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Sample: Letter of Motivation for DAAD (2024)

Are you looking for a PDF, example or template for your Motivation Letter for a DAAD scholarship? Here is what you can find and why you should generally NOT use it.

DAAD is usually the first stop for international students who wish to pursue their studies in Germany and at the same time are looking for a scholarship to cover their living expenses once they arrive. If you are one of these students, then you will have to write yet another Letter of Motivation (LOM) specifically for your DAAD scholarship application in addition to the LOMs you will likely need to write for your Bachelor's or Master's applications at German university (not to mention the LOM for Visa which most students need to complete). Keep in mind that the Motivation Letter is the second most important document for your DAAD application after the Grade Point Average (GPA). Taking into account how competitive this scholarship is, your chances of winning it without a high-quality LOM are very slim.  That is why you have to take it seriously, instead of trying to produce it in one day.

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Further Reading

Scholarships for international students (2022/23)

According to the DAAD itself, students often fail to write high-quality Letters of Motivation. This claim is in line with our own research: the problem is that students usually find LOM writing the most challenging task of their DAAD scholarship application. 

 

That's why many students search the internet to find a high-quality LOM sample.  Unfortunately, this decision can lead to dramatic consequences because

1

Students end up using a poor LOM sample as a guide, as finding a very good LOM example is extremely difficult (and they are by virtue of their situation unable to tell the difference), and/or

2

Students end up plagiarizing (in most cases, without being aware of it)

We want to save you from falling into this trap. That’s why we wrote this article: to touch upon the core issues with regard to the Letter of Motivation sample for the DAAD scholarship.

Check out our Video Course (64 min.) on "How to write a Letter of Motivation"

22 videos plus checklist and template

Go to the video course

What is a Letter of Motivation for DAAD Scholarship?

A Letter of Motivation is a mandatory application document required for your DAAD scholarship application. Through this document, you should convincingly demonstrate your motivation to obtain the scholarship and explain why you are the best fit/candidate. In other words, it is through the LOM that you can "advertise" yourself in the best possible ways (i.e., showing your strengths, your determination, your qualifications, and so on) and make a formal request for the scholarship.

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Further Reading

LOM for a DAAD scholarship: A Guide (2024)

Does DAAD provide LOM samples?

No, DAAD does not provide Letter of Motivation samples, because it is a document that should be written independently by YOU! But the DAAD does not leave you completely alone here: various DAAD offices do share quite useful guidelines for LOM writing. We strongly recommend you follow these guidelines while composing your own Letter of Motivation. You can find some of the guidelines in the table below.

Table: Letter of Motivation Guidelines by DAAD

Issuing DAAD Office

Country/Region

Scope

Guideline

DAAD Headquarters

All

DAAD Scholarships in general

Bewerbung um ein DAAD-Stipendium: Was soll ins Motivationsschreiben?  (source available only in German)

DAAD Information Center Islamabad (Pakistan)

Pakistan (but helpful also for other countries)

Master's

How to Write a Letter of Motivation (pdf)

DAAD Headquarters (Section ST32- Africa)

Africa (but helpful also for other countries)

Master’s & PhD

How to Write a Letter of Motivation (pdf)

DAAD Information Center Rome (Italy)

Italy, San Marino, Vatican City
(but helpful also for other countries)

DAAD University Summer Course 

Guidelines to the letter of motivation for a DAAD scholarship for a University Summer Course (pdf)

DAAD Headquarters (Section ST43 - Research Fellowship Programmes)

All

Specific Program/Master's & PhD (“Sustainable Water Management”)

Instruction - How to Write the Letter of Motivation (pdf)

Why you should NOT use a Letter of Motivation sample?

A

Samples are usually of low quality

 

The Internet is full of LOM samples. However, we do not suggest relying on these while producing the Letter of Motivation for your DAAD scholarship application. As was already mentioned, one of the reasons is that, in most cases, the quality of these LOM examples is quite low. To be more specific, 90% of the Letter of Motivation samples that you can find on the Internet would be rejected by the DAAD. The reason is that what they usually suggest with respect to the structure, content, format etc., is simply wrong. Here and here are some examples of this kind of bad LOM sample.

B

High risk of plagiarism

 

Even if the sample is of high quality, you still should not heavily rely on it, as you might end up plagiarizing it, which is an absolute no-go. You can, however, use a good LOM sample as a general guideline for the purpose of getting an overall idea of what the LOM should look like. In general, if you plagiarize or copy anything directly from any source, you will not be able to get away with it. As already mentioned above, the DAAD will find out about that, and your application will be immediately rejected.

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Advice Box

If you want to be on the safe side and at the same time learn how to write a very good Letter of Motivation for the DAAD scholarship application, you should do the following:

 

  1. Check out our comprehensive video course on this topic. BONUS: if you decide to sign up for the video course, you will receive from us a high-quality sample of Letter of Motivation created by experts from our team! WARNING: PLEASE, DO NOT COPY IT! Just use it for the purpose of getting an overall idea of what the LOM should look like. Otherwise, your application will be rejected.

  2. Read through our LOM series articles, which you can find here.

  3. Familiarize yourself with the guidelines provided by the DAAD (see table above).