University endorsement is required for many competitive scholarships and fellowships, including the ones listed on this website. It means that a fellowship applicant is putting forth an application with the official approval of the University. Students may not submit their application materials directly to the fellowship agency on their own. For fellowships that are handled by the UH Mānoa Scholarships & Fellowships Office, nominees will go through an internal selection process before receiving institutional endorsement. For fellowships that are handled by other offices on campus, please check with each respective unit individually regarding their internal application process.
The internal campus application process is used to determine which candidates should be nominated for the official fellowship application. The University endorsement will be submitted along with the final application materials to the organization sponsoring the respective fellowships.
This endorsement is usually in the form of a letter, very similar to the letters of recommendation that student applicants will request from their references and include with their application. This letter should complement the other materials being submitted, provide context for the internal application process or elaborate on points within parts of the student's application that could benefit from further explanation. Unlike the letter of recommendation, student applicants do not need to make a formal request for the endorsement; the UH Mānoa Scholarships & Fellowships Office will take care of this component for nominated candidates.
Because this letter should offer additional insight into the student candidates, it is advantageous for applicants to maintain a working relationship with the UH Mānoa Scholarships & Fellowships Office. Endorsement letters that are written from a more personal standpoint and which speak to the student's character are looked more favorably upon by fellowship sponsoring agencies when making final selection of recipients.