Buying Books... and Selling Them!

At USD you can either stop in to pick up your books or order them online. The USD bookstore website is pretty easy to navigate, and they have their schedule for buying books set up there as well. The bookstore is located in Loma Hall, down the steps to the left of Serra Hall, or if you're driving, next to the law school parking lot, facing away from the center of campus. Here is a cool interactive map of the campus to help you find your way there.

A note to anyone who wants to buy their books online-- they don't always have the used version, and you will get stuck with full price if they don't! For those buying their books well ahead of time, I highly recommend shopping around and comparing prices. Textbook publishers have a total racket going, so even if you've been asked to purchase the newest edition, the edition before it might be exactly the same and a few bucks cheaper. When you're shopping around Amazon is always good, and Half, even has a textbook specific super store that makes buying and selling really easy. Another fun one, Bookbyte, is also specifically for textbooks and you can sell them back for a pretty good price, too.

Grad students, depending on your program, you are expected to have at least skimmed your books before the first class, so buy early! You might even want to email the professor at least a month ahead of time to allow for shipping delays if you're ordering online. If you can't get ahold of the professor, go to the bookstore, online or in person, and see if they have their booklist available yet.

I'm a big fan of BigWords.com http://www.bigwords.com. Their bot will go out into the web, search for the best deals [including shipping] and return with a shopping list for you to click and buy. It is great and saves big bucks.