How to Write a Scholarship Motivation Letter

For the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a letter of motivation gives you the opportunity to describe your personality and the reasons why you are applying for DAAD funding in your own words. In Stipendium Hungaricum, the universities are going to form the first opinion about you based on the Motivation section, and its goal is to answer the question "Why are you a suitable candidate?" Our guide on Erasmus Mundus covers the EU scholarship for joint Master's programmes. Our guide on the ESC motivation letter covers letters for youth projects, and this page covers scholarship letters only.

Last updated: November 2026.

What should a scholarship motivation letter include?

The DAAD gives the following information and questions to help you write an informative letter of motivation.

📚 Education, skills and knowledge: studies, professional experience if applicable, specialised knowledge, skills and language skills, and prizes and awards if applicable.

🎯 Academic motivation: why you wish to take the study programme, what appeals to you about your chosen university, and what you hope to gain from your stay in Germany.

💡 Reasons for applying for a scholarship: why you are applying for a DAAD scholarship, what you expect of the scholarship, and how the scholarship will help you achieve your academic, professional and personal goals.

🌟 Personal interests: special extracurricular achievements and commitments or personal qualities that say something about your character.

The Stipendium Hungaricum Application Guide lists questions such as why you have chosen to apply to this programme, why you applied to study in Hungary, what you expect to gain from your studies, why your background makes you a suitable candidate, how the programme will help you to achieve your goals, and how you will utilise your new skills and qualifications when you return home. If the Stipendium Hungaricum study programme you apply for requests a motivation letter, it will be indicated in the Motivation section, next to the text box. If you do not see such a specific requirement, you may write your motivation letter in a more general form, stating why you would like to come and study in Hungary and become a scholarship holder. Our guide on DAAD scholarships covers the DAAD programmes.

How long should a scholarship motivation letter be?

The length of the letter is set scholarship by scholarship.

📄 DAAD: at least one and no more than three pages, and the conditions apply only if not otherwise specified in the scholarship announcements.

📄 Stipendium Hungaricum: the motivation letter in the Call for Applications is minimum 1 page, typed in Times New Roman 12-point letters, and you should follow the minimum and maximum character limits which appear next to the box.

📄 Chevening: respond to the four Chevening essay questions related to leadership, relationship-building, your course choices, and future career goals, and take note of the word limits.

📄 Erasmus Mundus: a guide by an Erasmus Mundus Association member, published on the EEAS site, says "Generally one page is sufficient".

Our guide on government scholarships in Europe covers Chevening and Stipendium Hungaricum.

How should you structure the letter?

The structure of the letter follows the rules of each scholarship.

✉️ Stipendium Hungaricum letter format: you must address the letter to the Hungarian Higher Education Institution to which you are applying, with the date and your signature. The three main parts should be easily separable: introduction, content and closing salutation.

✍️ Chevening reading committees: write in full sentences, rather than bullet points.

⭐ Chevening STAR approach: when providing examples, follow the STAR approach, which involves clearly explaining the situation, task, action, and result.

🔬 Stipendium Hungaricum doctoral applications: your motivation letter contains all the relevant information about your professional research plan, you give clear reasons why your research is important, and you explain how your previous experience is connected to the research that you intend to carry out.

Our guide on Erasmus Mundus covers the scholarship and its selection.

Should you write a new letter for each application?

Stipendium Hungaricum recommends writing an additional motivation letter, for example to your 2nd preference institution, which you may upload to the Documents Section of your application.

🔍 Erasmus Mundus research: a guide by an Erasmus Mundus Association member, published on the EEAS site, says to do a full work-up on each programme, make notes along the way and use the notes for adapting your CV and writing motivation letters.

🎯 Programme fit: the same guide says to explain why the Programme you have chosen is the right one for you and demonstrate the fit between your background and the Programme.

🎓 Chevening courses: Chevening reading committees say to go into detail about all three courses in your answer, clearly explaining how they relate to both your past experience and future plans.

Our guide on DAAD scholarships covers the DAAD call for applications.

What do selection panels look for?

The key selection criteria of the DAAD selection committee are professional qualification, quality of the study or research project and potential of the applicant, which covers motivation, prospects and extracurricular commitment.

🧭 Chevening criteria: you will be assessed against your ability to answer questions in four areas: leadership and influencing skills, building professional relationships, your chosen course, and your career plan.

