The Beauty of Pure Science : Recommendations

L

leto

Registered Users (C)
Dear all,

In the process of drafting recommendation letters, I and my boyfriend have heated arguments.

In order to sucessfully convince the INS officer in the usefulness of my boyfriend for the American nation, would not it be important to translate "twice doped ... impurities.... metal... alloy" rubbish?

That is..... not to translate, but to explain why this metal ... alloy is important to know? How it is used in industry?

My boyfriend is in theoretical physics, and when I ask him to explain why this experiment was interesting enough for him to explain or to predict, he says : "Because it is beautiful !". And, of course, he has no idea as to where and how the materials in question are used, and I have to google it...

My question is, then, - how important it is to insist in the recommendation letter on real life application of a particular research? Is there a danger to over-popularize the letter?

I will really appreciate your comments and experiences on writing recommendation letters.
 
It might partly depend on the purpose of the reco letters. If he is applying under National Interest Waiver (NIW), it is very important to show the usefulness of his work to the US, and to the point where the usual labor certification process would be detrimental in the nation's interests.

On the other hand, if he is applying under the extraordinary ability or oustanding researcher categories, then it is more important to show that he is person with such research abilities that have been extensively documented. The field of endeavor does have to have some intrinsic merit in terms of usefulness (otherwise one can always claim extraordinary ability in standing on a single leg for 1 week, but that wont count), but this is not a problem usually. If you are using an attorney, have the attorney proof-read the reco letters before sending it off to the writers for signature.
 
I think NIW petitions can use current experience at the current position, while labor certs cannot. Thus, a fresher out of school working in a "NIW postition" can use the experience gained to justify NIW petition. Also, the same fresher is disadvantaged if he is made to go through labor cert as its highly unlikely that DOL will grant it (depends on situation, of course) as the job ad will be for a position requiring no experience. So, the trick is to justify that current experience is so invaluable that it cannot be replaced (if the position lends itself to that) and will harm the national interest if labor cert is required.
 
thanks

He is applying under NIW.

1- What I meant was:

A recommender talks about an experiment carried out to validate the candidate's theory, and says that his theoretical hypotheses on "cerium alloys" were indeed proved by the experiment. Should we elaborate on "cerium alloys", say that they find various applications, such as manufacture of glass, petroleum industry... blah, blah, blah.... ?

2- Unfortunately, we cannot afford a lawyer. On the other had, this might not be a bad thing, considering rather unfortunate experiences people on this forum had with some lawyers.
I would therefore deeply appreciate if a person who independently succeded in having his/her NIW approved, shared his/her experiences with us.

- We have already understood that "extraordinary" and " outstanding" are keywords for recommendations.
- Also, if I presume correctly, after speaking about "extraordinarity" of the candidate in general, recommenders would move on to focus on a particular important aspect of the work. This structure however makes the letters look suspiciously (or tiresome) alike. Any suggestions for better style ?
And...
What are other important guidelines?

Meanwhile, I thank Jllag and Raj1994 for comments and look forward to hear from you guys again.
 
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You will have an opportunity to describe the more esoteric terms in lay-people's language in the cover letter of your application. For the recommendation letters from stalwarts in the field, it may not be a good idea to cheapen them too much by using watered-down language.

I recently had a successful application for OR, I went through similar mental anguish. I spent a lot of time preparing the letters trying to find the right balance between understandability and some scholarly weight. Even though I used a lawyer, I wrote 100% of all letters myself (except for some minor changes made by the people signing the letters).

Good luck.

Max
 
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