<p>How does buying textbooks at U of R work? Especially for incoming freshman, how do you know what to get? I heard we select our classes during freshmen orientation, but that makes it seem like the only way to get textbooks is through the school store which is very expensive...</p>
<p>Once you have registered for classes and know which sections/instructors you have, you will go to the UR Bookstore site:</p>
<p>[Your</a> Customized Textbook List<em>-</em>University of Rochester*Bookstore](<a href=“Find Course Materials | University of Rochester Official Bookstore”>Find Course Materials | University of Rochester Official Bookstore)</p>
<p>Once there, enter, your classes (term, dept, course number and section). You will get a list of required and recommended textbooks for each class. (You’ll get title, author, edition and ISBN for each book.)</p>
<p>You can either pre-order (buy/rent) your books thru the bookstore and pick them up during freshman orientation.</p>
<p>Or you can buy/rent your textbooks used or new anywhere on the web. (HINT: Have the book shopped to your UR PO box.) If buying elsewhere, make sure you get the correct edition of your textbook as many basic textbooks have many, many different editions.</p>
<p>There may be a limited number of copies of certain textbooks on reserve at the library that you can use until you decide if you want to buy/rent the text. (On reserve means you must use them in the library and cannot check them out.)</p>
<p>If you are absolutely positive you won’t want to change sections/classes, you go ahead and buy/rent before school starts.</p>
<p>If you have any doubts about your schedule, you might want to delay buying books until after the first couple of class sessions.</p>
<p>To emphasize, with the ISBN you can look up your exact edition. Be careful ordering from people; you don’t want to save a few bucks only to have no book.</p>
<p>BTW, be aware that certain departments at UR require “customized” editions of textbooks that are not used by any other college anywhere and MUST be bought through UR’s bookstore.</p>
<p>(And yes, I think it stinks…)</p>
<p>Thanks for the head up WayOutWestMom.</p>