Letter of Motivation Exchange Nus

Letter of Motivation

In this letter of motivation I am going to express my desire to study at the National University of Singapore (NUS) as a student within the exchange program of Humboldt-University Berlin (HU) during the semester from August 2014 to December 2014. My motivation is best conceived by answering three key questions: First, why do I intend to study abroad and more specifically why in Singapore? Second, why do I wish to study at NUS and what benefits will this experience yield? And third, what NUS stands to gain from welcoming me as a student?

My previous experiences in the United States and Indonesia are the key influences as to why I wish to study abroad. Here I learned that living, studying, and working abroad is a great opportunity to understand foreign societies, cultures, and languages. I consider it essential to broaden one’s own intellectual horizon by getting to know different and new perspectives on all kinds of questions and issues, leading to a critical reflection of beliefs and opinions held. By studying at NUS I hope to repeat and extend these valuable experiences.

Singapore fascinates me for two principle reasons: First, it is an economically developed country with much higher GDP per capita than most “western” nations, while having a completely different historical and cultural background. And second, it features one of the most diverse and multicultural societies in the world. Without being able to mention many other interesting facets of Singapore, these two factors alone promise my time studying and living there to be a unique, profitable, and mind opening experience.

Moving on, it remains to be answered: Why do I want to study at NUS and in what aspects will I benefit from this?

To begin with, NUS appears to be committed to an Anglo-American style academic approach with constant group discussion, group project work, essay writing, a focus on interdisciplinary, and most notably individual tutoring as well as frequent...