Alright, so a motivation letter can get you places.
Really.
Especially if you’re dreaming big and competing with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of other candidates, it can be the most critical part of your whole application.
It got me to win spots for internships, MSc programs, and Ph.D. programs at world-renowned universities, such as Karolinska Institute, Harvard, and EPFL.
It can also cost you a position if you don’t know how to make it outstanding.
Let’s get into 3 tips for writing a better motivation letter.
P.S. At the end of this post there is a poll I’d love that you answer.
Starting off, every motivation letter is different, depending on who are you writing it for.
Internship, master’s program, Ph.D. program, directly to one particular person or something else, it’s always different.
That’s the first tip.
Understand the profile of the person(s) reading it.
Is this a Ph.D. committee of professors who are trying to rank you on certain parameters? Is this a particular professor who is looking for only 1 Ph.D. student?
Whoever your reader is, you must practice entering their mind.
Put yourself in their shoes.
What would they need to read to give you a chance?
Be careful, do not abuse this practice. Do not lie. Because once you start practicing this, you will be tempted to make yourself look better than you are.
Don’t do this, it’s not good for anyone in the long run.
But do use this practice to think about what skills you can emphasize in your letter.
Concrete example: if you’re applying to a Ph.D. position, one thing your readers want to know for sure is “Will you thrive as a Ph.D. student”?
There are many indicators of this, but here’s one concrete skill: being independent in a research project.
Have you shown in your work before that you can push a project independently?
Have you ever come up with an idea for a project that your supervisor approved?
Were you ever trusted to lead one smaller part of a project?
Even if it didn’t end up with a glorious publication, maybe it helped you learn something.
Emphasize that point specifically in your letter because that’s something that answers one of the crucial questions your reader needs to know.
If your sentence can be written by other candidates, it’s not specific enough
Again, put yourself in the shoes of some professor at a famous institution, reading hundreds of motivation letters. Let’s say they are studying cancer.
Do you think a sentence like “I’ve always been interested in cancer” sounds specific, or generic?
You can bet that person has read that same exact sentence about 4 million times.
It’s not a sin to repeat what others have said, but it is a sin to be lazy when it comes to motivation letters.
So, dig deeper. What concrete example can you bring up in your letter about getting interested in cancer? Maybe a book you’ve read? An experiment that failed made you read more about the topic. An anecdote from the lab.
The same principle applies to all other sentences throughout your letter. If the sentence sounds like anyone could write it, i.e. it’s not specific to your case, it probably was probably already written by everyone else. Many, many times.
Why you, why them, why now?
You need to respect to program/professor you’re writing to.
If it’s a program, you need to do your homework on what they are looking for and think about how you fit in with your skills, experience, and expertise. If you’re not a perfect fit, you need to address how you can compensate for that.
If it’s a professor, you need to know what they actually study.
Don’t just email people based on seeing some headlines on Google about some study they did. Read the damn study. Try to understand it. Try to criticize it. Try to think how would you build on that study.
Sure, you might hit a lucky shot and someone will give you a position just because it’s convenient, but ask yourself: Do I really want to be at some place I didn’t even care to do my homework for?
That’s it for today.
If you’ve struggled with writing motivational letters before, hit the REPLY button, and share your struggles with me. I’ll try to address them in one of the next newsletters.
Talk soon,
Kenan