<p>Hello everyone. We have gone to FTCAP day which was very informative, very well organized and reinforced our excitement about Penn State. My son now has a schedule of classes for Fall 2009. When do the students buy books, etc? Is it something that would be helpful to do in advance of moving-in day and where can we obtain a list of books needed for each class?</p>
<p>Hi proud parent! Congrats on PSU! If your student can go into his ELion account under Student Schedule and then Course Detail, he will have the option of choosing the books required for those classes. I believe you can choose to buy them now and have shipped or have them help on campus until he arrives.</p>
<p>Yep, check your Elion under course schedule. Not all the classes have their books registered so you’ll have to wait on them.</p>
<p>I get my list from there and then take it and order off Amazon etc. I have saved A LOT of money (like hundreds of $) by doing this. The PSU bookstore is run by Barnes and Noble so they can get pricey ($150+ for Gen Chem supplies).</p>
<p>Do yourself a favor and don’t worry about buying books until your classes actually begin. Over my 3 years, half the text books I’ve bought into went unused the entire semester. It’s better to hold off and get a feeling as to what texts, if any, the professor actually plans on using. Don’t worry, you’re not putting yourself behind by doing this either. Classes don’t really kick in until after the drop/add period of two week, and you’ll have plenty of time to actually get your books.</p>
<p>I would get them before the semester, saves some stress. The books “thepro” refers to, that the prof ever uses are usually listed as “optional” on the book list that you can get. </p>
<p>The only problem with books I have run into is not using the student solutions manuals for my calculus and general chemistry classes, they were just optional</p>
<p>If the list says that you need something like the 11th edition of a book, is it a bad idea to get the 10th edition if its cheaper on amazon?</p>
<p>Not necessarily. I know for CHEM 110 and 112 last year some students had to deal with that. The Dept uses the newest edition every year and base the syllabus off it. So all the hw and reading assignments are off the new edition. I remember in CHEM 110 especially, where they collect hw at recitation, some of the TAs would ***** because the students were doing the problems off of the old book, not the new one. Some kids failed those hw assignments, some diddn’t. </p>
<p>So, if the class is going to have hw associated with it (CHEM, MATH, maybe PHYS) then I would go with the new edition to be safe. </p>
<p>If the class doesn’t have mandatory hw (BIOL etc) then you can go with whatever and make do.</p>
<p>Theirs a good used books store in town, if you’d rather buy them there.</p>
<p>I know you can sell them back and get some money off of them, but obviously not as much as you paid for them. (And you should advise your son to try and keep them in good condition)</p>