Welcome to the club @texaspg We just got back last night so I was serving dinner tonight and put 3 plates. And then I removed one.
@ballerina016 We just got back an hour ago. I was under the impression you had more than one kid. 2016 kid is our second.
Same here. DD16 is my youngest. Her brother is 10 years older and he moved to his own place after college. So it is just two of us now in this quiet place.
Was he able to come to the convocation?
Yes. It was so inspiring. We left just after completely convinced that she chose the right school for her.
It does make it easier when you realize that @Ballerina016 , not easy but easier. Good luck during the adjustment to all of you empty nesters. I have a HS sophomore so that helps distract me, but itâs still quite an adjustment .
@Ballerina016 donât you love that?
Weâve had lots of communication the past few days but its filled with more drama than I care for.
I had posted a few days ago that two of her classes had no books listed. Monday her Chinese professor tells them the books via email. She heads to the bookstore to buy them, only to find out that the bookstore was also just informed about the books on Monday. They just ordered them and it will be a week before they get them in. So Tuesday in class, the professor gives an assignment, that you need the book for, that is due on Thursday. There are some copies at the library so she will go there do get them and do the homework, but there are two sections of this class, so about 50 kids, none of whom have the books and all of whom have this assignment. We did quickly order them from Amazon but they wonât arrive before Thursday. Its really annnoying. At least we got her set up in my Amazon Prime account so she can order herself now if she needs to.
Other than that things are going well. She likes her classes and roommate. It seems like she is making a lot of friends and is signing up for many activities. Maybe too many but we will see.
What a frustrating situation with the book ordering, @me29034. A neighbor was telling me the same story for her DD who is very far from home, and they are trying to figure out a way that she can obtain the book and not fall too far behind in her classes. It seems like professors have all summer to get the book ordering taken care of, so waiting until the last minute puts everyone behind.
To be fair, there are some adjunct faculty (usually poorly paid) who do not get word that they are teaching until just before the class. Iâm not sure that applies to these classes, of course â it is also possible it is poor planning.
For one of my classes, one of the books never got ordered even though the professor submitted the form in June. But we arenât using it right away
@me29034 That is very frustrating! Okay so the teacher just figuring out what books will be needed is bad but to then give an assignment and stress the students is ridiculous! My sweet girl also learned that she needed two small books for a class that initially listed âNo Books Requiredâ. She purchased the books at the bookstoreâŠthey were used which meant they only cost $26 total.
My sweet girl decided to drop the French 1001 and take French 1002 next semesterâŠthank God the same books are used for the French 1002 class because those two books alone cost $373!!
Not sure if this is a repeat on this thread but itâs so timely for meâŠ
The books have been such a pain. The bookstore listed some as ârequiredâ when they were not, supposedly got a change of text at the last minute and didnât have it in stock, only to have the prof say it wasnât needed at all (thank goodness it was bought cheap and used online), some books were sold outâŠ
Dâs plan has been to rent if at all possible unless itâs a book she plans to keep for future use. Thatâs been very affordable. Weâve found that the online options beat the bookstore in every single case, even though the bookstore says it prices âcompetitivelyâ. Too late for most classes, but I discovered half.com for Dâs final book, and it really was half the price of a new book. Itâs one she wants to keep. It arrived faster than the estimated delivery date, too.
Thatâs why my kids always wait until the class meets to buy books. Some professors donât use the listed books, some require the online codes while others donât. My son had one snafu - bought the book at the bookstore, then realized he could get a used copy for much cheaper online- so he returned the first and ordered the used. We (mostly his older sister) talked him through the options (there are so many now!) and he took care of it. We have pushed him to get physical, not electronic copies when there is a choice - it fits his learning style better.
@crowlady The professor is a regular faculty member who has been on my Dâs schedule since June so no excuses there.
D waited until classes started to get her books and was able to get all the ones that were posted ahead of time. She had one other late addition that was not in at the bookstore but that one didnât seem to create the same crisis as the Chinese ones did. We havenât looked into rentals yet. Maybe Iâll have her investigate it next term. D also prefers physical books to electronic. She had a couple classes in high school that used on-line texts and she didnât like them.
Weâll definitely either wait until classes start next semester or D can ask the profs ahead of time-itâs a small school, so sheâll know who is teaching which class well in advance. @me29034 rentals are SO very much cheaper than new! Sometimes the used version isnât much more, if your student wants to keep them or sell them back, but D had one rental that was only $30. You just canât beat that kind of price.
So the sorority situation cleared itself out. She simply does not have time for it. She met with her adviser to put together a schedule. He suggested that she only has time for a UROP and two clubs. She should not start UROP until she is completely comfortable with her schedule. It can be in two weeks or two month.
As per upperclassmen she will probably not need to buy any books at all for her major. I donât completely understand how it works. Probably they have it available online. Some other majors needs to have books.
Day 3 of classes is going well. I finished my first college paper and am almost done with the thank you note for the endowed scholarship. Then tonight is hanging out with an upper class woman friend and participating in a tradition!!!
@me29034, that is frustrating that the chinese prof updated the students and especially bookstore so late and then even gives an assignment requiring the book. Did anyone tell him that the bookstore doesnât have it yet?
My D rented her bio book from Amazon last year for two semesters and bought the online access code and it was much cheaper than buying the new book. But her chem book was a better deal bought new with access code included.
Now this year her ochem book is cheaper to rent (and I think doesnât require online access code), so it just depends.
I think for her German books itâs best just to buy new because the access code alone is $150.
I told her not to worry about it. She tries hard to get the best deal, but if she needs it she needs it. And we can claim the books as part of qualified education expenses for AOTC.