<p>So I checked out the BU Barnes & Nobel site to see the list of required textbooks for the Fall semester. For example, the Calc I textbooks for CAS MA 123 are: <a href=“http://bu.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TBListView[/url]”>http://bu.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TBListView</a></p>
<p>I’m about to order my books online from Ebay or a similar site with used student textbooks. Before doing so I wanted to make sure: do teachers change their lists at the last minute? Do different sections for the same course have the same books, or do they differ? </p>
<p>If I’m attending August 31st-September 2 session for Orientation and don’t know my schedule yet, can I go ahead and order the books without knowing which section of the course I’m registered for?</p>
<p>When we went to orientation last week, they said that most people buy used or rent from Barnes and Noble the first semester, as they box them up and have them ready for you the first day. when you are dealing with all the other details of movein, they said that it is easier if your books are there waiting for you, adn you don’t have to schlep them around. The price for used/rental is slightly higher there, but with all the other hoopla it balances out well. They also told us that it you want the sku numbers of the books, they will show when you load the virtual cart at Barnes and Noble. Then if you decide to buy elsewhere, you have all the skus. I can’t speak to the other issues re sections…</p>
<p>don’t order your books before you’re actually scheduled…all the different sections of classes tend to have different textbooks depending on the prof.</p>
<p>profs don’t usually change them once they’re up though. amazon.com has free 2 day shipping for students, so once you register you can get your books pretty quick.</p>
<p>The only time I ever buy my books from Barnes is when no one else sells them (for example, if your professor wrote the book it’s usually not on Ebay/Amazon unless it’s been actually published for everyone in the world to use). Barnes is usually very expensive and you can always find a better deal on Amazon or Ebay. I highly recommend buying them from there. Your booklist should have all the ISBN #'s anyway so you should be able to get the exact book you need. Don’t buy them until your schedule is final. Prof’s don’t usually change them although I’ve had a couple that did but that was only because I bought my books wicked early.</p>