in which you found a creative solution and thus gained certain merits, kudos, or you simply brightened the day for yourself or others. In this way, you will not be just another student who has listed a number of positive qualities, but a resourceful individual whom the reader will get to know better and notice for sure through certain life episodes.
When writing a motivation letter, try to use as many words and expressions as possible that contain positive values, and emphasize the essence of what should be found in the letter itself. Therefore, you can include in your letter some of the following words that can help you find an idea of what you should actually be writing about:
Verbs: affirm, interest, encourage, volunteer, train, gain experience, achieve, adopt, explore, initiate, promote, motivate, learn, progress, develop, present, solve, persuade, design, learn, encourage, adapt…
Adjectives: productive, hardworking, creative, communicative, resourceful, adaptable, motivated, ready, workaholic, experienced…
Nouns: education, science, friendship, family, school, experience, work, knowledge, future, self-confidence, development, desire, motivation, perspective.
LET THE TONE BE FRIENDLY, FULL OF RESPECT (BUT NOT SHOWING OFF)
Since you will certainly address your motivation letter to an older person, take care that your language is polite! Let the tone of your letter be full of respect for the institution (but again NOT condescending). Set yourself up as a friend, an admirer. Don’t forget the funny tone and anecdotes if they are part of your personality, but avoid them if they are not, because in that case they can seem artificial and very unpleasant.
THE MOST COMMON MISTAKES
If you follow all the above-mentioned tips, we believe that your motivation letter will be very successful and impressive! Don’t be afraid to give your letter to your elders and friends, because again, two heads are better than one… And don’t be afraid, if you are unique, open and motivated enough, there will be no mistakes and problems in your ranking. But just in case, for the very end, we enlist some of the most common mistakes that should be avoided and that you should keep in mind, so that success is guaranteed.
• If your letter is too long, the reader loses attention and gets the impression that you are not resourceful and skilled. Learn to express as much as possible in a few words! The same goes for CV.
• Retelling your CV and listing the same competencies, and information over and over again. Instead of that, use the certain information chronologically and clearly state every of them to make a full impression.
• The letter is full of grammatical and technical mistakes. This can cause a lot of trouble for the readers, and they may give up on reading it. The same goes for a letter that is endless. Make an effort to highlight paragraphs, bold words, and highlight visually the most important information.
• You are not familiar enough with the interlocutor (university), so your letter seems general and can cause a feeling that you are not so interested in a particular institution.
And for the very end, be persistent, motivated and hardworking and success is guaranteed! Good luck!
