Bài SOP để làm gì?
“The statement of purpose should convince readers– the faculty on the selection committee– that you have solid achievements behind you that show promise for your success in graduate study. Think of the statement of purpose as a composition with four different parts.” – UC Berkeley
Về nội dung, có trường yêu cầu rất rõ ràng bố cục của một bài SOP nhưng cũng có trường không yêu cầu. Dù thế nào đi nữa, một bài SOP vẫn phải đảm bảo bao trùm những nội dung sau:
Part 1: Introduce yourself, your interests and motivations
Tell them what you’re interested in, and perhaps, what sparked your desire for graduate study. This should be short and to the point; don’t spend a great deal of time on autobiography.
Part 2: Summarize your undergraduate and previous graduate career
a) Research you conducted. Indicate with whom, the title of the project, what your responsibilities were, and the outcome. Write technically, or in the style of your discipline.
Professors are the people who read these statements.
b) Important paper or thesis project you completed, as well as anything scholarly beyond your curricular requirements.
c) Work experience, especially if you had any kind of responsibility for testing, designing, researching or interning in an area similar to what you wish to study in graduate school.
Part 3: Discuss the relevance of your recent and current activities ()
If you graduated and worked prior to returning to grad school, indicate what optionalyou’ve been doing: company or non-profit, your work/design team, responsibilities, what you learned. You can also indicate here how this helped you focus your graduate studies.
Part 4: Elaborate on your academic interests
Here you indicate what you would like to study in graduate school in enough detail to convince the faculty that you understand the scope of research in their discipline, and are engaged with current research themes.
a) Indicate the area of your interests. Ideally, pose a question, define a problem, or indicate a theme that you would like to address, and questions that arise from contemporary research. This should be an ample paragraph!
(Nguồn: http://grad.berkeley.edu/admissions/apply/statement-purpose/)
SOP là bài viết mang tính cá nhân nên rất đa dạng. Phổ biến nhất là dạng bài SOP dẫn dắt người đọc bằng cách kể một câu chuyện họặc biến cố đã xảy ra tạo động lực cho việc ham muốn học tập, nghiên cứu một lĩnh vực nào đó. Ví dụ như trong một SOP tôi đã đọc, người viết kể một câu chuyện rất cảm động về người mẹ phải chống trọi với căn bệnh truyền nhiễm trong nhiều năm trời. Điều ấy khiến người viết nung nấu quyết tâm theo đuổi ngành public health với mong muốn nghiên cứu các phương pháp chữa căn bệnh truyền nhiễm đó để phục vụ cộng đồng và giúp đỡ những người có hoàn cảnh như mẹ. Bản thân tôi không có một câu chuyện đủ hấp dẫn và khác biệt, bù lại, tôi có lợi thế là đã làm nhiều việc nghiên cứu (dù chưa ra ngô ra khoai gì) nên tôi chọn cách viết trực diện, dựa theo format của một bài SOP ở trên.
Về độ dài, có trường quy định bài SOP dài không quá 1000 chữ hoặc 2 trang A4, có trường không yêu cầu. Tuy nhiên, văn phong khoa học nên ngắn gọn, xúc tích. Vả lại, committee cũng không có nhiều thời gian để review hồ sơ của mỗi applicant nên khối lượng 1000 chữ và 2 trang được khuyến khích và ngầm hiểu như một chuẩn mực để bài SOP không bị lan man.
Một vấn đề nữa có thể nhiều người không chú ý, nhưng cực kì quan trọng đó là đề cập các professor mà mình muốn làm cùng. Hầu hết các trường khi điền hồ sơ online đều yêu cầu liệt kê vài ba professor và hướng nghiên cứu dự kiến, tuy nhiên bài SOP vẫn nên đề cập lại trong phần “elaborate your research interests”.
Xung quanh việc này, một giáo sư của tôi khuyên rằng không nên nêu tên ai cả, mà chỉ nêu hướng chung chung mình muốn làm thôi. Lý do đưa ra là khi mình liệt kê tên một ai đó là tự đóng cánh cửa với các giáo khác. Theo giáo, có thể những người mình liệt kê không muốn tuyển mình, trong khi những người cần tuyển sinh viên lại không thấy được đề cập trong SOP thì có thể “tự ái” và không tuyển mình nữa. Cá nhân tôi lựa chọn cách đó là phân loại: những trường contact được giáo sư sẽ để tên, còn ngược lại, để chung chung. Tỷ lệ khoảng 60/40. Kết quả là trong những trường tôi được nhận có một trường không liệt kê tên giáo. Tuy nhiên, để được nhận fellowship từ trường, họ vẫn yêu cầu contact giáo sư sau khi nhận admission.
Nếu điền tên giáo sư, bao nhiêu là đủ? Tôi học được từ chị Hương (Stanford) để tên 3 giáo sư cho mỗi trường. Ba là con số vừa đẹp, vừa đủ.
