Letter of Motivation for Phd

Greetings everyone, I recently finished my MSc in Statistics and Operational Research witha BSc in Mathematics. I am interested in writing a letter of motivation for a Phd vacancy and I would like your opinion on the matter. Below I am presenting my first draft any criticism would be mostly wellcome.

Thank you in advance.
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Letter of motivation
Dear Sirs, Madams,

My name is. I have successfully obtained my BSc degree in Mathematics at the, Mathematics department,. Afterwards at the same institution I successfully obtained my MSc degree in Statistics and Operational Research with the thesis: < "Title". >

I decided to study mathematics firstplace due to the fact that it was my favorite subject throughout my early student years up until highschool. I had chosen the scientific course specialization back then which included advanced classes in mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology since I was showing to be a better student in science rather than in classical theoretical studies. The universal nature of mathematics and it’s applications in other scientific disciplines, the fact that the abstract aspect of mathematics can be actually applied in practice to solve real life problems, the plethora of mathematical applications motivated me to pursue a bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

Due to my affinity with computers and informatics since the early teens, I had developed a relationship with coding. Influenced by my informatics teacher I had managed to code in Pascal a few mathematical formulas from geometry and algebra that involved amongst others the calculation of the area or volume of several geometric objects given some parameters or calculating the real roots of a trionym. Most arguably these problems are quite simplistic in nature but this experience in my early teen years proved to be a lead in the route I followed.

When I was a freshman at the university I was planning to specialize in computer science after my bachelor’s degree in mathematics was concluded since I enjoyed mathematical algorithms and actually coding them. What I really desired was the possibility to utilize mathematics in order to model, understand and solve real life problems. In the second year of university I came across several applied math courses that involved stochastic processes, operations research, informatics coding in C, statistics and data analysis. Afterwards I started picking courses that were shared amongst the two specializations that felt closer to my scientific interests that of computer science on one hand and statistics and operations research on the other. Since my actual interests were mathematical or more accurately stochastic modeling and coding algorithms I decided to specialize further into statistics and operations research due to the fact that I could practice both my interests since a considerable amount of stochastic modeling involves the algorithmic implementation in a computer.

So it came to be that after I concluded with my bachelor’s studies in Mathematics I continued with my master’s degree in Statistics and Operational Research. I decided to pursue this route and stay within the confines of the Mathematics department of the University ofdue to the fact that I was thoroughly pleased with the job that the professors had done while teaching to us undergraduates. It was due to them that I discovered more aspects of mathematics, they had a major role in my academic foundations and I wished to be a part of their master’s course, it was an honor for me when they actually accepted me within the ranks of the master course students. I strived hard to prove worthy of their choice and not let them down. I believed I managed to succeed in that when I finally presented my thesis and I received their approval through a warm applaud and best of wishes for my future plans.

While studying for my master’s degree I dwelled deeper in stochastic modeling and statistics while at the same time I discovered new courses like simulation and game theory. Although I enjoyed every new class I discovered I did not sail away from my original course. My main interest was modeling on one hand and algorithmic implementation on the other. When the time came that I had to pick a topic for my thesis I desired to choose a field that would actually envelop everything I learned on statistics, operations research and programming from undergraduate up until the master. Under the guidance of professorI choose my thesis on the Partially Observable Markovian Decision Processes. This is a special category of Dynamic Mathematical Programming where the calculation of the utility function is untraceable through traditional means due to the partial information regarding the state system. Therefore depending each time on the problem we try to solve, a specialized mathematical and algorithmic approach is required.

My future plans involve the continuation of my studies with a Phd in a relevant scientific field. I would like the challenge of broadening my knowledge therefore amongst my general interests lies a spectrum which includes: Computer Science, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Bioinformatics due to it’s applications that could affect tremendously our lives for the better, Simulation (which incorporates modeling, algorithm development and data analysis).

Due to my studies so far I believe I possess the major part of the fundamental mathematical theoretic background necessary for a Phd with a strong relation to either Statistics or Operational Research. Therefore I would like to apply as a Phd candidate inat the University of. I believe that this would be an opportunity for me to discover even more material for future research and be able to apply in practice what I have learned to far. Up until now I am mostly interested in further deepening my knowledge and participating in active scientific research. It is for these reasons that I wish to be considered as a possible Phd candidate. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely yours,
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