Motivation Letter: Structure, Example, and Free Template
Download this template
Free .docx. No signup.
A motivation letter goes with an application to a university programme, a scholarship, a research place, or a volunteer position. It answers a question a CV cannot: why this subject, why this institution, and what you intend to do with it. Europe asks for one where North America and Australia would ask for a cover letter, which is why applicants from Commonwealth job markets often send the wrong document.
Motivation letter or cover letter?
They are different documents with different readers.
- A cover letter accompanies a job application and argues professional fit: what you have done, what you can do for this employer, and the results behind it. One page, employer-focused.
- A motivation letter accompanies an academic or funded application and argues intent: what drew you to the field, what you have done about it so far, why this programme and this institution specifically, and what you plan to do next. Longer, personal, and forward-looking.
Where a job in Europe asks for a "letter of motivation", it usually wants a cover letter with more of the personal reasoning left in. Read the wording of the call, and if it names a word count or asks specific questions, follow that over any template, including this one.
Length and format
Most calls expect 400 to 700 words, and 500 to 600 is a safe target where none is stated. That is one page, or a little over. Three to five paragraphs, first person, active voice, no headings unless the application asks for them. Where the portal gives a text box rather than an upload, write it in a document first and paste it in, because browsers lose work.
The structure that works
- Open with something only you could write. A specific moment, problem, or piece of work that put you on this path. Not "I have always been passionate about economics."
- Show what you have already done about it. Your degree, thesis, projects, a job, fieldwork, or the module that changed your direction, with what came of each.
- Say why this programme and this institution. Name the modules, the lab, the supervisor, the research group. This is the paragraph selection panels use to sort genuine applications from mass ones, and it cannot be written without reading the department's own pages.
- Give a concrete plan. What you intend to research or focus on, and what you will do after. For a scholarship, this is where you connect the funding to an outcome.
- Close by tying it together and thanking the committee, in two sentences.
For a scholarship specifically, add the element a plain university letter does not need: why the funding matters and what changes if you receive it. Selection boards are choosing between candidates who all meet the academic bar.
A complete example
For a funded master's place. The .docx holds this letter and a blank structure to write into.
ravi.prakash@example.com | +91 98555 01286
31 July 2026
Admissions Committee
MSc Water Resources Engineering, TU Delft
Dear Members of the Admissions Committee,
In July 2023 the borewell that supplies my grandmother's village in Maharashtra ran dry three weeks earlier than the year before. I spent that summer helping the panchayat map every well within four kilometres on paper, because nobody had a record of which ones were still yielding. That exercise is why I applied to study civil engineering, and why I am now applying for the MSc in Water Resources Engineering at TU Delft.
My BTech at VJTI Mumbai concentrated on hydraulics and groundwater. My final-year project modelled recharge in a 40 square kilometre basin using open rainfall and satellite data, and produced a recharge estimate within 12 percent of the state groundwater board's own figure at a fraction of the survey cost. Since graduating I have worked for eighteen months as a junior engineer with Suvidha Consulting, sizing stormwater drainage for municipal projects in Pune, where I learned how much of this work is negotiation with people who own the land the water needs to cross.
Delft is a deliberate choice. The programme's specialisation in groundwater hydrology, and Professor de Vries's work on managed aquifer recharge in semi-arid regions, are directly what my basin project reached the limits of. I am also drawn to the emphasis on field practice: the Water Management department's collaboration with authorities outside Europe means the methods are tested in conditions closer to Maharashtra than to the Netherlands.
If awarded the Justus and Louise van Effen scholarship, I intend to focus my thesis on low-cost recharge monitoring that a district office can run without a research budget, and to return to India to work in state water administration rather than private consulting. The scholarship decides whether that is possible: without it, this programme is out of reach on a junior engineer's salary, and I would be applying instead to programmes that would not extend the work I have started.
Thank you for considering my application, and for the time you have taken to read this.
Yours sincerely,
Ravi Prakash
The structure to write into
[Email] | [Phone]
[Date]
[Admissions Committee / Selection Board]
[Programme, Institution]
Dear [Members of the Admissions Committee / Mr. or Ms. Surname],
[Opening: the specific moment, problem, or piece of work that put you on this path, and the programme you are applying for.]
[What you have done about it: degree, thesis, projects, work, fieldwork, with the outcome of each.]
[Why this programme and this institution: named modules, a research group, a supervisor whose work connects to yours.]
[Your plan: what you intend to study or research, and what you will do afterwards. For a scholarship, what the funding changes.]
[Close: tie it together and thank the committee.]
Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]
What sinks a motivation letter
- The interchangeable version. A letter that would work for any university in the country is the one that gets filtered out. If you can swap the institution's name and nothing else changes, the paragraph about fit has not been written yet.
- Childhood passion openings. "From an early age I have been fascinated by" is the single most common first line these committees read.
- Restating the CV. They have it. Use the space to explain what the CV cannot show: why, and what next.
- Vague ambition. "I want to make a difference in healthcare" says nothing that a named goal would not say better.
- Ignoring the instructions. A stated word count, a required question, or a naming convention for the file is part of the assessment.
- Unrevised English. This is a writing sample as much as an argument. Draft it two weeks out and have someone else read it, which is also the advice every admissions page gives and few applicants follow.
Related documents
Applying for a job rather than a place to study? Use the cover letter guide, or the application letter version if you are writing into a Commonwealth market. Approaching an organisation that has not advertised anything is a letter of interest. If your application also needs an academic reference, the student reference guide covers what to give your referee.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a motivation letter be?
400 to 700 words, and 500 to 600 where the call does not say. If a word count is stated, treat it as a rule rather than a guide.
Is a motivation letter the same as a cover letter?
No. A cover letter argues professional fit for a job. A motivation letter argues intent for a study place, scholarship, or volunteer role: why the field, why this institution, and what you plan to do next. Europe tends to ask for the second where North America asks for the first.
Is a motivation letter the same as a statement of purpose?
They overlap heavily and some universities use the terms interchangeably. Where both are requested, the statement of purpose leans academic and research-focused, and the motivation letter carries more of the personal reasoning and, for funded places, the case for support.
Should I name a supervisor or a specific module?
Yes, where it is genuine. Naming a research group, a module, or a supervisor whose work connects to yours is the fastest way to show the letter was written for this application and not sent to twelve institutions.
Do I mention financial need in a scholarship letter?
Yes, briefly and factually, together with what the funding makes possible. State what changes if you receive it rather than describing hardship at length.
Sources
- Motivation letter conventions for 2026: 400 to 700 words with 500 to 600 as a default, three to five paragraphs, first person and active voice; scholarship letters additionally address why support is needed and what the funding will produce; motivation letters are the European norm where North America and Australia use cover letters.