Motivation letter for a master’s in computer engineering in Italy
Who wrote it
Nour Abed graduated in computer engineering in Gaza in 2025 and has spent 18 months as a remote firmware developer. She is applying for an MSc in Turin.
The writer and every detail about them are fictional.
What went into the template
- Programme and university
- MSc Computer Engineering (Embedded Systems track), Politecnico di Torino
- Your background
- BSc Computer Engineering, Islamic University of Gaza, 2025, GPA 3.71/4, 4th of 63
Last two semesters online; my family moved three times
Final project: ESP32 energy monitor for a solar battery shared by 14 apartments; cut-outs fell from almost daily to twice a week over 3 months
18 months junior firmware developer (remote), Nabd Metering, Amman: wrote the over-the-air update module, now on about 2,000 meters - Why this programme?
- Embedded Systems track: hardware and firmware designed together, power-aware design, project courses on real boards
Turin: long tradition in automotive electronics
I built my project by trial and error and want to learn to do it properly - Your plan after it
- A few years in industry (energy or automotive electronics), then back to the region to build affordable metering for shared solar systems
The writer’s facts, as typed into the template’s form. The example uses nothing else.
The example
Motivation letter: Master’s, engineering
Numbered notes in the margin explain each choice.
Dear Admissions Committee,
Greeting
Every evening at around seven1, the fourteen families in the building where we were living in Deir al-Balah switched on their washing machines and water pumps at almost the same moment, and the solar battery we shared cut out. For my final-year project I set out to stop that from happening. I built a monitor from an ESP32 and two current sensors that showed each household, on a small screen by the door, how much power the battery could spare in the next hour. Over the following three months the battery cut out twice a week instead of almost every day2. That project is why I am applying for the MSc in Computer Engineering at Politecnico di Torino, on the Embedded Systems track.
Opening: a real problem
Note 1: It opens with a scene only this applicant could write: a time, a number of families, a problem. Within two sentences the committee knows what she builds and why.
Note 2: A result with a before and an after. It is modest and checkable, which makes it more convincing than a big claim.
The monitor worked, but I built much of it by trial and error3. I chose the sensors from forum posts, and I tuned the battery estimate by watching it fail. I want to learn to do this properly: to design the hardware and the firmware together, to think about power from the first sketch, and to test a device before fourteen families depend on it. The Embedded Systems track is organised around exactly these questions, and its project courses would let me work on real boards rather than in simulation. Turin matters to me as well. Its long tradition in automotive electronics makes it a place where small, reliable, low-power devices are designed for millions of users.
Why this programme
Note 3: Admitting a gap turns the programme into the answer. Her reason for applying is what she cannot do yet, not praise for the university.
I graduated in 2025 with a BSc in Computer Engineering from the Islamic University of Gaza, with a GPA of 3.71 out of 4, fourth in a class of 634. I completed my last two semesters online while my family moved three times. Since then I have worked for 18 months as a junior firmware developer for Nabd Metering, a small company in Amman that makes smart electricity meters. Working remotely, I wrote the over-the-air update module that now runs on about 2,000 meters, and I learned how expensive a single bug becomes once a device is on someone’s wall5.
Evidence: studies and work
Note 4: The rank gives the GPA meaning for a reader who does not know how her university grades.
Note 5: One lesson from work, in plain words, shows maturity better than “I gained valuable experience” ever could.
After the degree I want to spend a few years in industry, in energy or automotive electronics, learning how reliable products are designed, tested and certified. Then I want to return to the region and build affordable metering for the small shared solar systems6 that so many buildings at home now depend on.
The plan
Note 6: The plan points back to the opening, so the letter ends on her own problem instead of a slogan about changing the world.
Thank you for considering my application. I would be glad to send the project report or the firmware repository if either would help.
Closing
Sincerely,
Nour Abed
Structure
How it is built
Each part in order, with its share of the words.
Checklist
Before you send
Go through your own draft line by line.
Before and after
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Lines like these turn up in many drafts by Arabic speakers. Each fix keeps the meaning and changes only the English.
Since I was a child, I have dreamed of studying in Italy, the land of art and science.
Every evening at around seven, the fourteen families in our building switched on their washing machines, and the solar battery we shared cut out.
I graduated from computer engineering with a high GPA.
I graduated in 2025 with a BSc in Computer Engineering and a GPA of 3.71 out of 4, fourth in a class of 63.
I want to develop myself and gain experience in the embedded systems field.
I want to learn to design hardware and firmware together, and to test a device before people depend on it.
Questions people ask
How long should a motivation letter for a master’s in Italy be?
Follow the limit in the call for applications first: some programmes ask for one page, others give a word or character count. Without a limit, 400 to 600 words on one page is a safe length. This example has about 420.
Should I mention the war or other hard circumstances?
Only when it explains something the committee will notice, such as online semesters, a gap or a late document, and only briefly. State the fact once, then move to what you did. In this letter it takes half a sentence; the letter is about engineering.
Can I send the same motivation letter to several universities?
Reuse your evidence, not your reasons. The paragraph on why this programme has to be rewritten for each one, with its own track, courses, labs or city. A letter that could go anywhere convinces no one.
Every writer in this library is fictional, and so is every detail about them. Universities and companies appear only as places someone applies to; the professors, papers and facts mentioned around them are invented for teaching. Use the examples to learn the moves, never as text to copy: committees notice, and your own facts are stronger.