Step-by-Step guide to writing the Best Motivation Letter - PhD student
Summary
TLDRSchlotte Fraser, a second-year PhD student in computational neuroscience at the Donders Institute, offers a step-by-step guide for writing a motivation letter for academic applications. She emphasizes tailoring the letter to the specific program or audience, highlighting personal motivations, and using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to illustrate relevant skills. She advises keeping the letter concise, seeking feedback from others, and showcasing personality and soft skills. Fraser shares her own letter as an example, providing practical tips to help applicants stand out.
Takeaways
- 📚 Write a motivation letter that complements your CV, showcasing a mix of personality, skills, and challenges overcome.
- 🔍 Do thorough research on the program and audience to tailor the letter to specific requirements and demonstrate personal strengths.
- 📝 Understand the difference between a personal statement, motivation letter, and cover letter to ensure you're using the correct format.
- 👋 Begin the letter formally and address it to the specific person or committee to show that you've done your homework.
- 💡 Start with a strong 'why' in the introduction that is personal and specific to the project you're applying for.
- 🌟 Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Results) to structure paragraphs about your skills and experiences.
- 🔑 Highlight both hard skills (technical abilities) and soft skills (personality traits) that align with the program's expectations.
- 📉 Show persistence and the ability to overcome adversity through examples, even if they're not directly related to academia.
- 📑 Keep the letter concise, ideally one to two pages, as readers often have limited time to review applications.
- 🤔 Seek feedback from various sources, including professors, teachers, and peers, to refine the content and style of your letter.
- 🎯 Conclude by reiterating your fit for the program and expressing gratitude for consideration, creating a well-rounded close.
Q & A
Who is the speaker in the video?
-The speaker is Schlotte Fraser, a second-year PhD student in computational neuroscience at the Donders Institute in the Netherlands.
What is the main purpose of the video?
-The main purpose of the video is to provide a step-by-step method for writing a motivation letter for various academic applications such as bachelor's, master's, PhD programs, summer schools, or internships.
What should a motivation letter complement?
-A motivation letter should complement your CV, showing a combination of your personality, skills, and hardships you've overcome.
Why is it important to know your audience when writing a motivation letter?
-Knowing your audience is important because it helps tailor your letter to emphasize the skills and experiences that are most relevant to the specific program or individual you're addressing.
What is the STAR method and why is it useful?
-The STAR method stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. It is useful because it provides a structured way to describe your skills and experiences, making your letter more compelling and evidence-based.
How should you start your motivation letter according to the speaker?
-According to the speaker, you should start your motivation letter quite formally, ideally addressing specific professors or committee members by their names.
What is a key tip for writing the first paragraph of a motivation letter?
-A key tip for writing the first paragraph is to make it as personal as possible, highlighting your specific motivation for applying to the project or program in a way that sets you apart from other applicants.
What is the difference between a personal statement, a motivation letter, and a cover letter?
-The differences are context-dependent: for a PhD, these letters might be combined into one general purpose letter. For job applications or specific programs, each may have a distinct format and purpose, which should be adhered to according to the application's requirements.
Why should you show your motivation letter to multiple people before submitting it?
-You should show your motivation letter to multiple people to get relevant input and tips from different perspectives, which can help improve the quality and effectiveness of your letter.
What should you focus on if you don't have many relevant experiences to include in your motivation letter?
-If you don't have many relevant experiences, you should focus on your soft skills, personality traits, and specific events that demonstrate your abilities and character, even if they are not directly related to academia.
Outlines
📚 Writing a Motivation Letter for Academic Applications
Schlotte Fraser, a second-year PhD student in computational neuroscience at the Donders Institute, introduces her video on crafting a motivation letter for academic applications. She emphasizes the importance of the letter complementing the CV, showcasing personality, skills, and overcoming hardships. She advises to tailor the letter to the specific program or professor, and to address common questions about program or PhD choice. She also clarifies the difference between a personal statement, motivation letter, and cover letter, suggesting the audience to check a link for more details. The video will guide through her own motivation letter, providing insights on structure and content.
🔍 The STAR Method for Describing Skills in a Motivation Letter
In the second paragraph, Schlotte explains the use of the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Results) for detailing skills in a motivation letter. She suggests using this method to demonstrate soft skills and hard skills, providing a concrete example from her own experience working on a cognitive neuroscience master's project. Schlotte advises to keep the letter concise, ideally one to two pages, and to seek feedback from various sources to refine the letter. She also encourages applicants to find personal experiences that can highlight their soft skills or demonstrate overcoming adversity, which can be impactful in a motivation letter.
