<p>Do the first year students get their class schedule before arriving for orientation? My D requested calculus and photography. If she gets calc., she needs a TI89 calculator, which she does not own. If she gets photography, she needs a 35mm SLR film camera. She does own this, but would not bring it to school unless she gets the class.
I know she can buy the calculator at the bookstore. But it is probably much more expensive then we could buy it elsewhere.</p>
<p>Sorry for two threads, I’m new at this.</p>
<p>i dont have an up-to-date answer for you, but i do know that five years ago students did not receive their schedules until they arrived on campus. assuming this is still true, my thoughts:</p>
<p>on the calculator issue, i would recommend that you do some online shopping for one now. the bannerweb schedule indicates that there are minimal seats remaining in each of the calculus sequence courses, so it is very likely that she is in good shape there. that i cant think of a single student who wanted/needed a calc course and was NOT placed in one first semester freshman year doesnt do much damage that line of thought, either.</p>
<p>on the camera issue, my first reaction would be to call the registrars office and ask. given the course requirements (and the fact that mailing a very expensive camera isnt a painless solution), someone may be willing to let you know. if thats not a ‘go’ for whatever reason, i would ask if schedules are still included in the packets given to students when they arrive on campus. if so, and someone is traveling with your daughter to help her move in, the camera could easily be brought and taken home if not needed.</p>
<p>…hopefully some younger people will be able to provide some better news!</p>
<p>I will be a sophomore and Orientation Assistant at Bucknell this fall. Freshmen will not be getting their schedules until they arrive on campus in August. This is exactly how it happened last year. During the orientation week the students receive their schedules and are taken to the bookstore to purchase their books. I took pictures on my cell phone of all the covers and wrote down the edition numbers and ISBNs before buying my books off Half.com, it ending up saving us a bunch of money. </p>
<p>I haven’t heard of someone not getting into Calc 1. Especially if it is required for her major. I would recommend getting the calculator now. Even if by some off-chance she doesn’t get the class this semester, she will need it in the future. </p>
<p>I’d be more than happy to answer any other questions you might have.</p>
<p>Thank-you both for your answers. My D has not yet decided on a major, so Calc 1 is not required. Would that make a difference in being placed in calc do you know? Also, how quickly did your books arrive when ordering from Half.com.? I will have three kids in college this semester (Bucknell, Colgate, Cornell), so any money saved would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t think that it would make any difference. Freshmen, with the exception of engineers, technically come in undecided. I’m an engineer so I’m not positive about this but I think that everyone declared later on. So, in most cases Calc 1 would not be required for a major because people haven’t chosen them yet. </p>
<p>I think that I got most of my books within five days or so. I always looked at the people I was thinking to buy from and read their reviews. You can usually tell how fast someone actually gets the book in the mail based on these. If your daughter buys her books when she gets her schedule and doesn’t get them for a few days it will not be a huge problem at all. In my experience, there are always people on your floor willing to let you borrow their book if they’re not using it. (I know a few people who didn’t buy books all semester) </p>
<p>Selling books using Half.com after you are done with them is also a great idea. You get a lot more of your money back than at the bookstore.</p>
<p>i believe that all bachelor of science (whether engineering, business or science) students come in with majors. however, everyone else is indeed undecided and, if a ba becomes the goal, remains so until the end of sophomore year.</p>
<p>most of this discussion is well beyond the calc issue, though. as i mentioned, none of the calculus sequence courses are completely full at this time and, as such, i cant imagine someone requesting the course not getting in. the school specifically schedules so that a significant majority of students get their math requirement out of the way first semester, with the primary exception being some fall semester athletes, and as such there are over 600 offered seats in regular/accelerated calc 1 and 2 each fall. the vast majority are filled by freshmen, and the above number doesnt even include students ready for calc 3, differential equations, et cetera.</p>
<hr>
<p>on the textbook question, i actually sell used books online to help support my need to eat real food despite being a poorly funded graduate student, and as such can provide some pretty good advice in this area.</p>
<p>1) three good sets of information make the process easier:
a) isbn. some textbook packagers are covering them on new books, though;
b) picture with readable title. this is beneficial to ensure the correct book is being ordered;
c) price. after shipping, some books will actually be cheaper to purchase in the bookstore.</p>
<p>2) take this information and head to bookfinder.com (youll need to use the advanced search to enter the isbns). this site will search amazon, half, alibris, barnes & noble, abe, borders, chapters and a ton of other online book stores and return the best available prices. </p>
<p>3) check out a few of the sites with the best prices and pay careful attention to the descriptions. international, advanced proof, instructors edition and review copies will often comprise a majority of the cheapest available textbooks if the series is widely used. however, it is against the rules to sell (and thus re-sell) these books on any of the major venues, so the net investments are often bad ones. as such, look for the real thing.</p>
<p>4) when a good deal on a real book is found, check the sellers feedback rating. anything over 98% on amazon is great, with anything over 96% being acceptable. for half.com, shoot for sellers with ratings in the 99% range, with 98% being acceptable. sellers with very little feedback can be risky for time-sensitive orders.</p>
<p>5) GET PRIORITY SHIPPING. it typically costs about $2 more per item, but means the book will be shipped via usps priority mail. sellers typically have two business days from your order to ship, so no priority order should take more than a week to arrive. non-priority orders are mailed media mail, which is loaded onto potentially full trucks AFTER parcel post, and as such it is not uncommon for a book to take more than two weeks to arrive.</p>
<p>6) know that all of the major sites have buyer protections in place. many allow all buyers to return the book for up to 30 days provided it is in the same condition as ordered. sellers can charge a restocking fee, however. further, should you receive an incorrect book (like an instructors edition when that was not ordered as such), there are claim services in place that will provide you with a FULL refund for your order. you may even be able to keep the book!</p>
<p>Okay–thanks</p>