Classes don't Start till Aug 25, Already aggravated at Proffessors. Vent.

falsara

I have 15 days until classes start, so I have been keeping an eye on the textbook list so that I can immediately get on Amazon or Chegg and either rent or buy my books depending on the cost.  There is one small problem with this.  3 of my 5 professors have not put up their book lists and I have no idea what books I need. 

 I understand that they have two weeks, and I do have amazon 2 day shipping, but Chegg is not as nice about their shipping times, and I would really like to get them before classes start since there is no possibility of me dropping these classes since they are degree requirements.

I wish my professors would get on the ball because I refuse to pay the prices at the School bookstore, Barnes and Noble is too damn expensive even when you're renting. 

 I would also like to get a jump start on the reading since I'm an English major and every single one of my classes are English classes which mean I have a shitload of reading and writing.  Also many of my classes will have multiple books, so it just a plain hassle.

Rant is over, sorry for your time.  I will continue to wait upon the whim of my professors. 

mysticl

I had a professor who had us vote on whether or not we wanted one of the books to be used. This meant she didn't put the order in until after classes started. This meant it wasn't available until a few weeks into the semester. And the book store automatically cut the order because they assume not everyone will get the book, only because we had all agreed to the book we all wanted it and there weren't enough copies. And I'm so old that ordering stuff off of Amazon wasn't really a thing yet (I was in college when it was founded) you either got your books at the campus book store or one of the used bookstores that were near campus.

falsara

We have required books, which are needed for coursework, and then we have Recommended ones, which professors think we might need, or something.  I normally skip the recommended ones until I know that I need them. 

I know when my mom went back to school when I was 10 she had to get them on campus, because it was a small town and no textbooks were sold outside of that bookstore. 

I had to buy books at the bookstore last semester, because the book store voucher was the only way I was able to afford my books, it was so damn expensive $700 for all five classes.  I just can't spend that much money again, especially when the books that two of my professors have posted I can get for 5$ each. The price difference is ridiculous. 

I'm exceedingly grateful that we do have amazon and rental companies like Chegg, just wish my professors would help out by posting which books I need.  They have all taught these classes before so they know what they use, they just haven't gotten around to letting the bookstores know.

buttercup1958

I know how you feel. I refuse to order any textbooks unless they are geology related. At least I would want to read those again.

WinstonsGirl

I'm lucky that I have no books to buy for my course this week.  Just online articles, and a 2 day conference (I paid for it, but I think I'll have work reimburse me, since it'll count as PD)

With my Bachelors degree, since it was in Phys-Ed, I didn't often have to buy books after first or second year, but I did have to buy a lot of equipment - squash and badminton rackets, ballet slippers, etc.  I'd rather buy that though than texts.  

lovesclimbing

I would try emailing them and asking for the list. Most of my professors were actually really understanding about getting books in a week or two after classes started because they knew what a rip-off campus bookstores are.

I bought almost nothing from the bookstore when I was going to school. Once in a while, renting a used textbook from them would be cheaper than any other option.

Another option to get books cheaper, look and see if there are any book swap FB pages for your university. I got some really cheap books from pages like that.

jakeiaf

Grrr I'm in the same boat! I just want my books so I can organize my senior year accordingly. My professors send out the required texts like 4 days before and then say they want it on the first day. Please tell me more about how I'm supposed to get my book in four days when chegg takes 50 million years to send it to me. I can't stand it! 

thetimewillcome

Not that this helps your professor conundrum, but another place that I bought books was Half.com. They are associated with eBay and kind of work the same way, so I got some good deals. I also was able to sell books on there if I decided I didn't want to keep them anymore.

duhitsd

I just bought textbooks with my brother for his college classes. We used TextBooks.com They have a guaranteed buyback policy of 50% of the purchase price if you sold the book back to them by Dec 31. This only applies to some of their books and they have to be the copies from the company and not the used market place. We bought books here for classes he won't need the books again for like History since he is a music major. The rest of his books we bought for the cheapest price, which ended up being Amazon.

falsara

Thanks for all the help Ladies!  I hadn't heard of some of those sights I will definitely look into them.