🌟 Concluding the Motivation Letter and Final Tips
The final paragraph of the script focuses on Schlotte's conclusion for her motivation letter, where she reflects on her ability to work in groups and independently, her efficiency in time management, and flexibility. She expresses confidence in her ability to contribute to the project and the potential impact of the research on patients with depression. Schlotte concludes with advice on keeping the letter brief, seeking diverse feedback, and leveraging personal experiences to showcase relevant soft skills, even if they are not directly related to formal education.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Motivation Letter
💡Application
💡Personality
💡Skills
💡Research
💡Narrative
💡STAR Method
💡Soft Skills
💡Adversity
💡Contribution
Highlights
Schlotte Fraser, a second-year PhD student in computational neuroscience at the Donders Institute, shares a step-by-step method for writing a motivation letter.
The motivation letter should complement the CV and showcase personality, skills, and hardships overcome.
Applications often have specific questions about program choice that should be addressed in the letter.
Research is crucial to understand the audience and tailor the letter to the program's or professor's interests.
Personal strengths should be highlighted in the letter, especially if they align with the program's requirements.
The difference between a personal statement, motivation letter, and cover letter is explained, with nuances for different applications.
The structure of a motivation letter includes an introduction, body, and conclusion.
Start the letter formally by addressing the specific person or committee reviewing the application.
The first paragraph should convey a personal 'why' for applying to the specific project or program.
Use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Results) to describe skills and experiences relevant to the application.
Soft skills should be demonstrated through specific examples rather than just stated.
The conclusion should reiterate the applicant's suitability for the project and express a desire to contribute meaningfully.
Keep the motivation letter concise, preferably under two pages, to respect the reader's time.
Seek feedback from multiple sources, including professors, teachers, and peers, to refine the letter.
Applicants should not be discouraged by a perceived lack of relevant experience; the motivation letter can showcase personality and resilience.
Personal experiences, even outside of academia, can be impactful in demonstrating soft skills and character.
Schlotte offers tips for writing a compelling motivation letter and invites feedback from viewers.
The video concludes with well-wishes for viewers applying to academic programs and an invitation to the next video.
Transcripts
hi so i'm schlotte fraser a second year
phd in computational neuroscience at the
donders institute in the netherlands and
today i want to give you a step-by-step
method to write a motivation letter for
your bachelor's master's phd application
or perhaps a summer school or internship
you're trying to get into and i will
take you through my motivation letter
that will hopefully give you a little
bit of an idea how i wrote it how i
structure it and what i think about so
your motivation letter should be a
compliment to your cv so don't copy your
cv in your motivation letter it should
kind of show a combination of your
personality skills you acquired and some
hardships you overcame usually also in
applications for phd programs or master
programs they have specific questions
they want answered such as why did you
chose this master program or why did you
choose this phd and usually these
questions are in the description of the
program you're applying for so that's
already my first tip and that is to do
your research well know your audience
and know your own personal strengths so
with know your audience i mean know what
you're writing for and who you're
writing towards so for example if you're
writing for a specific professor in
physics or you're applying for a
specific phd program in physics i would
really emphasize on your physics skills
right whereas if you're applying to a
bachelor program and applying towards a
certain committee try to find out what
this committee is interested in hearing
or what kind of skills they want you to
have and before you even start writing
try to narrate your story such that you
fit this picture perfectly right and
then also know your strengths and with
this i kind of mean if you have certain
strengths for example in writing or
you're really creative i would try to
put this in your letter so we'll go over
my letter soon but my letter for example
is not very lyrical in how it's written
because i'm not a really good writer so
i try to put in way more emphasis on the
skills that i have instead of trying to
convince them with a beautiful narrative
but if you don't have that many skills
yet or you're just starting out in your
academic journey i would try to lean a
little bit more on your writing skills
and try to engage the people with the
story i also want to say there is a
difference between a personal statement
a motivation letter and a cover letter i
won't go into many details here because
usually for a phd these are kind of the
same and kind of combined into one
general purpose letter but for example
if you're applying for company or
applying for a certain program they do
usually ask for a certain type of letter
in a certain format so make sure you
have the correct one and i'll put a link
below that explains this difference in a
little bit more detail so first things
first you want your motivation letter to
consist of the introduction of course
then the body of the motivation letter
and as last a conclusion so i will grab
my motivation letter and i'll take you
through each of these sections and give
you some tips in between that hopefully
will help you write yours so first of
all usually in the netherlands we start
quite formally when we write our
motivation letter so we usually start
with dear doctor. and doctor. so i had
to write to two professors and this is
already my first tip trying to find out
who you are writing to so don't just
start with dear myths or dear sir try to
find out the names of the people that
will be judging you this just shows that
you did your research and you know
exactly what you're applying for of
course if you're applying to some
general master program this is a little
bit harder to find out but if you're
applying for a specific summer
internship or a specific phd program
usually you can find this information
