<p>I'm going to be a freshman in the fall, and I was wondering when I should buy my textbooks. I've heard that buying them early means better deals, but I've also heard that in some classes the book isn't used so there's no point to purchasing one. What has your experience been with this, and what would you recommend?</p>
<p>I usually place my order at the beginning of August, first week of August. I don’t recommend waiting until 1 weeks before class if you are renting or buying used because they may have sold all of that stock. You also want to make sure you don’t order to early, as you may have passed the time allowed for you to return books that you might not need. Usually, companies give you 21 days to return your books before you’re stuck with them.</p>
<p>I always start buying them as soon as possible. The way registration at my school works though, is the registration for the next semester opens up before the end of the current semester. Usually what I’ll do is stop into the professors offices that I’ll have the next semester during their office hours, and just clarify whether or not the book is necessary, and make sure that I get the right version(make sure to get the ISBN number). Emailing them usually works just as well, and they’re typically more than happy to help you.</p>
<p>I start getting them early because I get them all used online. You can find much better deals on used books if you watch them for a while, and wait for the best deals to pop up.</p>
<p>If you can, email your professors before purchasing! just incase if you need or not, then purchase as soon as possible</p>
<p>not sure if this is the same for your school, but mine will often have textbooks in libraries that students can rent for free for a couple of hours. It really saves on buying textbooks. And i also find that for most classes, the test material is from lectures not the text, so i end up not using the text anyways</p>
<p>I would wait until you know what book your professors want you to use so you won’t have a hard time reselling books. (at least that’s what they recommend at my school).
And always order online. They are cheaper.</p>
<p>My daughter who just finished her freshman year bought her books before class started both semesters because she likes to be prepared and both times ended up changing her schedule and having to return books. The ones purchased in the school book store went back with no cost to us. The one purchased on-line got me charged a 15% restocking fee plus the postage. Things change the first week of school - kids change classes, professors change schedules etc. So buy on-line to save money but be prepared to maybe have to return books. This coming semester of the five classes my daughter is signed up for, only one is listing the books already and three of them are not even listing the professor!</p>
<p>To be honest I would wait till like August (if your school starts then) to start ordering online. These sales go on all summer so you really won’t be missing out.
Funny thing, I heard 3 calculus classes used the same book last year so some classes may reused the same book for the next year. You could wait then to sell your book when it get close to the school year.</p>
<p>I generally wait until after my second registration pass to buy books. A few days later than that if I waitlist during pass 2, in case I do get in. Even if I’m not trying to waitlist a class, I still wait until my registration is completely over just in case I decide to change a class. As a whole though, I try to have all my books ordered a week before the first day of classes at the latest.</p>
<p>Like others have said, email your professors and see if the book is absolutely necessary. That’s saved me from buying a couple books in past quarters.</p>