<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I was just wondering if most of you bought your books before or after classes started?</p>
<p>Also...do we really need to buy all those books (St. Martin's, ACP, Writing with Sources) for Writing 100????</p>
<p>Don't buy St. Martin's. You technically need it, but our teacher had us read like 10 pages total out of it all year, and style guides and writing handbooks like St. Martin's aren't cheap. See if you can borrow it from a roommate, or make copies.</p>
<p>I agree with melanie. I spent over $50 on St. Martins and I only read like five pages out of it. You should see if the book is on reserves at the library. you definitely need the reader and writing with sources is very cheap.</p>
<p>wow...the forum is really dead in the summer o_o</p>
<p>so do WashU students get a discount on textbooks? would you recommend buying most books before arriving on campus?</p>
<p>Yes, if you are ABSOLUTELY sure that you will take a class, buy the books for that class way ahead of time. I recommend buying them from half.com, amazon.com, or barnes and noble's website. That way, you can get them very cheap. Last semester, I pay less than $200 for books because I refused to buy them from the bookstore.</p>
<p>although be careful about some of the books that are sold in packages at the bookstore/the custom books. The bookstore is sneaky, and some of the books that you need for classes include special internet access codes that you aren't going to get if you buy the same book from another store. </p>
<p>That being said, also you can find some deals once you get to campus. Lock and Chain has a booksale in the Gargoyle (bottom floor of Mallinkrodt) where you can pick up some decently priced books. And you may show up to class and the professor will say, "Well, we're actually not going to be using this book much, but I put it on the list just in case..." or something like that.</p>
<p>So... is it a good idea to wait until classes begin before buying books? Or, is it best to order all your books beforehand and then return what you don't need?</p>
<p>When do professors expect you guys to have your books? </p>
<p>I ordered a chemistry book via Amazon and the estimated delivery date was Sept. 10!!!</p>
<p>Actually, you can usually buy the Internet code from the company.</p>
<p>For instance, last semester, I took Spanish 201. Because I needed an access code, he books for that class cost almost $200, and I refused to pay that much. So, I bought the books from a friend who took the class the previous semester. Then I called the company and bought the Internet access code from them for only $47. In the end, I ended up saving almost $100.</p>
<p>[Q]I ordered a chemistry book via Amazon and the estimated delivery date was Sept. 10!!![/Q]</p>
<p>It shouldn't take that long. I would contact the seller directly and see if you can expedite this.</p>
<p>Yeah, that does seem like a really long time. I assume it's for gen chem? I don't know if it will be a similar structure this year, but last year there was a reading assignment for the week (and the first one or two were pretty basic). There were problem sets (can't remember when we got the first one) but they're not collected, and are really for your own good. Some of them did require the book, but a lot were problems written by the professors.(could be different this year). So the first thing that will actually impact your grade will be the first quiz, which won't be until after the first one or two recitation sections meet. So even if for some reason it really does take that long for your book to arrive, you're probably only going to be behind by a few pages of easy reading (what is the periodic table? why study chemistry? what is the history of the discovery of the atom, etc.). That being said, I personally would still be really annoyed if I had to wait that long to get my textbook! But sometimes Amazon's estimates can be a little off. Especially if you're buying the book from a third party. So I'd definitely still follow vtoodler's advice.</p>
<p>Also, thanks vtoodler for the helpful info about access codes!</p>