online okay so the first paragraph of
your motivation letter is usually your
why or your real motivation why you
apply to this project so i am writing to
you to apply for the phd position in
dota dot and the one tip i have for this
is to make it as personal as possible so
don't just say i'm interested in the
brain because i find it super
fascinating or something general along
those lines because there's a hundred
percent chance that most of the people
have written something very similar to
that so try to find something that
motivated you to apply to this project
that's very specific to you so i'll read
the one that i wrote so this project
interests me due to its focus on
depression and its underlying
neurocortical substrates depression
comes quite close to me as i have seen
multiple people in my environment
struggling with its devastating rips it
is hard to make predictions about the
trajectory of depression as it has
proven to be different for each patient
therefore i found the method proposed in
this study extremely impressive as it
makes use of the data from mri gti fmri
and genetics and combines these into
newly developed methods so yeah this was
my real motivation at that time i do
have some people in my environment that
have dealt with depression i didn't want
to go too much into detail because i
kind of felt that was not really any of
their business but i did want to show
that i had a strong motivation to apply
for this project and that i had
something personal that linked me to
this project so then the next three
paragraphs i wrote were on the skills i
had so usually the body of your
motivation letter is written in a
certain format and my postdoc actually
taught me this at that time and it's
kind of written in the star method
format and if you don't know the star
method i will go over it real quickly so
star stands for situation task action
and results so the situation is describe
the event or situation that you were in
the task is the task that you had to
complete the action describes the
specific actions you took to complete
the task and the results close with the
results of your efforts so this is
usually a technique for interview
questions during your application but i
also found it a really good technique to
write parts of your motivation letter
because usually they ask for specific
soft skills and specific hard skills so
soft skills are more personality skills
so things like i am determined or i'm a
friendly co-worker or things like this
and if you write it in a manner i am a
friendly co-worker you just state that
you are usually people don't believe it
so i would recommend to write these kind
of skills in the star method format and
i will read one of the paragraphs i
wrote such that you will get an idea of
how i did it currently i'm in my final
year of the cognitive neuroscience
master i'm working together with dr.dodd
to set up a new analysis technique to
uncover small distributed differences in
brain imaging data between two groups
during this period i have not only
learned to build a pipelines from
scratch for analyzing this data but also
took the study a step further towards a
higher order analysis which uncovers the
smallest distributed changes between the
groups the results at the beginning
pointed us towards negligible
conclusions however we were able to
solve the problem at hand by working
together with dr tottentot this
experience has taught me persistence and
the importance of collaboration so i
wrote for every skill they asked i've
wrote a paragraph like this and
sometimes they don't ask for specific
skills or specific soft skills and then
you just kind of have to think of what
you think they will think is important
and you can sometimes find this online
but you can also think of it yourself
right then lastly i want to go to my
conclusion i don't think my conclusion
was the best i think the best way to
write it personally now that i've read a
few more motivation letters also have
friends is to write it kinda in this
model where you start in the beginning
with something and you point back
towards this in the ending so you get a
really nice well-rounded letter i didn't
do that in this letter but i still think
my conclusion is very okay it's decent
so i'll just walk you through it in
conclusion i've worked both in groups
and independently on a multitude of
projects and through these have become
notably efficient in time management and
flexibility i am confident that i can
work on this project and apply the
skills i have learned to bring it to a
comprehensive solution i firmly believe
that this project will make a
significant impact on the future
developmental trajectory of patients
with depression due to this reason this
is the phd project i want to work on and
i would be honored if you considered me
for the position and so the last few
tips i have is to try to keep it short i
know people that write really long
motivation letters if there's no strict
words count or something but usually the
max i would say is two pages but even
that i would try to keep it on the
shorter shorter amount and go even
towards one page because usually people
that have to read it don't have any time
so the shorter you can keep it the
better also i would show it to as many
people as you know so professors if you
know them teachers fellow friends even
your mom because they all have relevant
input and can kind of see or kind of can
give some little tips so the more people
you can show it to the better it becomes
i think and lastly the thing i want to
say is a lot of people think they don't
have relevant experience but actually in
the motivation letter this is not really
very necessary because usually if you
already passed with your cv you already
have the relevant experience for them to
even reach your motivation letter so in
the motivation letter they usually just
want to see some soft skills or a little
bit of your personality or how did you
overcome adversity and these can be
super specific events that happened in
your life so they don't even have to be
related to university it could be that
you worked in a healthcare center or
that you worked with children for
example and usually these kind of little
glimpses into your life leave a lot more
impact than the formal education written
style things so yeah these were the tips
i have for writing a motivation letter
if you think anything is missing i would
love to hear it down below and also if
you're gonna apply soon i wish you the
best of luck and hopefully you get into
any summer school bachelor master or phd
that you want to thank you for watching
this video and see you next time bye
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