MA motivation letter

Question

Dear AlpheccaStars,You've really helped me a great deal with my letter, could I please ask you just to give me your opinion of it overall so I can make final changes and submit it. Thank you!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I tweaked it a little.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am applying to your MA Tourism and Culture programme starting in September 2018. In 2011, I earned a Bachelor’s Degree in French Language and Literature from Faculty of Philosophy in X and was honoured to be one of two students in my department who won the “Excellent Bachelor Thesis” award. True respect for both mine and other cultures inspired me to work in tourism and travel industry as well as to spend a part of my career abroad. My work and travel experiences allowed me to use my foreign language skills and thus to connect easily with people from other cultures but also to learn about issues and challenges in their communities. As an example, during my visit to Jordan, I had an opportunity to meet a Bedouin family and enjoy their well-known hospitality. Sharing their culture, learning about their values and getting close to their authentic way of life were the very aspects that made this experience truly unique to me. It inspired my dreams for a future world of cultural travel.

My future career goal is to work in the development and implementation of plans and programs to attract and sustain cultural tourism and business, especially in poor rural areas. Promoting cultural traditions draws tourists and therefore economic benefits which can provide local people access to better education. I believe that this can empower and motivate local communities to appreciate and care for their heritage and cultural authenticity. Given the extraordinary quality of the programmes at X University that combine coursework with field experience, this would be a great way to achieve my professional aspirations.

My research would explore the concept of authenticity in cultural tourism as one of the key factors in attracting cultural tourists. I would like to study prospective tourists’ understanding or interpretations of this topic with a particular focus on the authenticity of tourists’ experiences. An increasing number of tourists are pursuing self-actualization through travel as it frees them from the constraints of everyday life and leads them towards feeling much more authentic and more freely self-expressed. From a philosophical perspective, existentialism offers a very valuable insight to the motives and perceptions of tourists. Existentialism asserts that there is no inherent meaning to life, but each individual is responsible for making their life meaningful. That helps us to understand the tourists’ quest for authenticity and therefore the basis for the development of sustainable cultural tourism.

Exploring these subjects in your multinational classrooms would help me to understand how different cultures experience travel. Moreover, your interdisciplinary study approach would be an excellent opportunity to apply existentialist philosophical and literary understandings from my previous education in the context of tourism and culture.

Because I am a dynamic, ambitious and highly motivated student with a strong record of success, I am confident that I will exceed your expectations. Furthermore, my varied and rich background will add diversity to your programme.

MA motivation letter

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