When helping students to enroll in foreign universities, we often encounter three common mistakes that they make in their motivational letters. In this article we tell you not to write in a motivational essay and how to make this text strong and convincing.

The motivation letter is the main document that you attach to your application for admission to a foreign university. From it, the selection committee learns about the seriousness of your intentions, the depth of knowledge in the scientific field and the awareness of the choice of training program. So we advise you to thoroughly work on this document and in no case prevent these errors:

1. Avoid common phrases.

Sometimes we have to deal with the fact that the applicant, whom we help to enroll in universities in Canada risky, wrote in his motivational essay something like

I would like to study at Brock University because I am an ambitious person and eventually become a successful entrepreneur.

These are beautiful words, but without adding specifics, they mean nothing. Each applicant of a foreign university is a priori quite ambitious (after all, he is taking such a step). Every applicant wants to achieve success and, perhaps, sincerely believes that the program to which he enrolls is truly the best. These epithets are not informative. Support each of them with facts, details and examples from life. Do you consider yourself an ambitious person? Why? Give an example from the life that proves it.

2. Do not cry and do not press on pity

Another scourge of students is the desire to soften the members of the selection committee. Here are examples of what not to write in a motivational essay.

I would like to study abroad for microbiologists in my country.

I’m not going to provide funding for my international education.

I have been dreaming about studying abroad since I was 5 years old.

Firstly, such statements are uninteresting, and secondly, they are not informative (each entrant chooses studying abroad because he does not find similar educational opportunities at home, the majority have been dreaming about this for years, and everyone who applies for a scholarship does not have enough funds to finance education), and thirdly, such kind of manipulative statements are simply a bad form.

Instead, describe your project that you want to develop, explain how the courses taught in the chosen faculty will help you with this.

3. Do not send the same essay to different universities

We always advise our students to apply for at least 3-4 foreign programs. Since no one can guarantee that you will enroll in a dream program, it is very important to insure yourself with other universities in canada.

From this it follows that many applicants do not want to realize: you will have to write 3-4 motivational letters. Yes, for each program its own, filled with details and examples, selected specifically for the selection committee of this university and faculty. Yes, it is 3-4 times more work, but your work will be rewarded.

If you try to construct a universal letter of motivation that is suitable for all departments, you will either create a faceless text filled with common phrases, or a terrible “Frankenstein”, replete with irrelevant details and unnecessary information. Yes, there, for 30 years of work, we managed to hear a lot of tales from representatives of foreign universities about how applicants simply forgot to change the name of the program or university in a motivational letter.