<p>Have you had a freshman who was able to register early for fall term classes at one of these freshman June (or July) orientations? If so, did he or she know what books they needed to buy at that time or was it too soon? Thanks.</p>
<p>Probably too soon. For some of my daughter’s classes, book lists were not available until after class started!</p>
<p>Sometimes you can check the department website at the school as you may be able to find this term’s syllabus and book list giving you some idea of what is being covered and what will be read</p>
<p>Offtimes the book list is not available until every student has actually registered - maybe around mid-summer in many cases.</p>
<p>The Pitt bookstore has a service that will assemble your required books and have them ready for pickup when you arrive on campus. I think you can make the request online.</p>
<p>I’m just trying to figure out how to “buy some time” so that shopping for deals can be done. But maybe that won’t be easy. Son will have a book allowance (undetermined so far) and I guess he’ll have to do the best he can. He better get a job on campus quickly!</p>
<p>I do know of schools that have lists available at summer orientation. S’s friend at Virginia Tech bought all his books during a July orientation.</p>
<p>The professors teaching the courses, the department secretaries, and the college bookstore should have the booklist as professors probably had to submit the book lists to the bookstore in the spring for the books to be ordered for fall semester.</p>
<p>You also could contact the prof directly and ask him/her to e-mail you a copy of their syllabus. That would allow you to find out which books are required and which are optional. Warning: some professors are not reachable during the summer. Some profs also wait until the day before classes start to create their syllabi. Yes, profs can procrastinate just like students do!</p>
<p>One last thing: The books should be in the bookstore when you arrive on campus for fall semester. You can buy the books then, maintain the books in new condition, keep your receipt and return the books for full refund if you decide to drop the course or if you manage to find good book deals elsewhere. Depending on the campus bookstore, one can return books for full refund for a week or two after classes begin.</p>
<p>If you know the title, author and edition (best to get USBN), you can buy used textbooks online that are in nearly new condition and at a fraction of the cost. I have done this successfully 3 or 4 times.</p>