New students and cheap textbooks.

I admit it: this blog has not been a priority over the past year. Despite creating it with guns blazing, it has taken a back seat to school, work and travel. A recent interaction with incoming students has shown me the importance of resources such as these and allowed me to understand some of the common questions that students have.

Next Thursday at 3pm I will be participating on a panel made up of second year students answering questions from first year students. I encourage all of the incoming class to attend, and I will try to stick around after the session in order to answer any questions which require more candid answers.

I'd like to offer some advice on buying textbooks. Most people ask where to get them, and whether older editions be used for certain courses. The answer to the first question is: get them online. Most textbooks are sold for one price in North America and a deeply discounted price (ex. $50 versus $200) in other geographies (example: India). These "international" editions may not have a shiny cover, nor be hardcover, however, consist of the exact same content as their North American counterparts. A quick Google search can yield retailers that are willing to ship international editions to any Canadian address. My fav: http://www.abebooks.com/. Textbook arbitrage. Go figure.

The answer to the second question regarding older editions should involve asking the professor. Though a used book on Amazon or Rworld may cost half as much as a new book, it may be an older edition, and I've seen many cases where the content varies too much to be relevent for Rotman courses. Again, ask the professor to see whether an older edition is valid, or better yet, sign the book out at the Rotman library and take a look for yourself. All textbooks are on reserve at the BIC and can be borrowed for 3 hours.