<p>is it a good idea to buy books ahead of time or do you wait until you attend the first class to see what the instructor tells you? it's a little scary to buy an expensive book now.</p>
<p>Save yourself the money, do not BUY any books until your professor out right states that you WILL be using those books in class. Some professors don’t change syllabi (im guessing that’s the plural form of syllabus?) very accurately from semester to semester, and they will specify in class what books you need.</p>
<p>Depends. I buy used, and just bought a Chem text for $15. I will risk $15 plus postage over waiting to see and paying $140+ new at the bookstore or Bills. Besides, with certain classes you know you will need the book. </p>
<p>There are great deals on amazon and half.com. Generally, if I can get a used book or a 3rd edition when they are using 4th and there is no appreciable change, and I pay 1/3 of the cost or less of a used book at the bookstore, I buy ahead. It is so easy to sell later. You can sell a used text to other students FOR WAY LESS than the used texts in the bookstore. You can resell on amazon and half.com.</p>
<p>If you wait and buy late at the bookstore, often there are no more used copies left. If that happens, I suggest you rent. The bookstore rents the popular titles.</p>
<p>For those who have rented…usually how long does it take for books to arrive?</p>
<p>On the one occasion that I did rent from Chegg, it took about 3 days to arrive, if I remember correctly. It’s very quick, and return shipping is free.</p>
<p>Oh that’s pretty quick! Thanks :)</p>
<p>Chegg is the best way, i rent an entire semester of books for under $200 and it arrives quick.</p>
<p>What’s the difference between FSU edition texts and the regular editions of the same text?</p>
<p>One of my courses lists a required text that is an FSU edition (9780536788115 Retrieving the American Past: A Customized Reader for AMH 2097 (FSU Edition) Robbins); would I be shooting myself in the foot getting the regular edition if I got a deal on it somewhere instead of the FSU edition?</p>
<p>usually their is no regular edition…the book is made specificallly for that class…you have no choice but to buy that book</p>
<p>It depends. Most of the time there isn’t a huge difference between the regular edition and the FSU edition. Valencia Community College (Central Florida CC) did the same thing with their books when I was dual-enrolled. I got through easily without buying from the bookstore. My Business Calculus book was $130 at the bookstore. I bought it online for $18.04 including shipping. It was remarkably quick delivery for a third party seller off of amazon. As it turns out, the book was actually sold as used from the FSU bookstore, as it still had the label on the spine.</p>
<p>Try to look elsewhere for books, outside of the bookstore. If there is a difference in editions, it’s usually not that big of a deal. Most of the time you’ll be able to use someone else’s book in the class, or sit next to them for that particular day. And, if it turns out to be a huge difference, you’ve always got the option of returning the book.</p>
<p>Funny, I checked the price for the FSU edition text vs. the regular edition text I was writing about in above post, and the FSU edition was less expensive than the regular edition! Different instructors, teaching the same course in different sections use both editions. When shopping for the books, you just have to keep your eyes wide open to avoid getting gouged.</p>
<p>my son and I were actually in the bookstore today looking at the FSU edition of “On Writing” of course there’s a newer edition this year and as luck would have it we ran into a student in the aisle who heard us taking and said he had a copy for sale and had it with him because he had tried to sell it to the bookstore but they wouldn’t take it because they said they had so many, so we bought it–it worked out great for both of us</p>