<p>Now that I have pre-registered for Freshman Classes (Basic Calc I (141), Bio (112), Chem(131) & Writing (105) as a biology major:</p>
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<li>How do I go about finding out what books I need?</li>
<li>Can I buy them used now or should I wait?</li>
<li>Do different Professors use different books for the same course? Another words, will my Calc book be the same regardless of the professor that teaches it?</li>
<li>Where is the best place to buy used books?</li>
<li>Can you rent them instead of buying them?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<ol>
<li>Go the UR Bookstore website and enter the info for each class–term, dept, course number and select the first section from the list (unless you know what section you’ve registered for.) </li>
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<p>[Welcome</a> to University of Rochester*Bookstore](<a href=“http://urochester.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/BNCBHomePage?storeId=27055&catalogId=10001]Welcome”>http://urochester.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/BNCBHomePage?storeId=27055&catalogId=10001)</p>
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<li><p>You can buy them now if you want. The Bio, Chem and Math texts should be available from lots of places. I would hold off on buying the writing course’s books until you know for sure which section you’ll be in because those books differ by section.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes. All MTH 141, CHM 131, and BIO 112 sections use the same text regardless of the instructor. CAS 105 (freshman writing) will vary depending upon the topic and the instructor.</p></li>
<li><p>Lots of places. (eBay, Half.com, Cheaptextbooks, Abe’s Books, Amazon, B&N, Buy.com, Alibris, others–no one place will have the best price on all your books) Google shopping is your friend. Use it to search and compare. You can also buy used texts thru the UR bookstore and from upperclassmen selling their old textbooks. Make sure that you get the correct edition, though. Older editions may have different material/problems/page numbers than the edition the instructor is using.</p></li>
<li><p>Renting? I’m not familiar with any program at UR for textbook rental. I’m sure you could rent a text from one of the national programs like Chegg, but you need to make sure you have the correct text and edition. </p></li>
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<p>Math and science texts (or at least for the classes you’re taking) will be used for more than one semester–it would be prudent to check and make sure that the rental of the text for 2 semesters doesn’t exceed the cost of buying the book. Also sometimes it’s nice to hang on to old textbooks as references, esp in math.</p>
<p>Rent using chegg.com its really cheap for advanced books which cost tons even if you buy them used from amazon. for basic books though amazon should suffice if you’re looking at price. i heard the books at campus are really overpriced even used.</p>
<p>For math, science, econ, and engineering textbooks, even the used at the UR bookstore runs higher than other places; however, for some classes which use 8-10 paperbacks as their “text”, it’s been my experience that buying those used at the bookstore is usually less expensive than buying them used from various sellers on Amazon–since the shipping starts adding up really quick. When you buy 8 books from 8 different sellers at $3.99 shipping per book, your savings can get eaten up. </p>
<p>Also upperclassmen usually sell their books for less than what the bookstore charges. Check the e-message board at my.rochester.edu. Or Craig’s List.</p>
<p>Amazon is NOT always the cheapest place to shop–even used. For fall term, I bought one of D’s bio texts from Buy.com ($12 less than Amazon), another from Alibris (hard to find book–and still less than Amazon) and her Biostats book from Amazon.</p>
<p>So, like I said, Google shopping is your friend.</p>
<p>I also looked and it appears that UR will be using some “custom” editions of intro level science texts—which means you may not be able to find these elsewhere… And I think that’s terrible!</p>
<p>EDIT: There are digital version of some of the math & science textbooks you’ll be using, if you prefer e-books. They <em>might</em> be less expensive than the paper version.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks WayOutWestMom, I am on it. I can’t imagine why my advisor would have me change any of my courses when we meet at orientation in August.</p>
<p>I really agree with WOWM suggestion! This is just to add on what they have said: All your Calc and Chem books will be found online. Just use the bookstore’s search to get the book’s names/isbn numbers, then go online and shop.</p>
<p>Last year, I bought my Chem book used (it actually came in looking very nice) from Amazon for $60. I did not buy the Calc book, I just borrowed it from Carlson Library. But I suggest you buy it online too. My Spanish 101 book, I got it for $80 on Amazon too.</p>
<p>The bio book, you will have to buy from the bookstore because those books are special edition made for the school. The Wrt 105 books might also be from the bookstore depending on the class that you will take. I took “Politics of South Asia” last fall and did not have to use any book. All our readings were provided to us electronically by the teacher. My friends on the other hand had to buy books</p>