Maastricht: Motivation letter

About 1-2 pages (roughly 400-700 words)

Write a motivation letter (about one to two pages, in English) explaining why you want to study this specific bachelor's programme at Maastricht University, why you are suited to it and to problem-based learning, and what you hope to do with it. Use the format provided in the MyApplication portal.

What it’s really asking

Maastricht is asking three linked questions in one document: Why this exact programme? Why are you ready for problem-based learning and an international classroom? And what do you actually bring as evidence, not adjectives? It is a statement of purpose, not a personal narrative, and selective and numerus fixus programmes weigh it heavily.

Why they ask it

For selective, numerus fixus, and University College programmes, the motivation letter is the main written test of fit. Grades show you can pass; the letter shows you understand what you are signing up for, that you have a real reason to be in this specific room in Maastricht, and that you can carry your weight in a self-directed PBL tutorial.

Three ways in

Mine the curriculum page

Open the programme's curriculum page and find two or three specific courses, themes, or projects that genuinely excite you, then write down exactly why each one pulls you. Specificity here is the whole game.

Inventory your evidence

List your real evidence: a project you led, a book or debate that shifted your thinking, an internship, a time you taught yourself something or worked in a self-directed team. Pick the one or two that best prove you are ready for PBL.

Name a direction

Write one honest sentence about where you want this degree to take you. It does not need to be a fixed career, but it should show direction and connect back to why Maastricht's approach fits that path.

✕ Weak opening

“Ever since I was a child, I have been passionate about understanding the world and helping people, which is why Maastricht University is my dream school.”

✓ Strong opening

“I came to economics sideways, through a school debate on whether my town should subsidise its only bus route, and I have wanted to argue questions like that with real models ever since.”

✦ Annotated example · PBL fit: Econometrics & Operations Research. Written by EssayLens to teach, not a real applicant’s essay. Tap a highlighted line →

Dear Admissions Committee, I want to study the BSc in Econometrics and Operations Research at Maastricht University, and I want to be specific about why. Last year my secondary school ran a fundraising tombola that lost money every single time, and the teacher running it shrugged and said it was just bad luck. I did not believe her. I spent two weekends building a spreadsheet model of the prize structure and discovered that the expected payout per ticket was 1.40 euros against a price of 1 euro. The tombola was not unlucky. It was badly designed. When I redrew the prize tiers, the next event cleared 380 euros.¹That experience taught me the thing I find most exciting about econometrics: the gap between what people assume is random and what is actually structured and solvable. I do not want to study mathematics in the abstract. I want to point it at messy, real problems and see whether the model holds. Your programme is unusual in pairing rigorous statistics and optimisation with constant application, and that combination is exactly what I have been looking for.²I am suited to problem-based learning for reasons I can demonstrate rather than assert. In my final two years I co-ran a small peer-tutoring group for maths, and I learned quickly that I understood a topic best when I had to reconstruct it out loud with three other people poking holes in my reasoning. When I tutored Bayesian probability, a classmate asked a question about prior selection that I could not answer, and chasing that answer together taught me more than the original lesson had. I am comfortable not being the person with the answer at the start of the session. I am comfortable being wrong in front of others if it moves the group forward.³I also know the format will stretch me. I tend to want to solve problems alone and present a finished answer, and PBL deliberately removes that comfort. I see that as the point. The professional version of this work, whether in a central bank, a logistics firm, or a research group, is never solitary, and I would rather build the muscle of thinking in a group now than discover I lack it later.⁴To prepare, I have worked through the first chapters of Stock and Watson's introductory econometrics text and taught myself enough R to run a linear regression on five years of my town's cycling-accident data, which I had requested from the municipality. The model was crude and my standard errors were almost certainly wrong, but seeing a coefficient confirm a pattern I had only suspected was the most satisfying thing I did all year. I want a degree where that feeling is the daily work.⁵What I hope to do with the degree is concrete. I am drawn to operations research applied to public infrastructure, the kind of optimisation that decides where ambulances wait or how a rail timetable absorbs delay, because those models change ordinary lives at scale. Maastricht's international classroom and its links across the Euregion would let me test that interest against problems that cross borders, which most timetabling and logistics problems now do. I would be glad to bring my stubbornness about apparent randomness, my comfort with group work, and my willingness to be corrected to your tutorials. Thank you for considering my application. Yours sincerely, [Name]⁶

1Opens with a concrete story and real numbers (1.40 vs 1 euro, 380 euros) instead of an adjective like 'passionate.' Maastricht rewards evidence over adjectives, and this proves quantitative instinct rather than claiming it.
2States programme fit concretely by naming what is distinctive about THIS degree (statistics plus optimisation plus application), not generic praise that could apply to any university.
3Directly addresses readiness for problem-based learning with a specific anecdote about collaborative, self-directed inquiry, which is exactly how PBL tutorials run. It shows the trait in action rather than name-dropping the PBL acronym.
4Shows self-awareness by naming a genuine weakness (preferring to work alone) and framing PBL as the remedy. This honesty reads as mature and signals the applicant actually understands what PBL demands.
5Demonstrates initiative and self-direction with verifiable specifics (a named textbook, self-taught R, a real dataset from the municipality) and honestly flags the limits of the work, which again favours evidence and humility over inflated claims.
6Closes with a concrete goal (operations research for public infrastructure) tied back to a specific Maastricht strength (the international, cross-border Euregion setting), then callbacks to the letter's own themes, giving the whole piece unity and a clear sense of fit.

Stuck? Start here

Which two or three specific courses or themes on this programme's curriculum page genuinely excite me, and why each one?
What have I actually done (a project, a book, a job, a self-taught skill) that proves I can thrive in self-directed, small-group learning?
If I had to say in one sentence where I want this degree to take me, what would it be, and does my letter point there?

Before you submit

Have I named the specific programme and at least one real course, theme, or feature of its PBL approach?
Is at least two thirds of the letter about the discipline and the programme, with evidence rather than adjectives?
Is it under two pages, in clean professional English, and in the format requested in the MyApplication portal?

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