Writing A Scholarship-Awarding Motivation Letter
A guide to writing a MOL/SOP
Motivation Letter or Statement of Purpose is one of the most asked documents whenever applying for any admission and scholarship.
In many cases, it’s the most important part of the application which could award you a scholarship/admission as the majority of the people applying for scholarships may have the same profile in terms of grades, LOR, and co-curriculum activities.
I had the pleasure to apply and be awarded the prestigious Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Medical Imaging and Applications (MAIA), fully funded by the European Union. Since then I have frequently asked to guide or provide tips regarding writing MOL/SOP. So I think let’s discuss My Erasmus SOP and What was my mindset that time writing my MOL.
- *Important Note: Just before starting, See motivation letter is always your thing, My motivation letter reflects me as an applicant, it shows my points or the points that are most important to me to show the admission committee that I am the best fit for the program, but maybe these points do not apply to you. Please read this Blog as a guide or seeing a Scholarship-awarding SOP standard but not be fOOl and copy it line by line, that will only reduce your chance of acceptance.
A guide to writing a MOL
In the picture below I have shown the sections in my MOL
Let’s go step by step through my SOP.
- I started with a short intro about my interest and motivation in the program I am applying to.
Since the beginning of my final year as an undergraduate student, I had set a goal of pursuing higher studies in Biomedical Engineering and have been planning and preparing step by step throughout the year. To finally realize my goal, I would like to enroll for the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Medical Imaging and Applications.
2. In the next section I started talking about, How science always catches my attention and how I get into engineering university and onwards I never lose interest in science. I am building my story and trying to grab the reader’s attention to my academic journey so far.
Although I had always academically excelled in almost all my subjects, my main interest from secondary school level was in Physics and Mathematics. I found the practical implications of these subjects very intriguing and thought-provoking. On completion of my Higher Secondary school, I enrolled at American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) in the Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronic Engineering program. Within a few weeks of starting engineering school, I knew I had made the right decision. With my strong foundation in Science and Mathematics, I excelled in my academic courses as well as laboratory tasks. Seeing my interest and academic success, my course faculties as well as my family always encouraged me to pursue higher studies and earn sound knowledge in specialized fields.
3. In the next two sections I Continued my story, but I am driving the reader's attention to the fact, how I found my love for biomedical engineering and provide my genuine points. And what I believe some lines that sure caught the reader’s attention like
“My lecturer began his course starting with the electrical conduction of the body; how Willem Einthoven recorded his first ECG in 1902 by placing limbs in buckets of conducting solution. I found the uncanny accuracy of the innovation made such a long time ago very impressive.”
Here are the next two sections:
I believe undergraduate level was the time for me to explore the field of Electrical Engineering. My Interest in biomedical engineering began during my second year. Being a student member of IEEE, I went through plenty of IEEE Spectrum’s articles and attended a number of seminars dedicated to the Biomedical Engineering field, such as biomedical uses of sensors, telemedicine, biomedical image processing, and its prospect, and many more. From that, I have increased my focus in this field.
During my second and third year, we had courses such as electronic devices and analog circuits where we learned the very basics of electronics. When I took the elective course Biomedical Instrumentation Measurement and Design in my third year, I found the subject very appealing from the very first lecture. My lecturer began his course starting with the electrical conduction of the body; how Willem Einthoven recorded his first ECG in 1902 by placing limbs in buckets of conducting solution. I found the uncanny accuracy of the innovation made such a long time ago very impressive. Throughout the course, the measurements and analysis of physiological systems using the basics that we learned earlier to design artificial pacemaker, pulmonary function tests, insulin pump immediately grabbed my interest. My interest grew further in Biopotential Signal Processing and instrumentation. The non-invasive medical imaging techniques, such as X-ray, Ultrasound, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are of particular interest to me.
4. During My Erasmus Application I only had one research experience regarding my Undergrad final year project, So I described that a little bit and the success associated with it.
All these interests lead me to my undergrad project. My undergraduate project in the Faculty of Engineering at AIUB has been focused on the Designing and Implementation of a reconfigurable low-cost biopotential trainer module (RTR module) capable of measuring ECG, EEG, and EMG for academic uses. As a group project with two others, I worked towards designing the reconfigurable model of the trainer and fabrications of the filters. Through my project, I have been prepared to come up with a market-ready product. My final year project was highly appreciated and took us in the top-9 out of 180 undergraduate project/thesis of the year 2016 at the faculty of Engineering, AIUB. The final ranking is yet to be announced.
5. I had a little bit of co-curricular activities experience. If you have some please try to mention them, this type of experience gives a massage that besides studies you can also manage other activities which is kind of a measure of your multi-tasking and management skills.
I have completed my undergraduate study in December 2016 with Cum Laude which is a further motivation for me. Besides academic studies, I had also been volunteering for IEEE AIUB Student Branch for three years, during I attended national level congresses, grew my network with people who share similar interests and being involved myself in teamwork building activities as well as organizing and participated in leadership roles, which has enriched my undergraduate experience. Besides technical activities, the humanitarian side of IEEE has also been a huge source of inspiration.
6.In this final and last section I was talking a little about my interest in the field related to the subject I am applying to (A relatively new finding related to medical imaging at that time), a little bit about courses. Finally concluding by stating my future goals and how admission to this program will help me to achieve that.
My interests have matched with the Medical Image Analysis and Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) system areas. The current work on MRI to predict high-risk of Autism in babies who had an older sibling with autism has particularly caught my attention. While browsing through the MAIA website, I have grown to admire the wide range of courses it offers to make one specialist in this field. Since my long term plan is to pursue a Ph.D., it would also give me the opportunity to take part in a Research Thesis and collaborate with industries during my study. Having access to state-of-the-art laboratories and getting the opportunity to learn under the guidance of world-renowned faculty members will be a major stepping stone for my future career. Moreover, I will also be able to continue my affiliation with IEEE and voluntary activities through the university program. I strongly believe that the cultural diversity and student communities of the universities will support me in the successful completion of the program. Studying and engaging in research at the MAIA program will allow me to explore specialized fields in Biomedical Imaging and in the future will help me to make significant contributions to the field
I hope this post will help some people who want to see a sample of SOP.
while writing an SOP I always tell people that:
If you consider yourself like a book, your CV would be the Index of your book and your Motivation will have intro about you, details> about your skills, showing your interest to the subject, lastly the conclusion why you are the IDEAL CANDIDATE for this program.
Always make sure that your SOP is a story of yourself and that reflects all your keypoints :).Here are a few other posts I have written about Erasmus+ if you want to know more.
[1] Erasmus Mundus Scholarship FAQs
[2] My Erasmus Experience-MAIA
