Erasmus motivation letter

Hello!

I am applying to an exchange program in the Netherlands and therefore I have written a motivation letter. The admission requirements tell me to write a letter including answers to the following subjects:

- why you wish to conduct in the exchange program abroad
- why you are interested in the particular university / my reasons for applying to the university
- which research topics interest you and explain your particular interest
- my choice of courses

I have made a draft for the letter, and I hope that you could give me a piece of advice to make it clearer and better. I simply don't know how to improve it, and I would really appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance! :-)
Tanja

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I am applying to the Master of Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics starting in September 2011. I have chosen this possibility to follow a semester abroad because I am eager for transportation and want to learn as much as possible during my studies in hope of becoming a competent engineer.

Transportation is a subject that affects us all, young as well as old. As a consequence, our roads and surroundings must handle every single individual and create an environment that is safe, secure and effective. This is a task we are confronted by in many countries. Since the level of development differs between countries, we have an opportunity to profit by the knowledge and research from each other. To improve the transportation infrastructure I find it very important that we learn from others experiences and that we in our everyday work have in mind how other nationalities plan their transportation systems and manage the difficulties that will inevitable occur.

I believe that, as a transportation engineer, you cannot be satisfied with focusing exclusively on your own country. As a part of my post-graduate studies in Transportation Engineering I therefore want to participate in an exchange program at The Delft University of Technology. I presume that a semester in the Netherlands will give me an insight of the transportation planning and challenges in another European country where the traffic situation in some respect is comparable with the Danish transportation system. Thus I will bring back inspiration and tools that I can use both in my final thesis and in a prospective job. My choice of The Delft University of Technology is particularly due to its good reputation as a university and to its transportation research, which I consider to be in front. By learning from some of the best researchers I am convinced that the semester will result in a worthwhile experience.

During my studies in Transportation Engineering I especially found the human aspect of transportation interesting. It is fascinating how human behaviour influences the traffic situation and how we need to bear that in mind when we are proposing solutions to existing problems. Human behaviour is a subject that I want to study during my stay at TU Delft. I hope to attend courses in sociology, as this will give me an understanding of why people act as they do. Furthermore human behaviour is expressed in traffic safety and Intelligent Transportation Systems as a reason to the occurrence of accidents and as a tool to influence this behaviour respectively, which makes these courses relevant too.

As this semester at the TU Delft will be the last semester before my final thesis, I would also like to attend courses that will give me an update on the present transportation research because I believe that it will be useful for my thesis.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

Sincerely,
Tanja