So many books... and some never opened...

[ModernChemistry]

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Since I'm heading to med school in a few months, I figure it is prime time to decide the fate of all the text books I've accumulated in undergrad. They're mostly science and I can only pick out one that I really want to keep. The question is: should I sell them now or will they become of any use in med school?

Also, should I choose to sell them, I'd appreciate it if somebody could suggest a website.

 

[Doctor Bob]

The question is: should I sell them now or will they become of any use in med school?

Sell them. You're going to accumulate lots of text books in medical school and will probably have the same problem at the end there as well. Plus, the readings in med school will keep you busy enough that you won't have much time to go back and read your undergrad books.

But if you like having an impressive looking shelf that could potentially fall and crush a small herd of cattle, then keep them.

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Half.com, Alibris.com, Amazon Marketplace, eBay.com are all ones that I've used to sell books. Half.com is probably my favorite (it uses your eBay account info, if you have that).

 

[engineeredout]

I'm in the same situation. I personally have a ****load of FE review books, which I never even took once I decided to study for the MCAT. Only problem is that now is not the optimal time to sell books, the end of August would be. Unfortionately most of us are probably going to be a little busy by then...

 

[rddoms]

My buddy has had a lot of luck using amazon to sell his book, and he was able to do it even during finals week. It doesn't take that long, so do it when you can spare a few minutes.

 

[Limvostov]

I'm in the same situation. I personally have a ****load of FE review books, which I never even took once I decided to study for the MCAT. Only problem is that now is not the optimal time to sell books, the end of August would be. Unfortionately most of us are probably going to be a little busy by then...

Ahhh the FE exam... that really is a crappy exam for a BioE. None of it really applied to what I did past the second year of school so I also never took the exam.

I'm keeping my mass and engergy transfer, thermo, and fluids books though. Those were classes were hell (especiall heat transfer) and I want my only trophy for completing the insanity on my bookshelf. Pretending heat transfer is an electrical circuit... BAH!

 

[211519]

I've sold some books to Abebooks.com. They pay for your shipping (FedEx shipping label you print), FYI, and that's a huge perk. If you've ever sold a super-heavy science text on Amazon with that pathetic $3.99 shipping credit, you know what I'm talking about.

I'm selling my Orgo stuff this week for over $125. The books I sold before worked out well, and I got the check in about 2 weeks.

 

[Gold 5]

Since I'm heading to med school in a few months, I figure it is prime time to decide the fate of all the text books I've accumulated in undergrad. They're mostly science and I can only pick out one that I really want to keep. The question is: should I sell them now or will they become of any use in med school?

Also, should I choose to sell them, I'd appreciate it if somebody could suggest a website.

Sell them while they are still worth something! You will never use them again in Med school.

 

[Freezer]

Sell them while they are still worth something! You will never use them again in Med school.

Agreed!!! as soon as a newer edition of text books come out, you wil only get back pennies on the dollar you paid for it... you can get a nice return selling them on ebay during the week prior, during, and after the first day of a semester... at that time, students across the country are looking for deals and typically drive the costs up...

 

[Chocolate Bear]

Ship textbooks more cheaply using Media Mail.

http://www.usps.com/send/waystosendmail/senditwithintheus/mediamail.htm

 

[engineeredout]

Ahhh the FE exam... that really is a crappy exam for a BioE. None of it really applied to what I did past the second year of school so I also never took the exam.

I'm keeping my mass and engergy transfer, thermo, and fluids books though. Those were classes were hell (especiall heat transfer) and I want my only trophy for completing the insanity on my bookshelf. Pretending heat transfer is an electrical circuit... BAH!

Hah yes, there was a ton of **** on the FE that didn't apply to ChemE. WE DON'T CARE ABOUT STATICS AND DYNAMICS OF A METAL BAR RIVETED TO A WALL.

And yeah like you said, I'm most definitely keeping heat and mass, thermo, fluids, kinetics. Material and energy balance can go in the trash though, and I doubt separation technologies will be useful unless I decide to build my own hemodialysis unit.

 

[Limvostov]

Material and energy balance can go in the trash though, and I doubt separation technologies will be useful unless I decide to build my own hemodialysis unit.