🌟 Chevening vision: what matters is your ability to submit a thoughtful application that demonstrates you are capable of excelling on an intense master's course in the UK, and that you have a clear vision for your future.

🎙️ Chevening interview: applicants invited to interview will have lots of evidence of leadership and influencing skills, the ability to build and maintain professional relationships, a realistic and achievable career plan for creating lasting positive change, and research into how a UK government funded scholarship will help you achieve your goals.

📈 Chevening reading committees (blog, 2 August 2023): pay attention to the "R" (result) in STAR, and the strongest responses included specific, measurable goals.

Our guide on government scholarships in Europe covers who can apply to Chevening.

What mistakes should you avoid?

The mistakes to avoid are academic examples, listing roles, defining leadership without examples, cut and paste from university websites, local attractions, "we" instead of "I", spelling mistakes and echoing your CV. The points below come from "Feedback from this year's reading committees" (Chevening, 2 August 2023) and "Tips for successful Erasmus Mundus application", prepared by a member of the Erasmus Mundus Association.

🔎 Academic examples: when demonstrating your leadership skills, try to draw on recent examples from your professional experience, because many applicants had a tendency to use examples from their academic experience, even as far back as their secondary school days.

📋 Listing roles: some applicants assumed that occupying a particular position or role was in itself sufficient to demonstrate leadership skills, often just listing the various responsibilities they have had over the years.

📖 Defining without examples: many applicants were able to clearly define the concept of leadership but failed to provide examples of how they've exhibited it and how it links to both their study and post-study plans.

✂️ Cut and paste: don't just cut and paste from university websites and avoid reliance on university and course rankings as a reason to select a course.

⚽ Local attractions: many candidates cited local attractions and football clubs as the rationale for why they wanted to study at a particular university.

🙋 Team achievements: when discussing personal achievements, use "I" instead of "we", and if it was a team effort, focus specifically on what your role was within the team.

✏️ Spelling: make sure you proofread your work, because silly spelling mistakes don't make for a good first impression.

🚫 Echoing your CV: in the Erasmus Mundus Association member's guide, don't let your motivation letter simply echo your CV, don't be vague, and don't use complex language constructions or flowery phrases.

Our guide on Erasmus Mundus covers the programme behind these tips.

Can you use AI to write a scholarship motivation letter?

Chevening strictly prohibits the use of AI software to generate answers, while the DAAD permits the use of AI tools as an aid.

🚫 Chevening: the use of AI software to generate answers in Chevening applications is strictly prohibited. If your application is found to be fraudulent or copied, your application will be disqualified. Chevening uses tools to detect fraud, plagiarism, and AI-generated content in applications. You will be asked to confirm that you have not used artificial intelligence to generate your answers as part of the application form.

✅ DAAD: you may use AI tools in application procedures as an aid, provided that certain principles are observed. The authenticity of your application must be maintained. You must clearly indicate the use of AI tools by stating in your documents that text passages were created with the help of an AI tool, with the note "Produced with the aid of (tool used)". Applicants must comply with the principles of good scientific practice, particularly by ensuring the protection of intellectual property and the authenticity of submitted documents. You should note that data entered into AI tools may be reused by the provider. Applicants must declare that the application was prepared independently, with proper attribution of resources and adherence to the principles of good scientific practice.

Our guide on using AI to write your motivation letter covers AI in more detail.

Frequently asked questions

Which language should I write in?

The Stipendium Hungaricum Application Guide says the letter must be written in English, in Hungarian or in the language of the selected study programme. The Stipendium Hungaricum Call for Applications says: motivation letter, minimum 1 page, typed in Times New Roman 12-point letters, written in the language of the selected study programme or Hungarian. Unless otherwise stated in the Call for Applications, you can submit a DAAD application either in German or English. Chevening applicants must complete the application form in English. Our guide on DAAD scholarships covers the DAAD programmes.

Do I have to pay someone to apply?

No for Chevening: applying for a Chevening Scholarship is free, you do not need to pay anyone to apply, and Chevening does not endorse or work with third parties who charge for application support or advice. Our guide on government scholarships in Europe covers Chevening and Stipendium Hungaricum.

Where can you go from here?

Our guide on Erasmus Mundus covers the joint Master's scholarship. Our guide on DAAD scholarships covers Germany. The Youth Works Hub pages below cover the next steps.

👉 Scholarships: youthworkshub.org/?tab=scholarships