Motivation letter for attending MSc program in TechUniversity

Dear Forum Members, I would be very pleased if you help me to make my essay better than it is. Please show what i need to correct or add (grammar, meaning, style, context etc.) here are the terms given by admission office:

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A clear and relevant essay in English (1,000 – 1,500 words) addressing the following:

• Your motivation for taking the MSc programme of your choice.
• Why you are interested in TU Delft and what you expect to find here
• If there are optional specialisations in the MSc programme of your choice: which specialisation(s) interest you most, and why?
• Describe your hypothetical thesis project; what kind of a project would you prefer if you were free to make a choice? Also briefly explain what you would want to explore in your thesis project. Provide a maximum of three hypothetical thesis topics and elaborate on your particular interests in them.
• A brief summary (maximum 250 words) of the thesis work or the final assignment (to be) done for your Bachelor’s programme, including information on the credits earned, grade, and full workload.

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Dear Sir or Madam,
I am applying to your Master program of "Electrical Engineering" with specialization in "Signals and Systems" starting in September 2014. My career ambition is to become a qualified professional in the area of signal processing and analysis.
From my childhood it was clear that I have a noticeable technical mindset, because I was deeply interested in logical quizzes, math and braingames. I enjoyed playing chess with grandfather, represented my school at Math and Physics Olympiades and since 8 Form attended programming courses, where I got first knowledge about algorithms, operational systems, databases and several programming languages. At one moment I even thought about software engineer career but my passion for natural science as the main factor affected my choice to become electric engineer. However, I found my programming skills very useful during my degree.
I’ve always liked learning and challenging myself. Personally, I am convinced that in order to develop, people should never stop setting goals for themselves.
Basing on my high school outstanding academic achievements I would likely be admitted to any of Latvian Universities, but I decided to change the way my life goes and participated in a competition held by Russian Embassy. I have been awarded with Russian Education Ministry grant to study in one of the best Russian technical universities. My specialization in State University of Aerospace Intstrumentation (SUAI) is “Devices and Methods of Quality Control and Diagnostics”. It has several major subjects among which, my favorite are “Detection and filtering of signals” and “Use of microprocessors in nondestructive inspection”. During my studies I have shown my great academic potential as well as ability to implement my knowledge in practice.
For example, I was an invited teacher’s assistant in “Avionica” school for future matriculants during one semester. Einstein once told: “If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” Now I am pretty sure, he was right.
During that semester I helped several professors to inspire talented high school seniors on a deeper study of aerospace instrumentation. Particularly I introduced them opportunities of applied technologies in “measurements automation and control” using NI Labview graphical programming language (as it was one of my subjects and coursework).
Together we organized guided tours in National Instruments Center located in St. Petersburg and several other scientific organizations. Finally, a group of pupils got acquainted with the main principles of gas turbine engine, produced a simplified dummy and, using Labview, an ordinary PC was transformed into aircraft dashboard simulating operating modes control. That experience was very relevant, I learned a lot in related fields of my specialty and became more confident.
Except studying hard I used every chance of social experience. After the second course I participated in “Work&Travel in the U.S.A.” program. While living in New York and Washington I practiced my English skills and earned money to support my studies. Apart from university studies I ran a command quiz-game called “What? Where? When?” and attended several sports sections.
Starting from the third course I began learning Chinese language during my leisure time. I judged that being a certified engineer is quite well, but speaking one more language will make me a narrower and more demanded specialist on a labor market. I like the culture of East countries and perhaps I even can work in China some time and put my skills into practice in the biggest developing country in the world.
Currently I am working on my thesis project named “Car security system based on IR-rays distance control”. I have chosen that topic because it demands both theoretical calculation and practical skills. And also, what is important for me, it has real practical usefulness nowadays.
Despite there are many expensive security system brands of various (mechanical, electrical, biometrical, transponder-based, satellite-tracking etc.) types and technologies, carjacking is still a criminal problem in any location. That’s why a home-made (one-piece copy) security system which is “unknown” to criminals can be quite effective.
This project will take a decent time and hard work to design transmitter-receiver operation scheme, implement a decoding algorithm and assemble a sample device by the next spring. In order to be more acquainted with the subject, I arranged to do a 1 or 2 month internship in a company, which specializes on installation and service of security systems in private houses and offices. All in all, it won’t be a cakewalk for me, but I am sure I can handle it.
I see my main goal is to become a recognized professional, an engineer. And use my knowledge and skills to participate in innovative and challenging projects. While I am ready to invest a lot in my future education, I decided to apply to a well-known and reputable university.
I choose TU Delft for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s best academic and research institution in Netherlands, a member of the prestigious IDEA league of five leading engineering universities in Europe. All my nationals studying in Delft confirmed great technical and research opportunities given there. As I understood, the university maintains close links with industrial companies, which depend on its graduates. That means study process and research work will be really contemporary in the modern world.
Secondly, it is a factor of people and location. Delft is not a big city in the heart of Europe, but containing all relevant facilities for student’s life and study. It is well-known for its city center belted with canals, the same way it is in St. Petersburg. People there mostly speak English (this does not negate the fact that I will likely study Dutch as soon as I get into a groove) what makes life matters easier to deal with.
TU Delft suggests more than thirty English-language MSc programs and I have chosen the “Signal & System” track as a logical continuation of my present study on a deepest level. Everyone understands that in nowadays world nothing can function without processing signals containing useful information. Doesn’t matter what type of signal it is and what information it carries – it needs to be somehow modified, secured, encoded or filtered. That provides a wide area of application including communication, security systems, medical equipment, manufacturing plants etc.
For instance, my future MSc thesis project can be a research of an optimal way of wind farm’s automotive control. Modern world moves to the widespread usage of renewable energy and wind farms development is increasing. Nevertheless, it is still very dependent on climate changes, emplacement and amount of other wind turbines. It would be very challenging and exciting to project a control system which basing on the testimony of sensors predicts the best operating parameters of every particular turbine in the wind farm.
Another possible thesis has more application in manufacturing sector. I know that during the extraction of raw materials, quality control is very important phase. On that stage can be identified if any unnecessary objects have fallen into, checked tank fullness level, raw is divided into categories by quality. Sometimes human control is not efficient enough. That’s why automatic analyzing of video signal can be helpful to control complex systems. Moreover, every case is individual and requires a separate solution.
Concluding, I am particularly interested in “Systems and Control” and “Multimedia Signal Processing and Analysis” specializations, but I would be glad to participate and learn more about biomedical signals, radar systems navigation or speech recognizing algorithms as well.
I believe that studying at TU Delft will give me the opportunity to achieve all my goals. From the other side, as a holder of Specialist’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, I have required knowledge base and potential to fulfill this MSc position and am confident that I could be an active and useful student in this program.