Regarding college books

[verycontrary247]

Did you buy your books before classes start or wait until the first day to find out if you really need it?

[Jalapeñomel]

Always before and if I didn't need them, I returned them.

[MWOS]

Neither.

Books are for suckers.

[sewf]

Always before, but my scholarship paid for them.

[sawyerthedestroyer]

I waited and verified the title/edition on the syllabus.

[Deleted]

Before. It was before the Internet. Stone Age!

[frauschmindy]

Never before. Waste of money.

Only sometimes after.

[pinkplasticdoll]

I always buy them after the first class day because sometimes they will allow a previous version if they have the homework problem set numbers. Sometimes I borrow them from friends so I will have them before classes start.

[annyong]

After.

[Deleted]

Always bought ahead. Most were a waste of money though.

[PinkSquirrel]

I would buy some before and some after. Anything that was expensive I would grab a used copy of at the bookstore right away, but that was a relatively small portion of my books. Most of my books were $15-30 (sociology major = cheap books but loads of them) and I would wait on those because I had teachers that like to change things up at the last minute.

[emsumm]

Before. I really love books, I couldn't wait to buy mine
I was an anthro/arch major, though, and my books were generally fun.

[Bonita]

Always before, and most were needed

[fuckyourcouch]

I pretty much always waited, and then sometimes I just didn't buy them. I was poor and it worked out. Lol

[bonquiqui]

A lot of times the info isn't avail before, so i generally wait, unless i know for sure what i need

[Doc_Lobster]

My undergrad had rentals, but for grad school I bought them right away and then sold back at the end of the semester if they weren't something I wanted to keep long term.

[Deleted]

Always before.
I take all of my classes online and they rely a lot on the textbook chapters.

[caitlinbree]

Before.

I buy all of the required and most of the recommended before classes start. My work pays for 90% of it though, so I don't mind spending the money.

[blueshirt2003]

I bought them before and always used them.

[nsl]

Always before. English major = generally cheap books. The grad program i'm in now is also really good about not putting books on the syllabus that we won't really need. In almost two years I think I've only had that problem once.

[ohiowan]

I always bought ahead, but I wish I wouldve used the internet more or tried to find them through the library.

[drrn04]

Jan 6, 2013 0:31:25 GMT -5 @weeble said:

Before. It was before the Internet. Stone Age!

yep.

Well, I wasn't technically before the internet, but it was juuust getting big when I was in college. It was a HUGE deal that they'd just re-wired all the dorms to have ethernet connections in each room before my freshman year started.

[auntie]

When I was in college- pre-internet- I would attend classes and go buy.

For DS, we buy most ahead of time on amazon or from some other source. His school has specific in-house books for math, so those must be bought after attending the first class. Pisses me off for him to have to wait in the lines for that. So far only his comp and math books are unlisted for the Spring Semester.

[ProfessorArtNerd]

Academics- I'd usually buy them.
Studio classes- wait and usually never buy them. We never needed them

[RoxMonster]

I always bought the required books ahead of time. Usually never bought the recommended ones. A lot of times I'd buy the required on Amazon a couple weeks before classes started. The bookstore never seemed to have enough copies and would run out if you would wait until after classes started. Plus our bookstore offered full refunds for books up to two weeks after classes started if it turned out a prof said we didn't need a certain book.

[Jalapeñomel]

Jan 6, 2013 0:41:51 GMT -5 emsumm said:

Before. I really love books, I couldn't wait to buy mine
I was an anthro/arch major, though, and my books were generally fun.

Me too, and I hardly ever sold them back too.

[Dumbledork]

Rent that shit! textbookrentals.com Cheaper and there's no selling back disappointment to deal with at the end of the semester. The earlier you do it, the cheaper it is. I got books last full semester for under $150.

[medicmommy]

Always get the required ones before class starts. Depending on what class and how much they are, sometimes I'll rent them.

[verycontrary247]

I'm hesitating buying them because I obviously want to go the cheapest used/rent route- buuuuut it mentions the book comes with a disc and I don't know if it's one of those "one time use code" discs. Last time I was in school we HAD to buy the new book because we needed the disc code to do assignments and of course you couldn't just buy the disc.

[pinkplasticdoll]

Jan 6, 2013 13:26:41 GMT -5 verycontrary247 said:

I'm hesitating buying them because I obviously want to go the cheapest used/rent route- buuuuut it mentions the book comes with a disc and I don't know if it's one of those "one time use code" discs. Last time I was in school we HAD to buy the new book because we needed the disc code to do assignments and of course you couldn't just buy the disc.

Most classes will use a online program now that wont need a disc and you can buy the code. What type of class is it? math? science? english? psych?

At any rate it has almost always been cheaper for me to rent the book and then buy the code separately.