"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" - Motivation Letter for Scholarship application

PLEASE HELP ME EVALUATE MY MOTIVATION LETTER

to work in ASEAN

Steve Jobs once said "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" at Stanford. What he meant about that is, we should keep learning about anything in this world just like a fool and a beggar who did not eat today. This is the quote that motivate me pursuing master's degree at this stage of my life.

Before university, I was not the most politically curious individual out there. It all started when I took International Relations for my Undergraduate Degree. Of course, my interest grew by attending international relations course and seminars. My organisational skill is also grew in this stage by actively involved to several university event as a organizer. After graduated, I work at one of Japanese mega bank in Indonesia for 3 years. I became familiar with Japanese working environment or business ethics, strengthened my personalities and hard skills at this company.

Being taught in the University at the first time, I love the idea of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). This framework will ease the flow of skilled labor within ASEAN members & partners. Experiencing AEC was my priority after resigning from previous company and now I am working in Thailand as Indonesia expatriate. This company is a business process outsourcing (BPO) partner of multinational companies and tech brands. Thailand office is also a hub for several countries project such as Vietnam & Cambodia. International experience brings me closer to other cultures, ideas, values, beliefs and religions, by living and working in a different environment and it made me a better person as a worker.

There is a lot to learn from Europe, especially EU from ASEAN citizen perspective. There is a lot of similarity between the two, whether it is a present or future challenges. We could take Brexit as example. Britons opted to leave EU as they fear of losing job opportunity to immigrant. Similar fear was also echoed in Indonesia when the ASEAN Economic Community was implemented and more recently, the fear that foreign Chinese workers who will take the job of the locals. ASEAN need to imitate EU to create that one common notion to make their citizens realize there is much more benefit if we are together. In order to do that I think we need to know & learn European values and history from socio-political-cultural perspective kind of view that I will be able to get in this programme.

The skills I acquire from the study will be a valuable asset to make a shift from my current career track. Truth be told, working in ASEAN require Master degree and valuable experience. Thus I realized a gap in myself that I need to fill. During the study, selecting the right courses, involving myself in the right clubs/organizations, and perhaps taking internships will surely help me fill that gap and better equip myself to achieve my dream to help and work in ASEAN.

Besides the necessary skills, pursuing a master's degree will, without a doubt, expand my connections and social network by exposing me to a global environment with students from around the globe, each with their own unique journey, backgrounds, and experiences. With all that, it is nowhere near impossible to find co-founders, co-workers, partners, or new friends at the very least. The chance of meeting a diverse group of people is one of the unchallenged benefit of studying abroad.

Thank you for your consideration.

You should talk more specifically about your past experiences that affected your choice

There is no connection between Steve Jobs, what he said, your explanation of what he said, and your motivation. Remove the Steve Jobs motivation, you will lose the interest of the reviewer immediately because you need someone else to speak for you and then, you had to explain what that person said, in no relation to an actual motivation hook regarding your own motivations. Lose that paragraph. It does not help your essay.

There are 2 motivations that you have to address in this letter, the motivation for the course and the motivation for the scholarship application. The latter answering the question, "Why this scholarship?" Not just the exposure to the country, but the objectives of the scholarship should reflect your motivation for studies. These must go hand in hand.

I do not see any professional motivation being indicated in your discussion. That weakens the essay. The reference to how your interest developed belongs more in a personal statement than a motivation letter. It is best to not reference that in this essay. Focus on the professional motivation and academic motivation. After all, you are applying for a scholarship to based on a masters course interest. Therefore, the early years of your exposure no longer apply.

The scholarship is interested in knowing how you were motivated to seek an advanced degree. The reasons and the factors that support that should help you create an interesting academic and professional motivation. The choice of the scholarship, like I said, should align with these 2 causes. As for the country, make the motivation a personal one. One that will allow you develop on a personal level based on interactions with others from Europe. The end result being that you will be motivated to do an even better job as a professional after the course completion.

@holt thank you so much for the evaluation!