I killed my separations book!!! Liquid extraction equations are pure hell! It's good to know there are other who suffered some crazy engineering nonsense going into medicine. 😀

 

[JelloStapler]

I've been selling mine slowly on amazon for the past few months now. The key is to ship everything media mail! It has never been offered to me as an option, I always have to ask for it.

Also, if you are even thinking of selling your books, sooner is much better than later! When the new edition comes out, it makes the old one worthless. I think I missed out on some good money by waiting too long.

As a BioE myself, I passed on taking the FE. I sucked at all those classes, and got a job in research anyway. I was also super excited to see all of my fluids, transfer, and thermo books off! Those were the worst classes! Those were also the books that fetched the most money as well! I found out that the more advanced/specific engineering books lost the least in value, and I was able to get a significant amout of money for them making it worth my time!

 

[engineeredout]

I killed my separations book!!! Liquid extraction equations are pure hell! It's good to know there are other who suffered some crazy engineering nonsense going into medicine. 😀

Yeah definitely. The only thing I really liked about seperations was chromatography, and calculating the optimal separation waves and when to pulse the next batch of mixture. That at least seemed like real engineering, while staring at the different stuff for micro/ultra/superultrafiltration was numbing.

 

[Limvostov]

I've been selling mine slowly on amazon for the past few months now. The key is to ship everything media mail! It has never been offered to me as an option, I always have to ask for it.

Also, if you are even thinking of selling your books, sooner is much better than later! When the new edition comes out, it makes the old one worthless. I think I missed out on some good money by waiting too long.

As a BioE myself, I passed on taking the FE. I sucked at all those classes, and got a job in research anyway. I was also super excited to see all of my fluids, transfer, and thermo books off! Those were the worst classes! Those were also the books that fetched the most money as well! I found out that the more advanced/specific engineering books lost the least in value, and I was able to get a significant amout of money for them making it worth my time!

I would have sold the extractions book, but it was out of date when I bought it and so its days were over. Did you by chance attend OSU? If so you missed me by a couple of years or so.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Since I'm heading to med school in a few months, I figure it is prime time to decide the fate of all the text books I've accumulated in undergrad. They're mostly science and I can only pick out one that I really want to keep. The question is: should I sell them now or will they become of any use in med school?

Also, should I choose to sell them, I'd appreciate it if somebody could suggest a website.

Sell them. Trade them. Give them away. Doesn't matter. I finished college six years ago, and sold back what books I could and saved the rest. I kept a few in the courses that interested me and was reading one earlier - zoology, geology, environmental biology, paramedic books, and some that I couldn't sell back but weren't so bad to keep like U.S. history, American government, etc. The rest that I couldn't sell back were eventually thrown away and gleefully so like college algebra. I'm sure after medical school and residency you'll have so many books you won't have anywhere to put them.

Interestingly, after getting out of college and having time to sit down and enjoy a few of those books I am actually captivated by what's in them and the detail to which I never learned. I now feel stupid HAHA. I pulled a 3.45 UGPA by listening. I never studied or read the books and towards the end didn't even buy books for some classes. I'm not proud of it, but that was college for me. 🙄

 

[JelloStapler]

I would have sold the extractions book, but it was out of date when I bought it and so its days were over. Did you by chance attend OSU? If so you missed me by a couple of years or so.

I did go to OSU! I graduated in '06.

 

[Limvostov]

I did go to OSU! I graduated in '06.

Awesome, I was from the class of '05... 🙂

 

[Semicolon]

I checked out abebooks.com for their free shipping and buyback thing, but a lot of my textbooks are essentially worthless to them. I could sell them for significantly more on Amazon, so I think I'll be doing that. Even if I need to pay for shipping, the profit's still better. 😀

 

[Limvostov]

As far as buying text books goes I use Campusi.com (now Dealoz.com) and get the best rates. This site is like the Orbitz or Expedia of book sites because it searches international and national amazon, ebay, half.com, abeboooks, and lots of others and then gives you the best deals with shipping included.

I find this to be the best site out there for buying books. For selling I use half.com becasue it is through ebay and I like how ebay works.