I know this is small stuff, it's just aggravating when I have teachers that demand books on the first day of classes.  I think the internet gods were listening to me though, because on of my professors just posted his book list today.  So now I'm 3 out of five, instead of 2!  Hopefully the other professors will get it in gear by the end of this week!.

Chipmunk415

I feel your pain. Ive my textbook for my main class sequence (two 9 week terms running August to December) but no syllabus for the reading schedule. These are online courses and they still arent showing up on my online school site- I keep checking the registration page to ensure I'm actually registered for classes.

I had to sign up for a weekend long intensive seminar that goes in between the two 9 week courses, and I've still got no idea what the topic of the seminar will be.

zitiqueen

I also bought (and sold) all of my books at half.com.

huskypuppy14

I also used half.com. But I didn't really know about it until Junior year (2002-2003). 

What sucked one year is I got a book from someone who took the class the year before. Well the professor decided to use the newest edition, so the pages on the syllabus didn't line up. I tried it for a week, but it wasn't happening, so I had to buy the new book anyway. 

I was a science major, and those books are expensive! I paid about $1000 one semester for books. 

Aray82

I'm a college prof and we're actually required to post our book lists by a certain point during the previous semester. It's some legislation about education accessibility, not sure if it's a state or federal thing. But I love it because then if anyone cries about not having the books yet to start homework right away, I can say, "seriously? You had a few months to order these." Have you emailed them directly? They likely have them by now even if they are not posted. And if they're anything like me, they'll be pleased to know that while they're getting their ducks in a row to start the semester, as least one of their students is too. GL!

krcb

I always emailed my professors and asked them what book would be needed and if I needed the current edition. Sometimes they told me I could get the edition before the current, and it tended to save me some good money! 

lovesclimbing

Aray82 said:

I'm a college prof and we're actually required to post our book lists by a certain point during the previous semester. It's some legislation about education accessibility, not sure if it's a state or federal thing. But I love it because then if anyone cries about not having the books yet to start homework right away, I can say, "seriously? You had a few months to order these."


Have you emailed them directly? They likely have them by now even if they are not posted. And if they're anything like me, they'll be pleased to know that while they're getting their ducks in a row to start the semester, as least one of their students is too. GL!

This may be the rule, but almost never happens in my experience. I would check about three weeks before classes began and maybe one professor would have their list in. And sometimes, I'd email professors and they'd say no books were required, but they think they don't need to submit that. So up until the first day of classes, it still says "no information received."

And I usually had at least one or two professors a semester who wouldn't turn in their list until the week before classes.

sophhabobopha

I buy my books after I have determined that I need said books. Too often I have bought $200 texts that sit in their plastic wrap all semester.

manateehugger

Ha, yeah, I've never bought books before the class has actually started because I found many times I never needed the "required" books. 

Half.com, see if your university has a textbook exchange FB group, kindle books, and use your university's library (and hopefully library network in the region) to find anything not on reserve. 

By the end of grad school, I bought 1-2 books and then checked out the rest of them through various libraries. 

JennyColada

Sometimes teachers don't openly post the books to help out the students. For example, one of my history teachers would tell the campus that he plans to use like five different books, because then the bookstore is more willing to pay a higher price for book buy back from students (since the bookstore thinks that they will be able to re-sell the books easily). He then turns around a day or two before classes and says "oh, nope, found something better, sorry!"

Aray82

lovesclimbing said:

I'm a college prof and we're actually required to post our book lists by a certain point during the previous semester. It's some legislation about education accessibility, not sure if it's a state or federal thing. But I love it because then if anyone cries about not having the books yet to start homework right away, I can say, "seriously? You had a few months to order these." Have you emailed them directly? They likely have them by now even if they are not posted. And if they're anything like me, they'll be pleased to know that while they're getting their ducks in a row to start the semester, as least one of their students is too. GL!

This may be the rule, but almost never happens in my experience. I would check about three weeks before classes began and maybe one professor would have their list in. And sometimes, I'd email professors and they'd say no books were required, but they think they don't need to submit that. So up until the first day of classes, it still says "no information received." And I usually had at least one or two professors a semester who wouldn't turn in their list until the week before classes.

That's too bad! Maybe my dept is just more on the ball about it. We have lots of other things we can do better, but at least in this respect we're good. I get shamed into posting mine when my colleagues all facebook-brag about posting theirs.