Step-by-Step guide to writing the Best Motivation Letter - PhD student

Summary

Schlotte 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

00:00

📚 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.

05:01

🔍 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.

10:04

🌟 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.

Keywords

💡Motivation Letter

A motivation letter is a document that accompanies academic and professional applications, expressing the applicant's interest and suitability for the program or position. In the video, the speaker discusses the importance of a motivation letter as a complement to one's CV, highlighting personal skills, experiences, and motivations that are not evident in the CV itself.

💡Application

The term 'application' refers to the process of formally requesting to join a program, such as a bachelor's, master's, or PhD, or to participate in a summer school or internship. The video script emphasizes the role of the motivation letter in the application process, providing insight into how to tailor the letter to specific programs or positions.

💡Personality

Personality, in the context of the video, refers to the unique characteristics and traits of an individual that can be conveyed through the motivation letter. The speaker advises not to merely copy the CV but to show a combination of personality, skills, and experiences that make the applicant stand out.

💡Skills

Skills are the abilities and competencies that an applicant possesses, which are relevant to the program or position they are applying for. The video script discusses the importance of showcasing both hard skills, like technical knowledge, and soft skills, like teamwork and persistence, in the motivation letter.

💡Research

Research, in this context, involves understanding the program or position to which one is applying, including the specific requirements and expectations. The speaker suggests doing thorough research to know the audience and tailor the motivation letter accordingly.

💡Narrative

A narrative is the story or account of events that an applicant presents in their motivation letter. The speaker mentions the importance of narrating one's story in a way that aligns with the program or position's requirements, using personal experiences to connect with the reader.

💡STAR Method

The STAR method is a structured approach to writing about experiences and skills, standing for Situation, Task, Action, and Results. The speaker uses this method to organize the body of the motivation letter, providing concrete examples of how the applicant's skills were applied and the outcomes achieved.

💡Soft Skills

Soft skills are personal attributes that contribute to success in the workplace, such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities. The video emphasizes the importance of including soft skills in the motivation letter, using the STAR method to demonstrate these qualities effectively.

💡Adversity

Adversity refers to difficult or challenging situations that an individual has faced and overcome. The speaker suggests that discussing personal experiences of overcoming adversity can leave a strong impression in the motivation letter, showcasing resilience and determination.

💡Contribution

Contribution in the context of the video refers to the applicant's potential to make a meaningful impact on the program or project they are applying for. The speaker's own motivation letter concludes with a statement of belief in their ability to contribute significantly to the project, highlighting the importance of this concept in the application process.

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