Can you please give feedback on this motivation letter?

Hello kind people. Can you please provide grammar and content feedback on this motivation letter. I really appreciate any help in polishing this thing. Thanks

Dear Sirs,
I appreciate the opportunity to further support my application for admission with background information about the motivating factors behind the decision to advance my studies at XXX.

The primary motivation to become a candidate for the MSc in XXX is to advance my research on the built environment in connection to societal progress, as well as to develop integral skills in research methodologies and academic writing in preparation for entering into a doctorate programme. I have chosen (XXX) university for the outstanding research facilities, the methodology of teaching and the renowned staff expertise, and not least for the university setting. I believe the academic background, achievements, and personal skills and capacities will evidence my suitability for the programme.

I pursued a Bachelor's of Architecture at the (XXX university) in Chicago. The most significant studio project from this period and was entitled ‘The Global Zoning Map', which regarded the re-zoning of the world on a dymaxion projection, mapping a certain chosen phenomenon (relocating all humans near water, urban sprawl and megacities, etc.) and observing, at different scales, the behavior of limits between diversity (nature) and distress (human activity). The project was not only profoundly significant and current for its subject matter, but also highly valuable for the personal skills it built, such as the ability to gather and analyze cross-disciplinary information and statistical data and its graphical and 3-dimensional representation with all of its technical, scientific and artistic complexities. The project achieved the highest appraisal by my studio professor and for me became the impetus for my interest in the built environment as shaped by patterns of human behavior.

I graduated XXX with high honors and a minor in Art & Architectural History, and later enrolled in a joint Master of Architectural Project Management through the XXX university, in collaboration with the XXX university. The programme offered me the opportunity to re-evaluate the earlier concepts of the Global Zoning Map studio and produce a critical written analysis of case studies of urban requalification. I graduated the programme ‘cum laude' with a thesis paper on Sustainable Urban Transformations and case studies in Paris and Hamburg. Part of the thesis was soon after presented at the Environmental Design Research Association conference in Veracruz, Mexico in 2008 and published in the conference proceedings.

In my education I have excelled in design and multilingual research and writing, with published articles and design projects. I am a licensed architect in the US and in my current work as a designer in XX, I build on team leadership and project management skills. I'm a self-motivated, global thinker with an inquisitive mind. I'm looking to carry on my passion for investigation of the built environment within a leading research institution. I've chosen the XXX programme at XXX university for the opportunity to conduct cross-disciplinary leading theoretical research, whose practical applications are evident in the immediate context of the (xxx city) metropolis. I have particular interest in strategic urban design and the testing of such design methodologies in an urban lab such as the Middle East.

My recent one week visit to the school and talk with Dr. XXX was most valuable for reaffirming my intentions for enrollment in the programme.

Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
XXX