Kõik mu motivatsioonikirjad stipendiumidele, ülikoolidesse ja mujale kandideerimiseks

Hiljuti andsin tagasisidet ühele inimesele ülikooli motivatsioonikirja osas ja mõtlesin, et kandidaadina oleks mul olnud väga kasulik näha, kuidas teised oma kirju kirjutavad. Mitte kopeerimiseks, vaid selleks, et näha häid ja halbu näiteid motivatsioonikirjadest.

(Kui oled lähiajal kandideerimas, soovitan lugeda, kuidas stipendiumidele kandideerida.)

Otsustasin avaldada kõik motivatsioonikirjad, mille suutsin oma Google Drive’i arhiividest leida. Need sisaldavad stipendiumide motivatsioonikirju, ülikoolidesse astumise motivatsioonikirju, esseid töötubadesse ja suvekoolidesse kandideerimiseks jpm. Eriti oluline: seal on nii edukaid kui ebaedukaid kandidatuure.

Loomulikult ei ole motivatsioonikiri ainuke asi, mis loeb: tavaliselt küsitakse ka CV-d ja tihti ka ühte või mitut soovituskirja. Soovituskirjad tunduvad mulle tavaliselt kõige olulisemad (nii andja identiteet kui kirja tugevus), aga hästi kirjutatud essee ei saa ühelgi avaldusel paha teha.

Kogu nimekirja koos linkidega leiad postituse lõpus olevast tabelist, aga kopeerin siia ühe sellise, mis minu meelest hästi õnnestus: ETH Zürichi sisseastumiseks kirjutatud lühikese motivatsioonikirja.

There are three main reasons why I consider Computer Science at ETHZ a very good match for my interests and capabilities.

Firstly, I want to study Computer Science. In particular, I am strongly drawn towards the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning – currently, I’m doing research in the closely related field of computational neuroscience. My long-term goals for studying these two areas of Computer Science are making a significant contribution towards developing an artificial general intelligence, and researching the existential risk that arises from creating AIs with superhuman intellectual capabilities. A degree in CS also keeps one’s options open: in addition to following the academic track, I could do industrial research, develop new technologies and build products – all very exciting opportunities.

Secondly, I want to study at ETH Zürich. At high school, I took part (and won gold, silver and bronze medals) in international olympiads which brought some of the world’s brightest young minds together for a week. I believe that putting intelligent people in close contact with each other drives progress in almost every area. ETHZ has succeeded in bringing talented students and faculty together, which manifests in ETHZ being among the world’s top universities. In short: having smart, motivated people around would drive me to do my best work and then some.

Thirdly, I want to study the Computer Science MSc degree at ETHZ. The selection of courses is wide and on the General Computer Science track I can choose those I consider the most challenging and useful. For my Master’s thesis, I hope to collaborate with research groups doing very exciting work at the Machine Learning Laboratory. Finally, I consider it important that a department have strong business and industry partnerships so academic work and research can be applied on, and driven by, actual industry use cases.

These reasons reflect on why the Master’s program would be good for me, but I believe the benefits would be reciprocal. Primarily, I would make a contribution to the research and development done at ETHZ. In addition, I believe I could also make an impact to the student body, a startup or another organisation at ETHZ – having started and led a student society of more than 30 people at my faculty in Tartu among other voluntary activities, I have demonstrated my ability and willingness to successfully take the initiative in hard, long-term projects.

Tabel

(ava Google Sheets’is)

Jaga: