<p>When should I start buying them? Before or after I register with my classes? Where do I get them from?</p>
<p>Also....in my bill it lists books as part of the tuition...and i have the tuition paid for...does that mean the university will hand me the books when i arrive on campus...?</p>
<p>No, you have to buy the books yourself. Books have never been included in the tuition fee on my bill. Are you sure you’re not looking at the estimated cost of attendance that the financial aid office sends out? The estimated COA includes a couple thousand dollars for books, but most people don’t pay that much.</p>
<p>You can buy books from the Columbia B&N bookstore in the basement of Lerner Hall. It has already started receiving textbooks. You can go to the bookstore website and enter your course numbers to see which textbooks your professors have ordered (although not all lists are up yet). Professors will often place orders with Book Culture (academic bookstore on 112th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam) instead of the Columbia bookstore, though.</p>
<p>Both Book Culture and the Columbia bookstore sell used books, but I don’t think their deals are that good. You can get cheaper used books online at sites like Amazon marketplace and Half.com. Of course, if your professor assigned the new edition of a textbook, then chances are you won’t find too many used editions out there.</p>
<p>Mate, we get a voucher or something to spend at the Columbia bookstore at the basement of Lerner. It is advised to go online and look for used books so we can buy more miscellaneous items. new books cost around $250</p>
<p>how long does the mail room hold big packages? i’m thinking of ordering my textbooks from Amazon and trying to figure out when to place the order. i need them in time for classes, but can’t have them arriving too early if i have to collect them immediately. any advice? thanks!</p>
<p>Being paranoid here, are the textbooks that Amazon sells exactly the same as the ones required by professors? For example, I know that Calculus: Early Transcendentals, Sixth Edition is required for all 4 calc classes at Columbia. If I were to buy that book from Amazon.com, it would be the same right? The professors wouldn’t change the textbook all of a sudden?</p>
<p>According to the Columbia mailroom website, the mailroom will hold packages for up to 14 days until they are returned. After 7 days, they’ll send you an email telling you to come pick up your package. We should all be on campus already in two weeks, not counting time for shipping, so anything we order now we should be able to pick up from the mailroom before the time expires.</p>
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Yes, especially if you search by ISBN. If you’re buying used textbooks, read the descriptions carefully. Some of them are international or instructor’s editions.</p>
<p>Once professors decide on a textbook for a class, you can depend on it. They might recommend other texts once school starts, though. But for a class like calculus, that’s the textbook they’ve been using for years.</p>
<p>thanks zaknafein!</p>
<p>it’s odd that the columbia bookstore website does not list the ISBN for required textbooks…has anyone managed to find them?</p>
<p>The bookstore never gives the ISBNs on its website. At least, I’ve never seen them anywhere. Can’t make it too easy for the students to save money, you know.</p>
<p>Demeter, since we get a voucher type thingy when we buy books, if we don’t use it all on books, can we buy other things in the bookstore?</p>
<p>by ‘voucher’ do you mean the flyer for 10% off that they mailed us a while ago?</p>
<p>This is a list of (I’m pretty sure) all of the right editions and translators from Amazon.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Lit Hum 1st Semester Books: Columbia University](<a href=“http://amzn.com/l/R1T53LCLY4I1WF]Amazon.com:”>http://amzn.com/l/R1T53LCLY4I1WF)</p>
<p>For books, I like to buy them after I’ve gone to class. I keep running into the problem where I buy all my books and then half the books I bought, we never actually use. So to save money, I’ll wait and try to gauge whether or not they’ll be used a great deal.</p>
<p>^But how are you going to get by in the first few days, without textbooks? Are you saying that profs don’t rely on them much in the first week, or that there are ways to survive without textbooks?</p>
<p>In my experience, they usually expect students not to have the books for the first few days and avoid relying on them to teach. If they’re still talking about the same book a few weeks in, then I’ll buy it. If not, then I won’t get it.</p>
<p>Most of my professors rarely used the books they tell us to buy. They either never reference them or have slides with all the pertinent information from the book.</p>
<p>Of course there are certain classes you should just go ahead and buy the books for, like an English or lit class, where it’s almost guaranteed you’ll use the book. Or a class you know you might have difficulty in.</p>
<p>That Amazon list is accurate for the first semester of Lit Hum - except for the Bible.</p>
<p>Hmm, I did manage to miss that one somehow, didn’t I? Most people probably have a copy of the bible, but it’s worth adding to the list. Fixed!</p>
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<p>Why would you say that? Columbia is a place that prides itself on diversity. (I’m guessing some Asians don’t have it :)) Also, some people might not have the right edition or translation of the bible. Just compare the King James to the Revised Modern edition (or whatever its called).</p>
<p>^^Epaminondas. It’s not just asians who do not have Bibles. I have many caucasian friends don’t have a copy of the Bible either.</p>
<p>Full disclosure: I actually don’t have a copy of the Bible either. I guess I’m still in the mindset of my mostly-Christian mostly-white small town. I am sad that we’re not using the King James, though. It has this particular lilting cadence that really appeals to me. I guess the idea is to study the Bible as a piece of 2000 year old(ish) literature, not 500 year old literature. Oh well.</p>