Motivation Letter

Dear Sir/Madam,

As I contemplated writing this letter, I had not foreseen the difficulties I would run into. The purpose of this letter is to tell you why I want to study abroad, and in some way or another I have to convince you to let me go to the university of my choice. Now I think you've read all the clichés before, which makes writing this extra difficult for me. As I sit here, staring at a blank plage, I cannot contrive a single sentence that isn't anything you haven't read before. Or well I can, but I hardly think that would land me a spot on the next train to Britain. So now let me change it up a bit. Let me be brutally honest with you. You guys should send me to the University of Kent. I could tell you now how much I want to go there, how it would look good on my resume, how it would improve my English accent, and how terrific the experience would be for me. These reasons are of course inherently good reasons, and I believe these things with all my heart. However, I hardly believe these reasons are any different from the next person's. So why would you send me to England? Well, because I want to go. I want to go to England because I've been in love with the country since forever (cliché). I love their weird habits and values, the way they eat sunday roast and weird pudding thingies that are actually some kind of bready-substance (cliché). I love the language, and all it's imperfections and the way that it does not make any sense at all (cliché). I love how the British treasure the remnants of their past, how they do not knock down 5 billion year old cottages but keep them alive and charge you 25 pounds to come anywhere near it (cliché). I want to spend my money on that. I want to spend all my money on having a good time, meeting people from all over the world, and spending even more money with them. I will stop summing up reasons for me to go - as it's all becoming a bit too much like 10 Things I Hate about You - to again come to the conclusion that all these reasons also add up to one big cliché. It seems I cannot escape it. I want to go to the United Kingdom. You are the people deciding who can go. Maybe you don't even look at the reasons people have to go, maybe you just look at their grammar, their spelling, how they sell themselves. I would lose in that last section, as selling myself was never one of my strongest points. I guess by writing this letter, and sending it in, I am putting all my money on you guys appreciating my honesty. Because when it really comes to why I want to go to the University of Kent, there are certainly some boring reasons I can write down here, but there's also that tiny voice in my head that's asking me 'yeah, why do you want to go?' But as you guys are academics, you don't rely on hunches, on feelings. So I won't tell you that the city of Canterbury just speaks to me. Instead I'll tell you about it's wonderful courses, it's proximity to London, and the cultural attraction it has to me. Now doesn't that make me sound like I know what I'm babbling about? Yeah, I thought so. So here it is judges, my motivation letter. It's a whole lot of nonsense with the hidden message of 'pick me, pick me'!

With Kind Regards,
Bonnie van den Bergh