Cuối cùng là việc đánh bóng SOP của mình. Tôi nhận được sự giúp đỡ rất nhiệt tình của anh Đức (USC) và chị Thắm (John Hopskin) trong quá trình viết SOP. Họ là những người đã góp ý và trực tiếp sửa SOP, giúp tôi hoàn thiện nội dung và cấu trúc bài SOP. Ngoài ra, vì là VEF fellow nên tôi được VEF giới thiệu Dr. Benson Chu sửa giúp bài viết của mình. Để tận dụng sự trợ giúp này, tôi nhờ anh Đức và chị Thắm sửa từ sớm, xong xuôi rồi mới nhờ Dr. Benson Chu sửa.
Nếu không có được sự trợ giúp của một người bản địa, tôi khuyên các bạn sử dụng dịch vụ editting online, với giá khoảng 7$/ 350 chữ (khoảng 20$ cho bài SOP) hoặc nhờ các thầy cô dạy tiếng Anh, ví dụ thầy Vũ. Chỉ cần sửa 1 lần cho toàn bộ quá trình apply, nộp trường nào thì cứ dựa theo sườn đó là được.
Thời gian biểu:
Lời khuyên đầu tiên là don’t wait until the last minute!
Đừng tin rằng mọi thứ sẽ đi theo đúng kế hoạch của chúng ta. Trong hầu hết mọi trường hợp, luôn có những sự việc xảy ra không theo ý muốn, bắt buộc chúng ta phải có phương án khác. Do vậy, nếu chúng ta không làm sớm, sẽ không còn thời gian cho chúng ta sửa sai. Ví dụ submit hồ sơ đúng ngày deadline, sẽ có thể gặp điều phiền toái nếu hôm đó mạng nhà chúng ta trục trặc hoặc chúng ta chợt nhận ra một lỗi sai nào đó trong hồ sơ của mình. Nói chung làm cập rập rất dễ gây những lỗi sai vụn vặt. Nên tránh.
Tôi suýt trả giá vì việc trì hoãn tạo tài khoản của các trường vì không biết là có một số trường yêu cầu submit hồ sơ rồi mới send reference request được (Send reference request tức là hệ thống sẽ gửi 1 email tới mỗi người giới thiệu mà chúng ta đề cập, kèm theo một đường link để người đó upload thư lên hệ thống). Suýt nữa thì gửi gấp quá, VEF rồi các giáo sư giới thiệu không kịp upload thư. Còn bạn tôi thì không được may mắn như vậy. Sau khi nhận được reference request, một trong ba giáo sư không đồng ý giới thiệu nữa vì ông ấy không có nhiều tiếp xúc để so sánh với các sinh viên khác của ông ấy. Vì submit đúng deadline nên không kịp đổi sang giáo sư khác và đương nhiên hồ sơ không đủ yêu cầu để xét vì thiếu reference.
Rất may là hầu hết các trường cho phép chúng ta submit reference request ngay sau khi lập tài khoản. Vì thế, hãy vào trang appy của trường, tạo tài khoản và thử send reference request càng sớm càng tốt, để người giới thiệu có thời gian valuate các thứ.
Như đã nói ở phần trước, các bước trong quá trình apply có thể tạm liệt kê ra như sau:
• Thi TOEFL
• Thi GRE
• Gửi điểm thi TOEFL, GRE
• Gửi bằng, bảng điểm công chứng tới trường
• Tìm trường, giáo
• Contact giáo sư
• Tạo tài khoản
• Viết SOP, LOR…
• Hoàn thành application form và submit
• Chờ đợi, bổ sung hồ sơ (nếu cần)
Deadline của các trường phân bổ từ đầu tháng 12 (Caltech 01/12, Stanford, CMU tầm 08/12, các trường top khác 15/12) tới tháng 2,3,4. Tuy nhiên, các trường top đầu thường deadline sớm, trước tháng 1. Ngoài ra, như đã nói ở phần trước, nộp càng sớm càng tốt. Lý do là một số trường xét tuyển theo các round cho tới khi đủ sinh viên thì thôi. Bởi vậy, có bạn nhận được admission từ rất sớm, có khi vừa mới submit xong được vài ngày, trong khi có những bạn cùng nộp chờ mãi vẫn chưa thấy hồi âm admission hay rejection. Chúng ta hình
dung là nếu nộp sớm, trước khi họ xét round 1, nếu không được chọn, bạn vẫn có thể có cơ hội ở round 2, round 3 khi xét cùng với các hồ sơ mới nộp. Lý tưởng nên nộp trước 15/12 đối với tất cả các trường ngay cả khi deadline của trường muộn hơn.
Thời gian thi TOEFL, GRE. Tuỳ điều kiện thời gian của mỗi người, tuy nhiên, chúng ta nên tính tới thời gian gửi điểm và deadline của các trường. Một số trường có thể chấp nhận report từ ETS tới muộn, một số thì không. Mất khoảng 2 tuần để report từ ETS tới được trường và mất khoảng 1 tuần sau khi thi để ETS bắt đầu gửi điểm. Vì vậy, nếu deadline là 15/12, chúng ta nên thi TOEFL, GRE trước ngày 15/11.
Gửi bảng điểm, bằng công chứng tới trường. Gần đây, hầu hết các trường chỉ yêu cầu nộp sau khi có admission, nhưng vẫn có một số trường yêu cầu nộp cùng với application. Yêu cầu chung là bảng điểm, bằng được dịch, công chứng bởi phòng hợp tác đào tạo quốc tế, đựng trong phong bì có dấu và chữ kí giáp lai. Để tiết kiệm tiền, các bạn nên gửi tất cả tới một người quen bên Mỹ, sau đó người này sẽ giúp bạn gửi trực tiếp tới các trường. Tổng cộng cả 2 quá trình này mất khoảng 2 tuần, với dịch vụ giá rẻ nhất.
Tìm trường, tìm giáo. Đây là quá trình cực kì tốn thời gian. Cá nhân tôi sử dụng bảng ranking của Usnews và google “best US schools in ABC”, “best US labs in ABC”. Từ đó, với mỗi trường tôi tìm ra khoảng 3 giáo sư rồi điền email, information vào file excel mà tôi sẽ nói trong phần quản lý hồ sơ dưới đây.

