Guidelines for writing a motivation letter (BA)

General guidelines for writing a motivation letter

The letter must be written in clear English.

A motivation letter is an essay with a clear structure, paragraphs and complete sentences. It should give an idea of your English language skills and how you would do in your studies. You can use a dictionary and other language-enhancing tools, but do not use generative AI tools to produce the text. Also, do not copy texts written by others.

Save the letter as a PDF file.

The purpose of the letter is to convince the reader of your motivation and ability to study successfully in the programme. In your motivation letter, you could consider issues such as:

• • Introduce yourself and tell us about your previous educational background.
  • Why do you want to study for a Bachelor's degree in Business and Management? Has a particular experience led you down this path? How will the degree benefit you in the future?
  • What are your hobbies, interests, volunteering or other leisure activities? How do you think they can support your personal and professional development?
  • Why are you interested in HELBUS?
  • What are your experiences of using English outside lessons? Do you think your English is good enough to get good grades? And how willing are you to improve your language skills?
  • What are your plans and dreams for the future after you finish your studies?

Reserve plenty of time to write your motivation letter.

Write a letter, e.g. in MS-Word, to make use of the proofreading and spell-checking tools.

Length of the motivation letter

The letter should be a maximum of 3000 characters including spaces. This means about 500 words, or a maximum of one A4 sheet of concise text.

For example, if you write text in a word document, it will calculate the number of characters/words you use.

Don't make these mistakes:

Don't copy letters written by others or ready-made letters you find online. Also, don't use AI tools to write your letter, as your motivation letter should describe your individual situation in your own words. AI-generated text is quite easy to identify compared to letters written by the applicants themselves. If copying is detected, your application will be rejected or your study rights may be terminated without warning. The letter must be written by the applicant.

Don't leave writing a letter to the last minute!

Don't write too short a letter. If your letter is too short, our staff will be in touch to request a new one.

Good luck with your application!