Rent or Buy Textbooks for 1st Years!

[ZsMusings]

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[Marissa4usa]

I recommend buying used in "like new" condition. That way, if you want to keep it, you have a book in decent condition, but if you sell after the semester ends, you're likely to get (almost) as much money back as you paid for the book (assuming it's not in a considerably worse state). I've done it this way during college and my master's program and can say that over the course of these six years I've "lost" $300 to $400 on books.

This is my favorite site to search for books.

http://www.allbookstores.com/

 

[paramour]

Depends on your coursework. For clinical classes, I'd recommend buying (and as cheaply as possible). For other courses that you may hold absolutely no interest and may never look at the book again, I'd recommend checking them out from the library.

 

[Iwillheal]

If they're very expensive, consider shoplifting. It helps if you are an attractive woman or if you're a guy who happens to look like John Quinones and can pretend what you did was part of What Would You Do?

 

[LETSGONYR]

I am starting a PhD program in a few weeks, would you suggest purchasing all my books or renting …. I lean toward renting because it is MUCH cheaper but I would hate to regret not owning a book I may need in the future!

I found that a lot of the books were good to use/prepare for comps. I'd ask more advanced students in your program which books they actually used, and buy those (from amazon or something)... for the others, I'd consider renting (or even borrowing from the library).

 

[PsychPhDone]

Yes, ask around. I borrowed most books from my labmates but bought certain books they told me I'd use later on (either for research reference, clinical reference, or candidacy prep)

 

[cara susanna]

Buy. I still use most of my books.

 

[LETSGONYR]

Buy. I still use most of my books.

Speaking of this, Guilford Press is having a $5 sale on some psych (and education) books. I hate to plug for them, but I got a bunch of books during a $5 sale a two or so years ago, and used them for references for papers, comps, reports, and recommendations. It's a good way to build your professional library.

Thought some of you might be interested. http://www.guilford.com/cgi-bin/cartscript.cgi?page=salebooks.html

I'm assuming (not sure if this is true or not) that the reason they're selling them so cheaply is that there's a new edition coming out soon... but even so, it's a good deal.

 

[Pragma]

Buy, but use half.com or some other site like that. You'll save a lot of money compared to the bookstore.

I still use a lot of my books. Got rid of a few but kept most.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Buy, but use half.com or some other site like that. You'll save a lot of money compared to the bookstore.

I still use a lot of my books. Got rid of a few but kept most.

I'd second this. I bought, as best I can remember, all of my grad school books, and still (like Pragma) use many of them at least semi-frequently.

Perhaps the only texts I no longer get much use out of were some of the early required classes (e.g., history, social), although I'd imagine having the books around will come in handy when studying for the EPPP.