If you have already managed to work somewhere or took an internship, be sure to indicate this in a motivation letter. Pay particular attention to the details of employment that are directly related to the chosen profession. Consider how you can relate the work done and experience gained to the acceptance criteria.
Skills, abilities and achievements
Members of the selection committee are interested in your strengths: talents, skills, sports achievements, victories in school or university competitions, participation in scholarship programs and more. It’s not at all necessary that the achievements are too significant; it’s enough to tell in a motivational essay what you recall with pride and warmth in your heart, for example, you successfully passed exams at a music school, participated in various clubs (drawing, sports, dancing, etc.), or did volunteer and charity work. It is important to describe those moments that speak of you as a talented, versatile, and interesting person. At the same time, members of the selection committee are interested not in a dry list of skills and achievements (for this there is a CV, or resume), but your ability to reflect and draw conclusions from the experience gained.
To get away from a simple enumeration of skills, we recommend using the ABC method . Its essence is to describe each skill, answering three questions:
The above example is quite simple and aims to show how to provide evidence to each skill you mention in an understandable way.
Mentioning specific university professors
To begin with, describe the reason you chose this university. Then name one or two professors and what exactly attracts you to their program. Such an approach will introduce you as a person who “did his homework”, who is so interested in the chosen direction that he laid the groundwork.
You do not just need to write their names, since anyone who uses the Internet (which is almost everyone) can do this. Mention something that will show respect for the work done by professors. Moreover, it is not necessary to choose the most famous of them, since it is likely that other potential students will do the same. It is better to opt for a lesser-known professor who really seems interesting to you.
“The best essays that I’ve read are from people who’ve said they’ve learned a lot about themselves through this application process.” – Sally O.Jaeger, Director of Admissions, The Amos Tuck 
Business School, Dartmouth College.
Before sending the final version, be sure to take the time to analyze the resulting essay: you should carefully review its contents, pay attention to the presentation style, the presence of grammatical and lexical errors. Usually even the obvious errors cannot be seen on the first or second reading, so ask a friend or senior colleague to check the motivation letter. Or just let it rest for a couple of days and then read it again to understand what needs to be fixed.
- Does my letter meet the formal requirements? (Look at the questions initially posed, the required wordcount, and other requirements of the university).
- Does it make the kind of impression that I would like to make on the committee? (Refer to the list of qualities and skills that you made during the preparatory phase).
- Are there any ambiguous phrases in my text, conflicting points?
- Did I learn something new, unusual about myself after writing a motivation letter?
- Is my story unique? Does it contain cliches and bland phrases that other candidates may include?
- Was I honest with myself?
Evaluation of the final result
Yes, we already said that it is worth getting an opinion from the outside, but this time you are asking questions not about yourself, but about what you got as a result. Ask professors or teachers about the format and style of writing that is most appropriate in a particular case. Along with the text, be sure to indicate the initial requirements that were presented to the letter of motivation.