One piece of advice I heard somewhere was to get your Freshman textbooks early. Is this valid advice and how would you go about finding out which textbooks you need and where best to get them?
@Axonta You have to register for classes at orientation before you know which textbooks you’ll need. I don’t think the class book lists are finalized until later in the summer. My UT students usually wait until the first day of class to purchase books, just in case the professors change their mind about the textbooks they plan to use for the courses.
It also may be wise to ask a student who has taken the class previously how much the textbook is actually used. My son is a freshman ECE and he may have borrowed textbooks his first semester because I never saw that he purchased any books (from his bank statement). Halfway through the second semester, I don’t think he’s purchased any books. Once your classes are confirmed, there usually is a link with your class listing that will show the textbooks required if the instructor has posted them. My son registered for a UGS (Undergraduate Studies) class first semester and I ordered the books from my Amazon Prime account and had them shipped to the Amazon Locker on campus. He ended up dropping that class and adding another and the books were returnable to Amazon with a small restocking fee. For Community Class colleges in the past, I always rented the books if they were available that way. The link posted by the college will usually be to the college bookstore and won’t always be the best buy. You can do a Google search using the textbook name and usually a bunch of options will come up and you can compare prices that way. But always compare the ISBN number with the required book before ordering.
I’d say the vast majority of UT students we know buy their books after classes start or right before. The Co-Op will have the required books for your classes online in early August which will give you plenty of time to shop around the internet for the best price.