<p>I can't remember where I read it... but I hear that we cannot receive packages during the first week or two of school. It said that the RHO's are just getting back into the swing of things and become inundated with all the arriving students. </p>
<p>Is this correct? If so, when can we expect to start recieving packages?</p>
<p>I generally like to buy my books online and I am concerned about being able to receive them on time.</p>
<p>You can deal with not having the books for the first few days of class. You'll meet people in your classes and can borrow their books if you really need to. RHO is generally pretty on top of everything, so they should be able to handle getting you packages when you need them.</p>
<p>It's not true (I mean, they say it, but they don't enforce it). Usually they say you shouldn't send packages to yourself until you've settled in (I think the date last year was the same day classes started), but one of my friends had sent me a package and I received it a few days before the date they said they would start accepting packages. </p>
<p>They just don't want you to ship your entire life into the RHO two weeks before you move in. </p>
<p>As for books, you can do a couple of things. 1) Don't worry about it -- you're a freshman, your professors know this, and intensive reading/lecturing doesn't start until after Labor Day anyway (the first couple of days are usually just here is the syllabus, etc) 2) Check for a syllabus online-- if there is, see what the first reading assignment is, and either buy just that book at the bookstore or buy it and bring it with you when you move in. </p>
<p>Also, be careful with ordering your books ahead of time. I have had two experiences when the bookstore told us to purchase books that the professor had removed from the syllabus...then, when I tried to sell them back, they refused to buy them back (almost as if they had intentionally unloaded the books they knew they'd be stuck with otherwise...they did it to my entire seminar).</p>
<p>Though I bet if you order your books around August 23 or 24, by the time they got shipped it would be perfect timing. That's what I plan on doing.</p>