Based on a presentation in Madras by: 
Professor Hower, Cornell University, Department of English. 

The personal statement is a difficult piece of writing, maybe the most difficult piece of writing you will ever do, and therefore you have to do it very carefully. It is an opportunity for you to give a picture of yourself. It may take a great deal of time and energy but at least you will have written something you are proud of, which says something important about you. So I would suggest first of all: write it for yourself as much as for graduate schools in America; do a job that you like, something that has integrity, which says something important about you. If things don’t turn out the way you hope, at least you will have written something difficult but satisfying.

Importance

How important is the essay part of the application? This depends on your marks to a certain extent. If your marks are very high, then it may not be as important as it is for someone whose marks are not so good. Nevertheless it is important. A person with high marks can spoil his/her chances of admission with a bad essay. At highly competitive schools, where most applicants score at the 97th percentile level on standardized tests, a winning personal statement may be the deciding factor in admission.

What Are Universities Looking For?

First of all don’t second guess. Don’t try to figure out what you think they want and supply it because you won’t be able to do that. Nor can you understand the mind of a 50 year old American who is living 10,000 miles away from you and may have woken up that morning with a headache and then was bitten by a dog on his way to the office. There is no way you can second guess, you cannot read their minds. Having said that, I can tell you some things which all college admissions officers want to see in the application:

·A Picture of Your Overall Personality
How will you give a picture of your personality? I would suggest that you imply rather than state the facts. For instance, don’t say ‘I am a smart person.’ Demonstrate it, imply it. Don’t say ‘I am energetic.’ Give evidence by the fact that you worked after school for six hours every day and still had time to play on the volleyball team.

·Academic Background and Work Experience
It would be a mistake to talk about your high school. Start with your undergraduate career. School records may be worth mentioning if there is something extraordinary about them.

