You’ve found the perfect scholarship or international study opportunity. You meet the eligibility requirements, you’ve gathered your documents, and now you’re staring at one of the most important parts of your application: the motivation letter.
How do you convince an admissions committee that you deserve a place?
Many applicants make the mistake of filling their letters with statements about how passionate, hardworking or determined they are.
But here’s the challenge: hundreds of other applicants may be saying exactly the same thing.
What makes your application different isn’t simply how strongly you express your ambition. It’s how convincingly you demonstrate your preparation, potential and fit for the opportunity.
At NGTL, we want young people to approach international opportunities with the confidence and practical skills to compete effectively.
Through our Beyond Borders initiative, we introduce the ACE framework: Argument, Claims and Evidence.
Here’s how to use it to build a more compelling motivation letter.
A: Argument. Make a compelling case for yourself
Every strong motivation letter needs a central argument.
Think of it as the answer to one important question:
Why should this programme select you?
Your argument should connect three things: your previous experiences, the opportunity you’re applying for and what you hope to accomplish afterwards.
For example, imagine you’re applying for a master’s programme in public health informatics.
A weak argument might be:
I have always been passionate about healthcare and technology, and I believe this programme will help me achieve my dreams.
There’s nothing necessarily wrong with the ambition, but it tells the admissions committee very little.
A stronger argument might be:
While supporting patient-record management at a community clinic, I saw how fragmented information could delay routine decisions. That experience motivated my interest in health information systems, particularly how better data management can improve healthcare delivery.
Now the reader understands where your interest comes from.
The next step would be to explain why the specific programme is suited to developing that interest.
Your argument gives the letter direction. Everything else should help support it.
C: Claims. Show what you bring to the table
Once you’ve established your argument, identify the strengths and experiences that make you a suitable candidate.
These are your claims.
Perhaps you’ve demonstrated leadership, completed relevant research, solved a practical problem or contributed to a community initiative.
The key is to be specific.
Instead of writing:
I possess excellent leadership and teamwork skills.
You could write:
As the coordinator of a student volunteer team, I organised weekly activities, assigned responsibilities and worked with members to deliver community outreach programmes.
The second statement tells the reader what your leadership actually involved.
Remember, your claims must reflect your real experience. You don’t need to exaggerate your responsibilities to make them meaningful.
E: Evidence. Give the reader a reason to believe you
This is where many motivation letters fall short.
It’s one thing to claim that you’re an effective problem-solver. It’s another to demonstrate it.
Evidence turns your claims into something an admissions committee can assess.
Let’s return to our hypothetical public health applicant.
Claim: I have experience identifying and addressing information management problems.
Evidence: During my time supporting a community clinic, I helped reorganise patient records into a more consistent filing system, making it easier for staff to locate information during routine operations.
The evidence describes an actual contribution rather than simply naming a desirable quality.
If you have measurable results, include them where relevant and accurate. If you don’t, explain the work you completed, the decisions you made and what you learnt.
Evidence doesn’t always need to be a statistic. A well-explained experience can be equally useful.
Putting ACE together
Now imagine combining the three elements in a single paragraph:
My interest in public health informatics developed while supporting patient-record management at a community clinic. Working with staff to improve how records were organised showed me how information management affects everyday healthcare delivery. That experience strengthened my interest in developing systems that make health information more accessible and reliable, and I hope to build on this foundation through advanced study in health informatics.
Notice what the paragraph does.
It establishes a reason for pursuing the field, identifies relevant experience and provides an example supporting that interest.
That’s ACE in action.
Of course, this is an illustrative example. Your own letter should reflect your actual experiences and the specific requirements of the opportunity.
Before you submit, put your letter to the ACE test
Read your draft again and ask yourself:
- Argument: Have I explained why I’m applying and why this opportunity fits my goals?
- Claims: Have I identified the strengths and experiences that make me a suitable candidate?
- Evidence: Have I supported those claims with relevant examples?
If your letter contains several impressive-sounding claims but very little evidence, strengthen your examples.
If you’ve written a long account of your experiences without explaining their relevance, return to your central argument.
And always follow the application instructions. A strong framework cannot compensate for ignoring the programme’s requirements.
Your story deserves a convincing application
At NGTL, we believe access to international opportunities should begin with knowing how to prepare for them.
That’s why our Beyond Borders initiative focuses on equipping young people with practical knowledge for navigating educational and professional opportunities beyond their immediate environments.
A compelling motivation letter isn’t about pretending to be the perfect applicant.
It’s about helping the reader understand your journey, recognise your potential and see why the opportunity makes sense for you.
Make your argument. Support your claims. Show your evidence.
Explore Beyond Borders and take the next step towards your international ambitions.
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