<p>For 3/4 of my classes, I checked what books were required and I got this message:</p>
<p>**** To Be Determined ****
Course Material selections are still under review by department</p>
<p>but seriously, classes start in a week, so do I have to check everyday for book listings, or most likely will there be no textbooks?</p>
<p>Don’t try to get textbooks before classes unless you plan to read ahead. The lists aren’t always accurate and the professor/GSI may ask for some other texts instead. They (usually) don’t expect you to have the book on the first day of class.</p>
<p>Of course, it depends on the class and context, but this is the general approach for any course.</p>
<p>Back in school they never taught us what we needed to know
Like how to deal with the despair of not having your textbooks stuffed in your over-sized backpack bright and early on day 1 of school.</p>
<p>welcome to college. population of other people who care about what you do: 0.</p>
<p>You could email the instructor and ask; their emails are usually listed on the department websites</p>
<p>So you guys don’t buy books from Amazon.com or something? Since most of you don’t get the books till class starts. I usually buy em like 2 weeks ahead.</p>
<p>Surprisingly, 6/7 of my books were cheaper in the book store than on Half/Amazon this semester.</p>
<p>I’ve only bought the online one so far. $20 SSM</p>
<p>@sgtbrecht</p>
<p>I think you have answered your own question. The campus bookstore used to be very profitable for universities since they charged the full retail price for textbooks and students had no alternative but to buy their books at the campus book store and pay full price. The emergence of Amazon and other online vendors of textbooks at significantly discounted prices has deeply eroded that monopoly. The universities know that while you can get the textbook at the bookstore for full price the same day, it takes online retailers up to two weeks to get the discounted book to you when you probably need it immediately.</p>
<p>The Departments know what books they are going to use for the Fall semester but they will not tell you until the first day of class so that you will have to buy it from the campus bookstore. We got that “to be determined” message when we clicked on textbook for a Physics course my older son is taking at Sacramento State this coming semester. We called the Physics Department at CSUS figuring they must know what text they will be using for a Calculus based Physics course taken by all Physical Science and Engineering majors that starts in less than two weeks. We were told that we would have to wait for the first class to find out what the assigned textbook would be.</p>
<p>I agree with what Lemaitre said about Amazon/Half reducing university’s profit. The Cal bookstore doesn’t even stock a full course’s worth of each text under the assumption that kids will look elsewhere for it. I’ve learned what sort of classes don’t merit spending $150 on a shiny hardcover comprehensive text that is only noted as supplement though it may be on the “required” list. Being said, I ordered many of my texts early and chose to rent all my science texts from the bookstore, partly because the savings available on Amazon weren’t awesome and renting saves me from having to sell back for a pittance at the end of sem.</p>
<p>Amazon offers a one year free enrollment for students in Student Advantage, which provides free two express shipping for most things they sell including texts. There are quite a few times when Amazon or other online sources are sufficiently less expensive that it makes sense. No sales tax and free shipping with the Student Advantage make it that much more competitive. Plenty of other choices online too. </p>
<p>As others have stated in this thread, the professors don’t expect that you have the book on day 1, which certainly allows for a few days for shipping. </p>
<p>When the school has arranged a special edition, generally because a class covers only a fraction of the material in a text, the cost is usually better through the bookstore than buying the regular book online. With courses that list several general books to read, not texts just general titles, the online retailers are usually less expensive.</p>