<p>What do you estimate you spent for books per quarter? I know it may depend on types of courses (math- textbooks, etc.), but just curious to see if the estimate the college does is accurate.</p>
<p>What are the best sources to buy the books?</p>
<p>Wheelock books in Hanover is the best place to get your books.</p>
<p>To be honest, I only spent $100 last year on books for all of my classes, and I could have spent less. Only a few professors actually require you to buy their books. </p>
<p>For intro science classes you’ll have to buy books but you won’t really need them for into math classes. Language professors almost always require books and English/History courses will require you to get the books they are reading for class - but you can usually get these from the library if you’re really quick with the syllabus.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s great. How did you not need them for math )online)? What level/major? Either way, thanks for the info.</p>
<p>I’ve taken basically all of the intro math classes through Differential Eq.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard/done myself:</p>
<p>Math 3 - The profs wrote their own book, which is terrible, so go online and get the old edition of Stewart’s calculus book (the red one) ~$5 on amazon. None of the problems are from their book - they are online.</p>
<p>Math 8 - All the notes you will need for the class are online. You can use some practice problems from Stewart’s book above.</p>
<p>Math 13 - I needed to get a book for this class, but it was only like $40 online. MOST Math 13 profs won’t require you to get a textbook other than Stewart’s, so you should be covered.</p>
<p>Math 23 - Again this one depends on the prof. Some have all the notes online, but you might need a seperate book here.</p>
<p>I’m a Math/Econ modified major, minor in computer science atm. Message me if you have any more questions. I’ve taken classes in a wide variety of subjects at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>I have spent everything from $25 to $325…average somewhere around $125ish, but i take more history english type courses with a lot of paperbacks, whereas chem for example will have 1 text book, but it’ll cost a ton.</p>
<p>thanks. The local stores were almost out of the Calc book; they cost about $160</p>
<p>My daughter spent $363 on books for her first term at Wheelock books, including that calculus textbook. She’s a freshman and given more lead time she probably could have saved more online, but she didn’t want to worry about books not arriving on time.</p>
<p>Dartmouth’s estimate, about $575/term, is definitely on the high side. When D was applying to schools last year the textbook cost estimates at various schools ranged from $800 at William&Mary to about $1800. (Dartmouth may have been the highest.) The cost of textbooks has been lowered in recent years by online book sellers and the new federal requirement that colleges/professors publish their book lists, including ISBN.</p>
<p>Yes, it would be great if they had more options. The book store didn’t seem to get a list for the Calc books. Like you, she didn’t want to wait to try and find one and risk getting behind. It is a little remote, so there are only so many stores locally.</p>
<p>Perhaps if they use Calc for #8, it can be the same for the next class.</p>
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<p>Not always high. My daughter just spent $580 for her organic chem texts. That’s just for ONE CLASS. I haven’t heard what the total bill for this quarter is going to be.</p>
<p>Yeah, definitely depends on class. When I took orgo, the books cost around $300, but then you could use them for two terms, so about $150/term. It really depends on the classes you’re taking, and the professor. Some insist on latest edition and use problems out of the book that they know are different (especially if they wrote them) - others suggest on an earlier edition just to save students money.</p>
<p>I’ve spent anywhere from $0 a term (this term!) to around $600 on books.</p>
<p>Several things to consider:</p>
<p>1) Some texts cover multiple quarters, particularly the science texts. (Chem, Bio…)</p>
<p>2) Amazon prime ships overnight, for free; colleges students can setup a Prime account at no charge. If the book is in stock, there is no reason to not have it delivered tomorrow.</p>
<p>3) Wheelock is a favorite of the some/many professors (it is not a big, bad capitalist chain!), so many faculty refuse to even send a book list to B&N so they can order.</p>
<p>4) Ask if the Coop discount also applies to texts purchased thru B&N. (I think it does.)</p>
<p>Because of factors mostly mentioned above, it’s very hard to estimate book cost. Sometimes availability is also an issue–last year Stewart was out of stock for a while and Amazon was uncharacteristically slow with its delivery. Don’t know about co-op discount but if you need to seek alternate suppliers, B+N has had (hope they still do) free shipping of textbooks regardless of price. Free shipping and no sales tax is better than what we have at home, even when the books are expensive…
Once your D is more established she will discover friends who have taken the course already, or don’t use the book every day, and/or she will note that some books are on reserve (multiple copies for limited time so it really can work) at library. I was shocked to see that some books were actually tossed in recycle bin (not to be confused with donated to sustainability move-out sale) at end of Spring last year. Did not investigate whether said volumes might be of future interest, had become obsolete, or…
Some students manage with fewer books than others; it’s very personal and specific to the student. I think the town is pretty well supplied, all things considered, but I am predisposed to positive thinking (and prejudiced in favor of Dartmouth.)
If you view the library as a resource, that can make life easier, or at least less expensive, though it doesn’t work as well for science and math or any course with one big textbook that everyone really needs to buy. One neat feature of the library, once she gets into research projects, is the extensive inter library loan system.<br>
Hope this helps.</p>