·Continuity
Admissions officers are looking for some continuity in what you have done, what you want to do in the near future and what you hope to do in the distant future. So, connect them.

·Commitment and Motivation
Rather than simply saying ‘I am committed’, find a way of inferring that you are indeed highly committed and motivated to your proposed field of study.

·Communication Skills
They will be looking at your writing skills – how well you can present yourself clearly and intelligently when writing, hence the importance of spending considerable time on the statement.
These five points are very general but almost every university wants to know about them. They may be too general but if you miss one of them you are probably missing something important.

General Do’s and Don’ts 

Do’s
·Do take a lot of time.
Don’t do this at the last minute. Plan to spend a month or so preparing for the essay. Plan to let it rest for a week, so you have time to mull it over and get a perspective on it. Don’t be hasty and sloppy.

·Do read the question carefully.
If they ask you why you want to go to law school, answer that. If they ask what are your career goals, answer that. Don’t go off on a tangent or get too verbose.

·Do write the length of essay they ask for.
If they ask for 200 words give them that or 190 or 220. You don’t given them a 1000 and you don’t give them 50.

·Type your final draft unless they tell you not to.
Type it well with no mistakes. Buy some good paper. If you’re writing it, see that it is clear and legible.

·Do write a separate essay for each university.
There is no reason why you can’t take a paragraph from one essay and apply it to another. Your essays don’t have to be every word different but each university would like to think that you are especially interested in their program. Each university is different. Make something about your essay distinctive to that university and mention its name. Don’t write an all-purpose general essay. Admissions faculty don’t like that.

·Do as much research on the university as you can.
If you can get hold of a catalogue, read it. If you can find someone who went to the university, talk to them. Find out as much as you can about the university. You don’t want to say ‘I have always wanted to go to Harvard because I wanted to find out about the Great American West’. As most of you know, Harvard is not in the Great American West. It is in Massachusetts.

·Accentuate your positive qualities.
If you had the highest mark in class, make sure that they know it. Make sure that they know that you were able to hold a full-time job while going to school. Make sure that they know that you won any awards. Make sure that they know that you were captain of a team.

·Mention your positive achievements as they apply to your graduate admission.
The information you provide about your important achievements must be related to your field. If you are applying for medicine and you have won a poetry prize, don’t mention your poetry prize because you may not have space. It is a good thing, but you may need to fill your application with more relevant information. On the other hand, you could mention your work as organizer of blood donation camps or your internships as a psychiatric care worker.

·Do mention your work experience, or volunteer work that you may have done or extra-curricular activities if they relate to your field.
For example, if you are going to apply to business school and you were on the basketball team you may think that it is not relevant. However if you learnt leadership qualities, if you learnt how to endure defeat, if you learnt management skills by being captain of the basketball team, then it is relevant. You have to show the relevance. If you had a job after school, working in the college bookstore or you have done volunteer work at a hospital, this is relevant – you have learnt management skills at the shop. You have learnt to interact with people while you worked in the hospital.

·Be definite in your application.
Don’t say – ‘I hope to do this’, ‘I might like to do that’. Say ‘I want to do this’, ‘I am planning to do this’, ‘I intend to do that’. Your language is definite. It is not hesitant and indecisive.

Don’ts
·Don’t try to second-guess admissions faculty, as I have already said, and don’t flatter them.
Don’t say ‘I’ve always wanted to study at the University of Montana because I have heard that it is the best university in the world to study medicine.’ It may not be and even if it is, it sounds like flattery.

·Don’t be phoney.
Be honest. Admissions faculty can spot a dishonest essay a mile away. It would not be to your advantage to be dishonest as you might get into a university and then find it was not the right place for you.

·Don’t glorify yourself.
Don’t say – ‘I was the best tennis player in the whole city of Madras’. That is boasting. However being modest and subtle are also not good qualities. There is a medium between being modest and boastful.

·Do not repeat materials that are already on the application. 
Don’t say ‘My major is Physics’ because you have already said that somewhere else. Instead say ‘While I majored in Physics I also took …’ or ‘My Physics major enabled me to take special courses in… and…’. Do mention your knowledge and experience in the field at the university level. It is usually a poor idea to mention your high school experience unless something exceptional happened at that time that changed your life or affected your career choice.

