<p>recommended way of buying books? Is it better to wait until you get to campus or order them online like now? I know you take your schedule to look up the books, but that is as far as I know. Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>Also on a computer - do we need to supply our own Word, Excel etc</p>
<p>Everyone has different views on books, so I’ll let people who actually have methods (as opposed to my ‘buy at the bookstore because I totally forgot to get them earlier’ method) comment on that.</p>
<p>You will need to have some sort of word program, and depending on your classes you’ll need excel or powerpoint. You can get the non-microsoft versions of them if you want, but I’d advise just buying the student pack- even if you have a mac. It makes sharing documents/files easier and you definitely don’t want to be in the situation of needing powerpoint for a huge class project in the middle of the semester and having to do every single part of it at the library. However it’s not like you’ll absolutely die if you don’t have it or if you have the non-microsoft versions. Your computer will also need some sort of pdf reader for blackboard files, but I’ve never seen a computer that didn’t come with a basic program for that.</p>
<p>Engineering (and possibly physics), some computer science, and some art subjects will have specific computer requirements. They are on the resnet website.</p>
<p>I was also thinking if I should get Microsoft Office, iWork or perhaps just download OpenOffice or some other free program. Ultimately, I decided to get MS Office. iWork would probably be sufficient, but then again MS Office is generally a standard in business, so I thought it would be good to become even more proficient at it while I’m in college. </p>
<p>It generally depends mostly on your personal preferences. However, you do need to make a decision, because, as noted above, at some point you will need this type of software.</p>
<p>Also noteworthy (which above mentioned) is that it’s really really important for non-cs majors to be good with computers. I’m economics and I got hired solely because of my Excel skills. While on co-op the office switched from 2003 to 2007, and I became the go-to person for computer help just because I had been using 2007 on my laptop so I knew where the buttons were. So even though MS Office for Macs is a little different from the normal MS Office, I personally think it’s close enough to help your skills out.</p>
<p>Is it best to buy the recommended books soon, or wait until the semester starts?</p>
<p>most people wait until semester starts. Sometimes “required” books aren’t necessary, often “recommended” books are useless. Unless I know the book is required, I usually wait for the first day of class when the prof brings it up.</p>
<p>so there’s usually not too much of a problem getting the books you need then?</p>
<p>^ No, not really. And if you want until the first day of class, sometimes the professor will tell you if there is a difference between the older edition and the new edition of a textbook; getting the older edition can save you a lot of money (I bought my older edition calculus textbook for $8 while the new one sells for $40 used online).</p>
<p>I usually order the books online after class on the first day, get the books from the bookstore and return them later when the books have arrived or before the last day to return books.</p>
<p>Have you guys tried renting textbooks through Chegg? It’s way cheaper than buying the books from the bookstore. Check it out: [Chegg.com:</a> Rent Textbooks. Cheap Textbook Rentals for College](<a href=“http://www.chegg.com/]Chegg.com:”>http://www.chegg.com/) I used a coupon: CC125523 got an extra like 5% off. And when you sell books to them the code gets you an extra $5. Just figured I’d help out :)</p>
<p>i dont know if this is a stupid question, but how do we find out what books we need?</p>
<p>google this.
northeastern university bookstore</p>
<p>to the left you should see a few drop down menus.
Look at the schedule on myNEU</p>
<p>You’ll know what to do from there</p>
<p>oooo okay thanksssssssss</p>
<p>It’s a pain in the ass to attempt to buy the textbooks online before the semester. Your best course of action is to just go into the bookstore a few days before classes, buy all your textbooks, then go online and order them from various places for significantly cheaper. You can return your books to the bookstore within 15-20 days usuallly so just return them when the cheaper books arrive.</p>
<p>what info should i bring to the bookstore?
class names, professor, isbn?</p>
<p>bgirlforever, just bring your schedule</p>
<p>check out this site for your books. it looks for cheaper options for you
[GetchaBooks</a> › Welcome](<a href=“http://northeastern.getchabooks.com/index/]GetchaBooks”>http://northeastern.getchabooks.com/index/)</p>
<p>Question, do you think it makes more since to wait until classes start to see if Prof’s even want you to buy the book, or buy them before classes start…
In my other school, sometimes the Prof’s didn’t even want us to buy the book… just a thought.</p>
<p>It depends. For classes like math where you are pretty certain they will require the book, it’s usually better to buy it before. But I had two ‘required’ books for my advanced writing class on the bookstore’s website, and I just got an email from my prof saying we won’t be using any textbook.</p>