Letter of motivation, please check my English ;)

Hi I have to write a cover letter to apply for a PhD program of a graduate school.

I study at a German University (a Diploma is similar to a Masters Degree) and the graduate school is also German, but wants me to apply in English...Unfortunatly, I am no native speaker. Please would you help me to improve it?

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I am writing to express my interest in the XXX PhD program starting in October 2012. Currently, I am pursuing my diploma degree in biology at the University of Whatever with neurobiology as my major subject, and will be graduating this March.

At present, I am working on my diploma thesis. In this challenging project under the supervision of Dr. YYY I performed patch-clamp recordings of presynaptic terminals in two different nuclei of the auditory brainstem (VNLL and MNTB) to compare the passive membrane properties, Calcium currents and Ca²⁺ depending vesicle exocytosis. This is the first time that these functional properties of VNLL presynapses were characterized. Therefore, we expect these data to be published.

The research experiences I gained in this project have confirmed my wish to continue working in the field of neurobiology and allowed me to demonstrate my practical skills and my high motivation. This is why I plan to pursue my studies at the PhD level in the group of Dr. YYY and I am applying to the XXX Graduate School because I know I would very much enjoy being part of a structured PhD program that provides both a profound theoretical training complementary to my PhD research and the opportunity to get more insight into different approaches and methods in an interdisciplinary environment. I know my studies have only scratched the surface of the broad spectrum of neurosciences, and this program would allow me to further develop my practical skills and deepen my knowledge.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
XXX