Tips on Writing Style 

·Write simply, not in a flowery and complicated manner.

·Write in a straightforward way.
In other words don’t be subtle or cute. Write in a clear and logical manner. If you have to be creative, that is fine, but do so in a straightforward way. These people are really interested in your vocation. They don’t want to read something that is in the form of one act plays nor do they want to read three adjectives per noun. They want you to be direct and straightforward.

·Be clear in what you are saying.
Make sure you are logical. Explain yourself with great clarity. Finally, most important of all, be specific, not vague. Don’t say – ‘My grades were quite good’ but say ‘I belonged to the top 5% of my class’. Don’t say – ‘I am interested in sports’. Say ‘I was captain of my hockey team’. Don’t say ‘I like poetry’. Say ‘I did a study of Shakespeare’s sonnets and wrote a twelve-page bachelor’s degree dissertation on Imagery’. Don’t say – ‘I want to be a Supreme Court Judge, that is why I want to go to law school’. Say things like ‘I was an apprentice in a court’ or ‘I often went with my father to the courts to listen to cases’ or ‘I wrote a legal column for a school newspaper’. That is being specific.

Writing the Essay 

Stage 1: PreparationBrainstorming is an important part of preparation. Take some time and write down in note form the important events and facts about your recent life – from the time you graduated from high school. List the things that you have done and the things that have been important to you. For example:
·Won a poetry contest
·Got A’s in Physics and Mathematics
·Member of volleyball team
·Worked after school in shop
·Won a contest
·Worked with a social welfare group on a slum project
·Went to Hyderabad for six months to stay with an aunt because she was sick

Write out the answers to some questions. Write them out in some detail, being as specific as you can.
·What have you learnt about your field that has stimulated you and given you the conviction that you are best suited to that field?
·How have you learned this? Classes, important reading, work experience, extra-curricular activities…
·How have your work experiences contributed to your personal growth?

If you have not had a job, don’t worry about it, but mention it if you have – even if you were not paid for it. Perhaps you took care of neighbours’ children for a number of years. If you are applying for graduate study in social work, psychology or education, you can make this relevant.
·What are your career goals?

Be as specific as you can be. Not all students are clear about what they want to do ten years from now. If you don’t know it, don’t fake it. Be as specific as you can be. Not everyone can be clear – some students are not old enough or experienced enough to know what their future goals are.
·Explain any discrepancies or gaps in your record.

If you dropped out of university for a year to take care of your father who was ill, that will show up in your student record or transcript. You will have to explain that. You don’t have to make a big deal about it. However admissions faculty will want to know why you were not at university for a certain period. Suppose you had poor marks in the first two years and then your grades picked up and the reason you had poor marks is because you were not sure what you were doing or you were sick a lot or you were moving from one city to another. Explain that. For example, ‘My marks in the first two years were not up to my expectations but once I got settled into a new home, they improved remarkably’ or ‘My father was ill at that time and I had to take care of him. After his death, I had to face university again.’ If such experiences have influenced your record you should mention them. Don’t make silly excuses. But if something really needs explaining, don’t skip over it.

·Have you overcome any special obstacles?
Some of you may have faced troubled times in your life – financially, medically or have had family problems. If they are really obstacles explain how you have overcome them. This makes you appear like a person of considerable character.
·What personal characteristics do you have that will enhance your prospects for success in your field?
Can you demonstrate that, give evidence? If you can’t give evidence that you are a hard- working person then don’t say you are hard-working. If you are a hard-working person and you have worked ten hours a day at a job and studied, that is worth noting. Again inference may be the best way of stating it.
·What special skills do you possess?
Ask your friends. You may have special skills in communication, articulation, or are you especially good at leadership, do you have sharp analytical skills, or are you creative. This is where your autobiography would be useful. You acted in a college play and people thought you were terrific. What does this mean in terms of applying to a graduate school of law? It means you are able to get people to pay attention to you. Being a good actor can make you a good lawyer. Actors have gone on to become lawyers and politicians as we all know, so look over your life. What special skills do you have? Perhaps you have a technical skill, a pilot’s licence or you know how to repair motors.
·What are the most compelling reasons the committee should be interested in you?
What is so great, so wonderful about you? If you have done a good job with your autobiography and you have done a good job answering these questions half of your work is done. It takes time to do this. Spend time on it.
·What is special and impressive and unique about you?
This is not an easy question to answer. You should ask someone ‘Hey what is so special about me’. Your mother may not always have the same ideas you have: ‘You eat well’. That’s not going to help you figure out an answer. Ask a friend.
·What details in your life have shaped you and influenced your growth?
What details in your life have made you the person you are and have influenced your choice of career goal?

