Steve2016

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I started this thread just out of curiosity, but it's actually very useful information.

True, but I generally find that there are some lasting interests in their research. I usually try to identify those major threads and relate them to my own interests, rather than talk about how I loved their books at length.

Similar here. I mentioned Dr. Moi (is this pronounced as in French??) and Chow

I absolutely agree with this haha. For example, I would casually mention someone in my writing sample and then later worry that I perhaps misrepresented him/her and go into some random bout of reading. I'm applying to NYU, CUNY (political theory), Cornell, and Brown, and a couple in Canada. Who did you designate as your supervisor in Duke, if I may ask?

I agree with you and I write only about a line or two on each professor in relation to my interests, but I think reading them thoroughly does make a difference even when you write so little. But now, I just submitted Duke application and I got three deadlines on the 15th, so it's virtually impossible to do a thorough research of any of my potential supervisors for now I guess. I was more just curious about how others compose their statement. Just to create some more legitimate source of distraction from my reading haha...

Hey everyone, so I was reading through some of the posts here and suddenly became curious about this. How many articles/books of your potential supervisors do you read before applying to that school? I know that so many people apply to over 10 schools but that seems to be an impossibility for me since I am reading about 2-3 books from each potential supervisor (and probably about one third to half of each book). So since I'm applying to 7 places, that makes it around 30 books. And given that these are heavily theoretical books, I just couldn't comprehend how applying to 15 schools is possible! Anyway I just want to know how everyone prepares this part of their application, and what you usually say about their potential supervisors in your writing sample. BTW I'm applying to complit/cultural theory courses including Duke literature and Brown modern culture and media.

Thanks AP and TakeruK for responses!

Hello everyone. I want to ask people who did a degree in the UK about how you indicate grades on your application forms. As you know, in UK universities 70 means first-class or A. But this is out of 100, so when you say you got 60 out of 100 it sounds like you haven't done very well although it is B. My application forms ask me to write what is the maximum mark achievable and what I got. Technically, you can get 100 but no one gets anywhere near it. I know this because I got 78 overall and I am the top of the class. Is there anyone having trouble for the same reason?

Thanks a lot for the advice!

Hey everyone, i just wanted to ask those of you who have kindle if it's worth paying over $100 for. As everyone else here, I spend a lot of time reading on my laptop and it's really hurting my eyes. I always set my screen to negative so it's a little better but still it's not very good. On the other hand, I mostly download my books cos I can't pay for them. So Kindle users, please tell me if it's better for eyes and if it is, is it really much better compared to a good quality laptop screen (HD, IPS, etc.)?

yeah that's true, hopefully something will come out this week

hey guys, i've been waitlist in February and received an email few weeks ago from DGS asking me if I'm still interested, to which I replied positively, and received no notice since. I'm really sick and tired of waiting... Should I be hopeful?