The motivation letter: optional in Milan, three boxes of 200 words in Delft

It is not one document but three different requirements

A great deal has been written about the motivation letter, and almost all of it is about how to write one. It is more useful to find out first what your particular university is asking for, because the requirements differ not in detail but in kind.

We opened the requirements pages of three universities from our catalogue and wrote down what they say word for word. Very little of it agrees.

Milan: the letter is optional, which does not mean skip it

In its list of documents for applicants with a foreign qualification, Politecnico di Milano marks the motivation letter optional. Its own wording: a document that "can improve your chances of being positively evaluated".

The limit is two pages maximum. And one line worth reading twice: if you apply to two courses, you must write two different letters. Not one letter for two applications.

The recommendation letter is optional there too, with conditions: it is written by a current or former professor, and it must contain that professor's institutional contacts. No particular format is required.

Separately: the CV is mandatory, two pages maximum.

"Optional" in a list like that reads only one way. The university is saying outright that the document affects the assessment. Leaving it out means declining something you were offered.

Delft: not a letter but four fields with word caps

At TU Delft, on the CoSEM master's programme, the motivation is not free text. It is four blocks, each with its own cap:

up to 200 words on your motivation for the programme and what you expect from it; up to 100 words on which track interests you most and why; up to 200 words describing two different hypothetical thesis projects; and a list of courses you have passed, at least 30 ECTS, in at least two of three subjects — economics, law and policy.

That third item is a task, not an account of yourself. You are asked to invent two topics and show that you understand what the programme actually does.

And a procedural condition from the same page: the application goes through the university's own system, applications submitted by mail or e-mail will not be processed, and incomplete ones are not processed either.

Shanghai: no limit on length, but they check who recommends you

Shanghai Jiao Tong answers the question about length directly: the personal statement or study plan should be in English or Chinese, and "beyond that, we don't have any specific requirement concerning its length or structure".

The requirement sits where people do not expect it. Two academic references are needed, from scholars who are associate professors or above, or senior professionals in a related field.

That changes the order of things. If a referee has to hold a rank, you arrange it while you can still choose whom to ask, not in the week before the deadline.

What follows in practice

Requirements first, text second. A two-page letter written for a university that asks for 200 words has to be started again, and the reverse is just as true.

Count in the unit they count in. Pages and words are different measures, and a university usually names one of them explicitly.

"Optional" is not "unnecessary" when the university itself writes that the document affects the assessment.

One programme, one letter. Where it is stated outright, as in Milan, a shared letter across two applications breaks the requirement rather than saving time.

Find your referee early, particularly where a rank is specified.

Everything here was read on the universities' own pages in October 2026: polimi.it, tudelft.nl and gc.sjtu.edu.cn. Requirements change, and differ between programmes inside one university — open the page for your own programme, not the general one.