Stage 2: Writing
Write several outlines and decide which you like best. Remember the essay has an introduction, a body and a conclusion. Outline the things you want to say and from all the material you have written, select the material which you think will go well in your essay. Select the most significant details. Put that into your outline. Make your outline useable, make it neat and leave lots of space. Now you are ready to write the essay. Write on lined paper, double spaced, using only one side of the page. The first attempt at writing the essay is going to be terrible, but don’t worry; it is only the first draft. Do not edit as you write. Write it out. Make it too long.

Stage 3: Revision
Let the essay sit for a day or two. Then go over it with a red ink pen making little lines; cross out words or sentences. Revise it carefully and write your second draft. This may also be disappointing. Don’t expect too much from your first attempts. It takes a lot of work. I have often put in a lot of work, put it in an envelope, taken one last look and said ‘Oh hell, I have to do it again’ and I did it again. Do as many drafts as you feel is necessary. Spend time on the first paragraph. Make sure that first paragraph is terrific and interesting. Don’t make it cute or flowery. Don’t say anything less than fascinating. You won’t get it on your first draft. You will probably get it on your sixth or seventh try. Also pay attention to your last paragraph which may be only one sentence – make it a snappy last sentence. Be clear, specific and interesting.

You are likely to be exhausted, fed up and sick of the whole project. At that time don’t push yourself. Let it sit. Give the essay to somebody else to look at. Someone who is older, perhaps a former teacher; not a friend who is afraid to criticise you. Somebody who cares enough to be critical and tell you the truth. Then write it again. Once you think you have got the final draft, what do you do? Proofread it as if you were the editor of India Today or Times of India. Not a single mistake must survive – spelling or grammatical. Look every word up in the dictionary that you are not absolutely sure of. Remember that content and style are both important (60%:40%). Make sure that the essay looks perfect.

(Source: fulbright.co.uk)

Nguồn: http://ttvnol.com/Duhoc/1210039

Chào các bạn,
Thời gian gần đây mình có nhận được khá nhiều email hỏi kinh nghiệm về việc apply học bổng trong đó phần lớn các email đều hỏi xin Statement of Purpose – SOP. Trên diễn đàn mình thấy có khá nhiều bạn đã chia sẻ các kinh nghiệm xin học bổng tuy nhiên chia sẻ quá trình viết SOP chưa nhiều, mà đây lại là 1 trong những yếu tố quan trọng của quá trình apply. Nhân tiện hôm nay mình “dọn dẹp” USP tìm lại được bản final của mấy hồ sơ xin học bổng, mình copy lại ra đây để chia sẻ với mọi người. Mình lập topic mới, hy vọng các EMer, Fulbrighter … cùng vào đây chia sẻ. Nếu có topic nào đã trùng lặp thì mod chuyển giúp mình. Lưu ý mình chỉ chia sẻ về học bổng Erasmus Mundus và Fulbright là 2 học bổng mình đã apply thành công, các học bổng khác có thể có các yêu cầu cụ thể riêng, các bạn nên tìm hiểu kĩ.

1. Học bổng Erasmus Mundus – EM

Học bổng EM thường yêu cầu bạn viết 1 bản Statement of Purpose hoặc Letter of Motivation. Theo kinh nghiệm của cá nhân mình, cả 2 dạng essay trên đều có nội dung giống nhau, để trả lời cho các câu hỏi WHY – Tại sao bạn muốn đi học, What- học khoá này sẽ đem lại cho bạn điều gì, How- Bạn sẽ ứng dụng những điều bạn học được như thế nào. Trong khi viết bạn cũng cần thể hiện bạn là người PHÙ HỢP với khoá học. Sự phù hợp có thể thể hiện ở Kinh nghiệm làm việc, khoá học Đại học có liên quan, hay những đam mê, sở thích mà bạn có.

Về format, Letter of Motivation cần viết dưới dạng 1 bức thư (tất nhiên)! Có mở thư, kết thư cẩn thận.

