Sample Letter of Intent for Graduate School

In academia, a letter of intent is a formal letter written by aspiring students to the institute in which they intend to pursue further education. The letter focuses on the introduction of the individual, and his intent to get admitted to the particular educational institute. Simply put, a letter of intent to graduate school is an essay written by the aspirant which highlights his intention of joining that particular institute, and reasons to do so. While your degrees and certificates give the authorities an overview of your academic records, the letter of intent gives them an insight of various other facets of your life. After going through the sample letter of intent for graduate school, given below, you will be able to get a clear picture of this concept.

Letter of Intent for Graduate School

When you apply for a graduate school, you are usually expected to submit a letter of intent to that school. The formal letter, limiting to about a page, is roughly an outline of your profile which covers various things including your educational qualification, accomplishments in various extra-curricular activities and, the most important, why do you intend to join that particular graduation school. You need to be well-prepared when writing the letter of intent, as it is this personal statement which helps you make the first impression on the school authorities. The first impression becomes all the more important, when you take into consideration the intense competition involved with hundreds of aspirants vying for the same spot as you are.

How to Write a Letter of Intent for Graduate School?

First of all, create a list of achievements you would like to mention in the letter of intent, as this will help you format your letter of intent properly. It's important to be honest, not just with the particulars that you mention in the letter, but also with the reason you provide. The chances of these graduate schools carrying out a cross check on the shortlisted candidates cannot be ruled out. If at all they do and you end up being caught for fabrication, it can result in a blot on your career. It is very important to keep your letter short and to the point, unnecessary flattery is not going to take you anywhere. In your letter of intent, you are ideally expected to mention about your academic records, achievements, strengths, weaknesses and career plans in brief.

Sample Letter of Intent for Graduate School

The whole motive of this intent letter is to convince the authorities that you really are passionate about pursuing your studies in the said institute, without going overboard and trying to portray something that is not true. Given below is a sample letter of intent for grad school, which will give you a rough idea as to how you should go ahead with this letter, and make the most of this opportunity that you are getting.

Respected (name of the concerned person). My name is (your name). At present, I am pursuing my studies as a senior at the (name of the University), majoring in (subject). I am writing this letter to express my interest in your (mention the name of the program you intend to do) at the (name of the university). I have had a decent academic record, along with significant achievements in the field of sports. Both of which will ensure that I would be an asset for the university. I learned about the (name of the program) offered by your university through the university website (if not the website, name the source of information). The program in particular caught my interest, because of the cutting edge research I would get to experience while I pursue my education at your university. This, combined with some of the best professors as my mentors, i would consider myself lucky to be a part of the university which has been at the forefront of education revolution since a long time. I would like to discuss more about this program with you. My phone number is (your phone number), and my email address is (email address). I would be looking forward to get in touch with you. Sincerely, (your name).

You should not forget that the intent letter is a formal letter, which means the use of words like dear and yours is strictly prohibited. More importantly, it should not have grammatical errors, as your command on the language will be under scrutiny when it comes to first impression. Before you send the letter, you should make sure that it's free of any grammatical or factual errors. For this you can either proofread the letter yourself or, to be on the safer side, consult the guidance counselor from your current institute and make the necessary changes.

The sample letter of intent for graduate school given above, was just to give you a brief idea about the format of a letter of intent and points you need to take into consideration. As with any important document, it is wise to create a copy of your letter of intent and keep it with yourself. In the worst case scenario, if something goes wrong you should not have any difficulty in resending it at the earliest. You need to treat this as a once in a life opportunity, and give it your best shot. Some efforts at this point of time will not just ensure you a seat in a prominent graduate school, but a bright future as well.