SHOULD YOU BUY college books before or after classes start?

Question

u of houston

Answer 1

BEFORE. There are pluses and minuses with both. If you buy them before you certainly beat the crowds and that is so nice. But, if you decide the first day of class you have to drop the class then you must return it. If you wait until after you can be sure you are in the classes you want to stay in and then get your books. My advise: buy them before, skip the crowd and long lines thing, and have your books ready for the homework that starts the first day. Be ready the first day of class. If you have to return any you will get a full refund within a specific number of days after school starts so you won't lose money. Oh yea, another thing, if you get it after sometimes they run out of books and you must wait; if you buy it before you have the pick of what is available (get a better used one without much use on it).

Answer 2

Definitely wait until the first week of classes until you buy your books. One mistake i made throughout college was always buying the textbooks for all my classes, yea they can be a good study resource, but the majority of the time i paid $200 for a book that i never opened once. I finally got smart senior year and only bought one book. and funny enough that semester i got my highest GPA.. Wait until the first week of classes start and then ask yourself if you actually need the book and if you're actually going to use it. Because for most classes you can do well by just studying PowerPoint slides from the professor.. so if you know your not going to use the book, don't waste your money..

Answer 3

Well I try to buy used books as much as possible and try to get them on the Internet, preferably through eBay. Since I need to give some time for shipping I buy in advance. I have found on ebay that you can find the International edition of the text books I want for sometimes as cheap as 20%-40% of the retail price. The international edition has the same content, but a different cover and ISBN #. But if you search on eBay by the correct # you can find it. It's meant for foreign markets so it's cheaper to meet their economy.

Answer 4

I always buy my books before classes start; although many people will say that you don't always need ALL your books (which many times is the case), if your bookstore has a return policy, you can always bring them back. The worst situation if you don't buy them sooner: a professor assigns something from a textbook that you don't have, and the bookstore runs out (that's happened to me several times).

Answer 5

Always after the first day and class after you have gotten the syllabus, this gives you a chance to see what the professor wants you to get because each professor is different. There has been many times where I bought a text only to find out I didn't need it.

Answer 6

It depends on how much you want to spend and if you think you're going to drop and add (change your schedule) any of your classes. If your schedule is going to stay the way it is, and you don't mind cost, I'd say get them before your classes start to avoid the rush. You may also be able to get a list from the bookstore and order them online before you start your classes and get them cheaper.

If you wait till after classes start and get them from the bookstore you'll have long lines to deal with. If you order them online it may be a few days before you get them and can actually do any of your classwork.

Answer 7

After, once you have the exact info from the professor.
You have no idea how many times I bought books that were labeled "required" when they were really only "suggested" or got an older edition that the professor didn't want us to use.

Answer 8

Man, I don't buy college books at all. I just pay close attention in class and use online references such as WIKIPEDIA when I need to write reports.

BTW, I found a really sneaky way of writing reports. Just go to Amazon.com and look at the user reviews. You can get the general idea, hypothesis and theories that way in less than 10 minutes!!!

Answer 9

If you wish to save money by purchasing used books, it is a good choice to get to the bookstore before classes begin. If you choose to cancel your class, there is usually a time limit to get a full refund for them!

Answer 10

Buy them as soon as you know what the professor is requiring. That way you get the best used books. Plus, you get a head start on your semester reading (LOL).