Dưới đây, tớ post lại Letter of Motivation cho khoá Communication, Media & Cultural Studies. Rất tiếc là khoá này đã close, tuy nhiên các bạn có thể tham khảo cho quá trình apply các course khác!

Name
No 1- XYZ St-Hanoi, Vietnam
University of Florence – Polo delle Scienze Sociali
D1 ?” Room 003 – Via delle Pandette,
32 – 50127 Florence, Italy
15 December 2008
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to express my interest in your European Master of Arts in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies programme and would like to explain my motivation in a few words for your consideration on granting me the admission and scholarships.

As you can see from my enclosed CV, one of my most distinctive characteristics is the diversity of experiences I possess. Graduated from Hanoi Foreign Trade University, I have had one year working for a multi-national company and then more than three years working as founder and coordinator of GreenZoom ?” an organisation focusing on the field of Culture and Communication for Community Development. My initiative is launched from a firm belief that a group of young people can make real change to their community by using various methods of communication in development projects. With the spirit of Sharing & Creating, GreenZoom strives to build a Vietnamese community of creative, intellectual and responsible young people aiming to preserve the country?Ts diverse culture and traditions, promote cultural exchanges and contribute passionately to the progress of society. During the last three years, GreenZoom has achieved great attention through various development projects, creative workshops and community exhibitions.

As part of my personal and professional development, I had chance to attend various cultural and social exchange programmes and international conferences from Asia to Europe, Latin Amerian, Africa where I once again appreciated the beauty of cultural diversity, the necessity of enhancing and deepening the understanding of country?Ts unique cultural identity and heritage, the importance of developing multimodal communication for development. I think that it has been these experiences that have shaped the person I am today.

As having set my long-term career in cultural studies and communication, I am motivated to work as an active young activist preserving and promoting my homeland?Ts culture as well as making a difference for better futures of community development in Vietnam by applying various ways of communication and media. After three years working in practice and pursuing professional interest in communication, I realized that I am in need of developing my understanding of both theoretical and practical issues relating to the mass media, culture and the new technologies. Now it is high time for me to work out a master plan which I believe would help me bring greater contributions to my organisation particularly and the prosperity of my country generally.

Looking for a name from a large pool of different programmes, I chose The Erasmus Mundus MA in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies for its unique, interdisciplinary and inter-university features which enable students to attend courses at two universities in different countries.
Firstly, considering that the focus of the programme is on Media, Culture, and Communication, taking this course will help me explore the most recent developments of multimodal communication as well as extend skills of multimedia production. Within the course?Ts duration, I will be equipped with numerous approaches and applications and given opportunities to design, produce and analyse media messages in a variety of contexts. From what I have found out at the Comundus website as well as via correspondence with programme?Ts professors, I believe the combined skills and knowledge the course offer will give me valuable resources to take home and contribute for my own organization growth. Therefore I consider this Master program a stepping stone to my future career success.
Secondly, the Master?Ts program offered by a consortium of leading European higher education institutions would give me the possibility to learn with famous scholars and excellent students and at the same time, gain precious experience with other perspectives and cultural practices. As communication and culture strike me as one of the most exciting areas of research today, I appreciate the chance to broaden my network, meeting and exchanging views with peers from around the world. Besides, being familiar with living and working in a multicultural international surroundings, I am eager to quickly adapt to new environment, to accept and appreciate differences, to learn from others and easily get connected in a network.

Thirdly, having a passion for traveling and understanding different cultures of the world, I do hope that, through this master course, I am able me to get an in-depth understanding and real experience of European society where beholds the vibrant cultural and historical significance as the epicenter of civilization. I have come to Europe one year ago as a visitor, this year I hope to come back as a student.

In conclusion, ?olearning, sharing, networking, and leading?-those are four elements that I would like to apply for Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Master course . Upon return to Vietnam on completion of my study, I strongly believe that the advanced knowledge and skills I have will affirm me for better contributions to my organisation particularly and my country generally.
I well understand the great pressure and challenges that will be presented to me when studying in such a distinguished program as yours; but given a chance, I am determined to overcome any obstacles to achieve my goals.

I would be obliged if you could give me an opportunity to contribute to the excellence and diversity of your advanced program.
Thank you for your consideration and I am looking forward to your positive reply.

Yours sincerely,

Name