[General] please give feed back on my Letter of Motivation for a PhD position

[patalport]

My Study Aspirations in KTH University
From very beginning that I started to learn about technologies, I have always been enchanted with technology designers and this has spurred me into becoming one myself.

Perhaps one of the main reasons that make me interested for the field of “Human-Computer Interaction” is because of my life background! I used to travel a lot for the past ten years. I am so glad to say that I had the experience of living in China for four years during of my high school, during this time I made myself fluent in Chinese Language while I was attending Beijing Institute of Language and travelled to different cities within China, namely as Guang Dong, Shang Hai, Guan Zhou, Urumuqi and few others. At the end of my high school time I had applied for Bachelor degree in Malaysia in the field of Information Technology Management. I had the honor of graduating as a first class student with the CGPA of 3.78. Living in Malaysia also provides(provided) me with the possibility to get to know different races such as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Arabs and British all in one nation. In the last few months of my Bachelor time I did apply for a master program in the field of Information Systems in the Prestige University of Lund, where I had the pleasure to work with military of Sweden for my final thesis.
Mean while I had also travelling to some other countries like Japan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were I stayed for few weeks. All these travelling enrich my life with many experiences and made me to get to know many people from different nationalities. Living in different context had a great influence on me such that I started to learn the differences between societies, learning different cultures and languages and realize that all these factors have a great influence on technology design.

Because of my exposure to different lifestyles, I am proud to say that I am fluent in Persian, English and Chinese (Mandarin), Arabic language and basic Malay language and Swedish.

Time passed when I started to learn IT during Bachelor time; from very beginning my interest and education goal does not merely focus on IT as I was seeking for a blend of areas whereby humans, societies, people, cultures and IT can be integrated. And I was always asking myself “Where are humans in relation with IT”. Cause I strongly believe that all these technologies makes no sense if we don’t have a clear understanding of humans. At this stage I started to study about “Cognitive Science” and “Interaction Design” that makes me even more interested in the subject. This continues when I took a course in HCI during my bachelor time where we practice to design or redesign thinks and come out with our own ideas. And it was a proud that I passed the course with distinction.

My interest to HCI doesn’t stop since I still had a course during my master time in Lund University, where we gone through many recent articles related to the field of HCI and Löwgren and Stolterman text book called as “Thoughtful Interaction Design”. This brought me more insight to the subject.
I strongly believe that both Information Technology Management and Information Systems helped me to establish a strong foundation. Since these two majors brought me to the world of technical geeks (Machines). In fact IT management trained me managing people, strategic management, organizational behavior, different programming languages, system analysis and design and software engineering and Information Systems enriched me by teaching me how to work as an intermediate between technical geeks and management people. These majors helped me to try for a “common language” that discourses human world with technical world.

Beside that my Master Thesis with military of Sweden made me familiar with the concept of “Enterprise Architecture” where I learned that every one of the organization stakeholders have their own expectations, where security people, network people, technical people, they all have their own view. So there is definitely the need for a platform that integrates all these view to a common shared language.

All these could prove that I have experienced the essence of multi disciplinary courses with different areas intersect and most important I also realized the need for a language that tights these different disciplines together. I believe all these could help me in the field of Human Computer Interaction as well!
In fact, there are different motivational factors that could lead an individual to do doctoral study. One of the main reasons driving me to pursue my PhD’s in KTH University is because of “Self- development”. I am taking PhD as a means of self development since I have grown up with the concept of “lifelong learner”. In fact becoming a PhD is not only about studying four years rather it is going to turn me to a world expert in a specific area that I am going to live with that for rest of my life .Therefore I have decided to pick up an area that I enjoy the rest of my life, reading, writing and thinking about it-which is Human-Computer Interaction. At the same time being a lecturer was always in the back of my mind. That PhD is a basic entry level requirement into being an academic lecturer. The second reason could be the matter of hobby that I like reading, thinking, lecturing and writing. Sharing my thoughts and aspirations and “Get a driving license and go places no one’s ever been”
On my personality, I am goal-focused and take constructive criticisms very well. I am not one to give up easily, but rather, will persevere with dogged determination. I am always excited to learn new ideas and can grasp new information quickly. As a result, I was in the Dean’s list for six successive trimesters during my undergraduate study. In this respect, I am sure KTH University will keep me busy and challenge the way I view the world.
I embrace change. I am not resistant to change and I learned to adapt myself with everything, no matter how hard it is. I am able to make connections with others quickly and easily and am often found in the centre of most project discussions and am able to point out and discuss from various perspectives.
My life principle is sharing. I am adept in team working since it is based on the principle of sharing.

I am characterized by an extraordinary spirit of caring, courage, alertness, generosity, quick independent thinking, firm leadership, and being a good listener. I know how to consult others. However, I seek attention, am thirsty for praises and may be egoistic at times.
As mentioned earlier, I love to make friends. I love to meet new people and get familiar with different cultures and learn new languages. KTH University prides itself as one of the universities with the highest number of international students, and is increasing by the year, hence which better university for me to study than KTH!

I enjoyed myself tremendously at Lund University. I did not confine myself to the library and lecture halls. I was involved in extracurricular activities, joined numerous clubs and societies. I was director of some events in my bachelor time and I received several appreciation certificates from the president.
Suffice to say that doing my PhD in Lund University will challenge me to achieve greater heights and will provide me with the vast opportunities to pursue my academic dream. If given this golden opportunity, I promise to make KTH University proud of me!

 

[konungursvia]

You don't need to say so much about cultural events, travels, extra-curricular activites; you should write in detail about your research plans and interests, and how they relate to specific research interests of real faculty members in the department you're applying to, naming the professors of interest and mentioning specifics of their work.