1) when i first read your username, i thought it said "slaframine" (aka slobbers disease of sheep
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1) when i first read your username, i thought it said "slaframine" (aka slobbers disease of sheep
2) i think if you can swing it, you should find out from upperclassmen AT LSU what books are recommended and useful. SGU recommends and "requires" an enormous amount of books. thing is, most of them never get opened because either our notes are sufficient, the professor has office hours to explain stuff, or the golden web helps us out. we may or may not have quite a few pdfs circulating around our student body too...point is, find out if people who went through those classes think you need the books. would certainly stink to pay money for something you never open!
I haven't really bought that many textbooks, but basically I used a hardcopy dissection guide because using an ebook for that seemed to difficult (says the person who shattered her ipad on the anatomy lab floor). I use an ebook for physiology, since they gave as access to that for free, and you know free is all the explanation needed there. I've also occasionally used some of my old hard copy textbooks from undergrad as a reference. This being said, I do still prefer hard copy, but I don't absolutely detest the ebooks like I used to. They have their definite advantages, ie. you can take them everywhere, being able to read without worrying about having enough light and whether the light will glare off the shiny textbook pages (yes, I find that very annoying), being able to search for terms in the text. I think that unless you have a strong preference one way or the other, you may find yourself using a mix. If I ever come across a book that I think I'll really want to keep as a reference I'll buy it hardcopy, but otherwise, if I would ever seen the need to buy a textbook for another reason, I'd probably just save some money and do the ebook. But it's also good to keep in mind that not all ebooks are created equal. My free physiology textbook is kinda crappy in terms of formatting and not the easiest to follow along with, but, you know, free. And I second what orca said about checking with the library. They'll sometimes even have access to ebooks, so that's good to check out too!
its a pre-packaged set. whether or not you can decline it, i'm not so sure about that. you'd need to ask a lower term student at this point
Yeah, I'll agree with that... I learned everything out of textbooks in undergrad, as going to my large lecture classes was useless for me and my horrid attention span. Have used a textbook only very rarely this year. Unlike in undergrad when they either don't give you class notes or the notes have lots of missing information in an effort to force you to pay attention, it's generally pretty much all there in the notes in vet school. They want you to do well and learn the information, whereas those big undergrad basic science classes are often "weed out" classes. Only had one class last semester that I really had to write down a lot of notes for because his slides were a bit deficient in explanations of the complicated biochemical diagrams. And we are lucky enough to have lecture capture, so I could just go back and rewatch it all at my convenience. Certainly didn't use the textbook.
don't forget that your school isnt the only place that sells textbooks
it might not even be the most convenient option (and it's unlikely to be the cheapest one for sure). if you decide you wish you had ___ at a later date, amazon can surely get it to you in days! not an option for us island students making book buying a little more stressful haha. 
I second what jmo said. I think I bought maybe one book through the bookstore each semester because I thought it might be useful but couldn't find it on bigwords. I haven't sold anything back, either--my philosophy is that I don't need to buy anything unless I want to keep it for reference. So far I bought anatomy, histology, pathology, one of the recommended books for bacteriology (the required one was a microbiology text; I figured the more specific "agents of disease" one would be more useful), and...probably a couple others that I don't remember right now. I can't really say whether there's anything I want for future reference because I haven't needed to look up that stuff yet.
The notes are paper, and I like to just write on those notes and make my study guides from there. You don't get notes for anatomy, though (unless they changed it this year? I would guess not, though--apparently the notes packet would be ~$200 more expensive if those were printed out). I have a tablet, and I like it for a couple of reasons. Anatomy notes, for one: I got a keyboard for it and mostly typed, but I liked that I could copy a drawing with my stylus. I like that I can have a computer with me in my backpack at all times without it being too heavy. It came in handy for PBL especially, and a couple of other times. Mostly I use it to study, though. It lets me search text in the powerpoints and access helpful stuff on the class dropbox while maintaining a book-like feel instead of my less convenient laptop. Plus it lets me study in places other than my desk--I think I did most of my studying first semester on the couch downstairs, and now I do most of it at a friend's house.
Do you love it? I've been looking at those! It sounds like it works really well. I might ask for one for my birthday
I'm really happy with it.Do you love it? I've been looking at those! It sounds like it works really well. I might ask for one for my birthday
It works well for what I use it for, it came with a great stylus, and I bought a case with a keyboard so I can type easily, too.Can you add me to the PM list? I'm trying to decide on a tablet as well... I would really appreciate it!
