<p>So I've heard from many people that it's best not to buy books during the summer and to wait for the first day of class to find out what you need, since the online book lists are often wrong. But I've also seen a bunch of people posting on here that they already bought their books. Now I'm getting worried. I start on the 28th, and I haven't bought any books yet. Is that normal? Or should I get everything on the online lists now?</p>
<p>Personally I like to buy all my books beforehand and then return the ones I decide I don’t need. Sometimes professors will assign reading or something due the first or second day, so if you’re going to wait to buy your books, make sure the campus bookstore has them all in stock so that you can buy what you need as soon as you need it.</p>
<p>I usually buy my books before hand too. Lily is df right, I have had work assinged for the next class. In some cases, a day or tow before, a prof would email our class before it started to say we have reading due for the first day.</p>
<p>With that being said many do wait. if you buy early you can get them cheaper online or from other people. it is a risk you will have to take</p>
<p>Usually I order them around the time classes start. That gives me enough time to make sure the list is right in case professors are like “oh you don’t actually need that book on the list but you need THIS book I’m telling you about now.” I use Amazon and they’re pretty good with getting things shipped to me within the specified timeframe. Ordering online cuts back on expenses and it’s really convenient. I only go to the bookstore if they’re requiring us to have the book by the next class period.</p>
<p>I’d consider ordering a book earlier if there’s an indication that we’ll be using it a lot from the get go, and later/never if I’m not sure I’m ever going to use it. Also, it helps a lot to make friends with 1st-4th year students in your major, so you can buy/sell/trade used without having to wait or deal with the bookstore ripoff prices. Unless your school’s bookstore is really really awesome with prices and having everything in stock, it should be a last resort.</p>
<p>Also, if your professor contacts you asking you to buy a specific book from a specific source (ie over the phone from another university’s store or something), it’s a good indication that you should get it ASAP.</p>
<p>I always order books ahead of time. There’s always the odd class that requires reading/work during the first week, and I hate getting behind. Plus, my college has a terrible track record with book delivery, so I’d rather have them delivered at home than the college post office.</p>
<p>Generally, the post office gets behind on sorting through deliveries during the tail end of the first week of class (after everyone’s arrived on campus and started ordering textbooks). It gets progressively worse until the end of the first month. After we had that hurricane (I’m in VA) last year and classes started up again, the post office was so backed up with textbooks they had to dump them all in a big room and make us search for them ourselves. .__. </p>
<p>So, yeah. I’d much rather just have them all ahead of time. If I don’t need it, I’ll sell it back/return it/whatever. But I haven’t not needed a textbook yet, actually. -shrug-</p>
<p>I would say buy early. Odds are few if any of the books will change, you avoid the stress of waiting for shipping if there’s test or assignment the first week, and save at least half compared to on campus stores. Can always resell if the list was off.</p>
<p>I have never bought books ahead of time; primarily because I am very picky about my classes. I’ll go to 10 classes in the first week and then choose 4-5 of those. On the few occasions I needed the textbook before I got mine, I used the reserve copies in the library.</p>
<p>I know several have already said to buy them early–and I agree. There are several reasons for getting them early. If you order them online, you run a risk of a book being on back-order. One of my books took two weeks to get here; but because I ordered it early, it was here before the class started. Also, I saved about 40% on the total cost of my books by ordering them online.</p>
<p>Also, the times I did not have my books on the first day of class, I felt a little awkward when the professor jumps right into the book for his/her first lecture.</p>
<p>I like buying my books early, just because I get them on Amazon/ebay (much cheaper) and I want them to arrive before I leave for school.</p>