Tips to Surviving Business School or Undergraduate Life: Books, Textbooks, and Supplies

So, you’ve made it past the first hurdle; you know your roommate and you’ve got a few days before class starts, what’s next? It’s time to go blow a thousand dollars on books and supplies for the semester! Think I’m over exaggerating? Think again.

My freshman year in college in 2004, when I went to the bookstore, my books totaled just over $640 for 15 credit hours plus two labs. This is not including calculators, paper, pencils, etc. Without a credit card to put it all on from my parents or wherever some other students get their money from, I had to get creative with how I spent my money.

I started looking around the internet for ways to get the books cheaper; and while it may sound like a cheapskate thing to do, I wrote down the ISBN’s of all the books I needed and searched for them on CampusBooks.com.

Over the past few years in college here are the main things I learned from the book/supply buying experience:

1. Never EVER pay retail. This means don’t go to the college bookstore and just buy whatever they have. At least try to price compare on the internet. If you’re strapped for time, you may have to buy the book from the bookstore, but usually you can either wait or find a friend in the class to share with for awhile.

2. Don’t buy your books before class starts. This is not applicable to Math classes or Labs (you will ALWAYS need those books). The thing is I noticed that a lot of teachers would require books for their classes but never use them, or end up doing lectures with PowerPoint presentations that covered everything that would be on the test. After the first year, I couldn’t figure out why I was paying $100 for a book that I never used, so I stopped buying them before the semester started.

3. Ok, so you’ve ordered your book too late, now what? Ask your professor for copies of the problems. I came across this problem when I ordered an economics book from an international seller (by the way I really recommend international books because they’re much cheaper and you can sell them back on the internet for what you paid for them) and I didn’t get the book for the first week of a summer school class. I asked the professor if he could copy the problems out of the book for me because of the situation and he did. It seems like professors are really willing to help when they can, all you have to do is ask.

4. IChapters.com can be your best friend if you have a class that uses a book and you only need a few chapters from it.

5. At the end of the semester, sell your book back on the internet.