<p>My son is interested in purchasing used textbooks. How does this work for freshman? I noticed that he'll sign up for classes on Friday of O-week and then begin classes Monday morning. Knowing he'll be needing calculus, chemistry, and biology as a pre-med, should he order textbooks ahead of time? How do you all of you do this? If he orders used off Amazon, he may not get them until Wednesday of the first week of classes - kind of late, right? Is there a chance he may not even get these classes so it's a waste to try to order early? Thank you for your help:)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t buy them ahead of time since you aren’t sure what exact textbooks your professor will ask you to use. Once you have your schedule, you can go to the bookstore and find the textbooks you need for each specific class there. However, those are usually fairly expensive. I would buy whatever textbooks you need right away there, and then order the rest off of Amazon or something. Also, I have Amazon Student (six month free trial, then half-price for the rest of your college career) which allows you to get stuff that college students might need for cheaper and allows you to use free two-day shipping for any item Amazon sells directly.</p>
<p>Amazon Student is a great tip - we’ll check that out. Thank you!!</p>
<p>The other resource you have is upperclassmen who held onto their books. The colleges usually hold book fairs the first week of classes. (I have a few books I may sell.) Unlike high school, most professors won’t assign work out of the book until the second week of a class (or they will scan the appropriate chapters for the class). You usually aren’t expected to have books immediately, since you might not even know what books you need until you get the syllabus the first day of class. I’ve had professors tell me “Go order this from Amazon and choose free shipping because the book store is too expensive and you won’t need this for two weeks anyways”.</p>
<p>And if you do you Amazon Student, wait to activate it until August. That way, you get the most out of the free shipping while he is at school! I ordered a lot off of Amazon during the first couple months. And January will still be within the 6 months, so free two-day shipping for the beginning of second semester too!</p>
<p>The book fairs sound great. Thank you also for letting us know that students aren’t usually expected to have books yet on the first day of class. We appreciate your insight!!</p>
<p>I know this is old, but just in case anyone else looks through here:</p>
<p>Most students don’t finalize their schedules until the add deadline, so there’s definitely no need to have the books right away. You don’t want to end up buying books for a class that you drop after the second week. If you do need a book for some reason before you get yours, there will probably be other people you can borrow it from, it will typically be on reserve at Fondren, and I think you can buy and return it for the full price from the bookstore as long as you do so before a certain deadline.</p>
<p>Don’t buy anything from the bookstore unless it’s not possible to get it cheaper on Amazon, which will really only happen with something that’s just been released (and even then, Amazon will probably still be cheaper). Used books are the way to go–there’s plenty out there at much lower prices and still in excellent condition.</p>