Step 3: Letters of Recommendation

Three letters of recommendation are a required part of each application. The individuals whom you approach to write a recommendation letter for you, also known as your referees, should be familiar with your work and accomplishments. Please do not ask three persons from the same organization to serve as your referees.

Individuals writing letters of recommendation should review our Instructions for Referees.

In Step 3 of your application, you will be asked to provide the names and contact information for the three individuals who have agreed to write letters of recommendation on your behalf.

Soon after you enter their names and contact information in the appropriate fields, each of your referees will receive an auto-email from fellowships@ned.org with instructions on how to submit a letter of recommendation via the online system.

A day or two after you complete this step, we recommend that you check in with your referees to make sure that they have received our auto-email with instructions. If they have not, please contact us via email, so that we may send them the login information they will need to submit their letter of recommendation.

Once your referees log in to the online system, they will be able to read your project proposal and upload their letter of recommendation to the system.

Please Note: It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that all three referees have submitted their letters. An application will not be considered complete until all three letters of recommendation have been submitted.