HELP - Motivation Letter for Erasmus Mundus Scholarships

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum. While searching for samples of motivation letters, I came across many threads on this forum regrading this issue.

I am a Syrian student, and this scholarship is so important for me because I can no longer complete my studies in Damascus.
In the ranking criteria of this scholarships, the motivation letter has 20% of the application grading scheme. For this reason I need to make it as good as possible. Unfortunately I am new to writing this kind of letters, so I hope for some help.

To make my letter clear, I just want to tell that the host university I chose is Technische Universität Berlin. I am allowed to write up to 4000 characters.

Here is my letter,

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Personally, one of my favorite proverbs and one which I have always followed to achieve my goals and ambitions.


Ever since, I was a student in the secondary school, the major of study I wanted to pursue after completing high school was clear to me. I have faced many obstacles, but fortunately I overcame all of them to achieve my dream in studying the major I want, Computer Science.


I lived in Lebanon during my childhood and teenage until the war in 2006 obliged us to flee to Syria, my homeland. I was struggling in high school because of the vast differences between the Syrian and Lebanese curricula. Yet, I managed to succeed and graduated from high school with an average of 99.16 percent.


In Syria, it is trend that the higher the student’s average is, the higher probability the he/she chooses a major which requires high averages in high school, regardless of what the student’s dream is. According to this tradition and my average, I was supposed to pick the major that requires the highest average, medicine. Yet, I chose the faculty of Information Technology Engineering, as the closest major to Computer Science (because this major is not found in Damascus University), ignoring all the criticisms and oppositions I received.


During the last three years of my study in this major, I gave very hard efforts. But unfortunately as the revolution started, its consequences affected negatively my studying and thus my average.


Because of the absence of safety and stability, this academic year seems to be impossible to complete. I can hardly and sometimes never able to reach my faculty and attend the lectures; in addition to witnessing and hearing the sounds of explosions during all the studying hours in the faculty. For this reason, I had to look for a solution for this huge problem.


The first step to take was improving my skills to raise my opportunities. I started to take intensive lessons in German, since most universities in German-speaking countries require a certain level of German proficiency for undergraduate programs. Still the bad conditions obliged me for about two months to stop the lessons.


The second step was searching for convenient universities that offer the best opportunities and fit best to my needs. Through the search, I came across the announcement of Erasmus Mundus Program, which seemed to be the outlet I was looking for.

Reading about all partner universities, the options were few because I was seeking a university that offers scholarships for degree seeking students, not just exchange students. Technische Universität Berlin was the best choice for me because of the scholarships it offers and my knowledge of German language. Through further search, I found that TU Berlin has a very good rank in world ranking of universities in the major of information technology. All these reasons together made TU Berlin my number one priority among all universities.


I want to study at TU Berlin because of its outstanding educational system, focus on gathering relevant work experience, and its excellent facilities. So I am confident of my decision. With many distinguished scientists as professors, I know that I will gain expert knowledge at the forefront of discovery. Further supporting professors' lectures are the university's use of advanced. All these strong positives allow me to pursue my dreams and ambitions.


Given my past history of commitment to achieve my dream, I am confident that I will exceed the expectations, because of both my academic and interpersonal skills. I will enrich the program by enabling fellow students and professors to benefit from my ambitious and open nature. Furthermore, my international background will add more diversity to your program.


Thank you for considering my application, and I look forward to your positive reply.


Sincerely,
Luna