Tag Archives: Textbook Rentals

Acing the First Day of School

Filed under: College Life - BookRenter Team
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Say goodbye to those first day jitters

by Guest Blogger Kelsey Bradshaw

The first day of school is one of the best days of the entire school year. You get to catch up with friends, and most of the actual school part is just going over the syllabus.

However, this day carries a lot of responsibility along with its festivities. It’s the day for you to make a great first impression on potential new friends and even teachers. So how do you prepare for this day of total and complete judgment from everyone you meet? No pressure…

Between enjoying the last of summer and getting your beauty sleep, check online to see if any of your professors have posted a syllabus yet. It’s always a good idea to read over them ahead of time to get a general idea of what the class is going to be like, or to see if you have any assignments or need special materials on the first day of class. Once you have your reading list, get shopping! The week classes start, the bookstores will be overflowing with stressed-out students scrambling to get their book shopping done at the last minute. Don’t be one of them – shop and rent your textbooks ASAP!

by MyTudut

Now that you’ve read your syllabus and rented your books, it’s time to buy the basic school supplies like pencils, pens, and notebooks. Pack these in your bag the night before to avoid them being forgotten in the morning. One time, I was so worried about what I was going to wear that I completely spaced bringing any form of writing utensil to class–which wouldn’t have been so bad, except it was to a writing class. Oops.

Once you actually make it to class, sit by people that look friendly and strike up a conversation before class begins (because you’re early like a good student, right?!). Even if you’re not nearly caffeinated enough to deal with being back at school again, just fake your confidence until it’s real. Smile lots, act like you’re everybody’s best friend, and be a model student who totallllly didn’t forget to do the summer reading. And don’t forget to raise your hand at least once, especially in huge lecture hall classes, so you’ll be more memorable and stick out a little from the masses.

Last of all, remember that it’s only the first day, and while first impressions are important, they’re not permanent. You’ll have the rest of the semester to hit it off with your new classmates, so just relax and enjoy being back at school.

Good luck on your first day!

We value the diverse voices and fresh ideas that our guest bloggers bring to BookRenter.com. However, the ideas and opinions expressed in guest posts are strictly those of the post’s author and don’t necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of BookRenter.Com. The information in guest posts is often drawn from a variety of sources, and we count on our guest authors to verify and fact-check the content they post. BookRenter.Com makes no claims, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of guest post content or the suitability of the content for a specific purpose.

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Back to School Checklist

Filed under: College Life - BookRenter Team
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Cute curtains, sharpened pencils, and a snazzy backpack: cross your X’s and O’s!

by Guest Blogger Kelsey Bradshaw

I’m currently in a state of shock about going back to school. It’s the end of August already? Didn’t summer just start like…yesterday?!

Although I shall dearly miss my tan and my parents’ cooking, I can‘t wait to go back to school shopping. I just love buying lots of empty white notebooks, fresh pens, and let’s not forget – as many clothes as my paycheck will allow.

Clothes are the fun stuff, but you will also need the basics to get you through the term. Here are some important items to help you have a great year!

1. Furnishings. Cute sheets, matching curtains,  a rug, and kitchenware: the list goes on and on.  (Editor’s Note: You might want to invest in a nice lamp.)

by EvelynGiggles

2. A planner. Was that theology paper due on Tuesday? Is the toga party this Friday? Having a place to organize assignments and social activities is vital, or you might be show up to Theology class in a toga. No thanks.

3. School supplies. There’s nothing like heading off to class on the first day with a book bag filled with pencils (before everyone around you “borrows” yours) and fresh white sheets of notebook paper just waiting to be filled up with knowledge and doodles.

4. Books. Going to the bookstore and watching my bank account dwindle as I buy hundred-dollar textbooks that I’ll read once has always been an expensive part of my checklist. Luckily, now that I’ve discovered BookRenter, I can spend way less money for the same textbooks by renting them instead!

5. Backpack…or something to carry your textbooks and laptop in to class. Serena discovered some of the coolest backpacks out there this fall, so you have no excuse to forget your books at home.

6. A Back to School mindset. Remember that you’re actually going to school to learn, and get ready to do some studying. Check out Tiana’s tips for getting into a school state of mind. Also, prepare yourself for frat boys, ex-boyfriends, and loads of homework. On the bright side, you can look forward to being reunited with your besties, actually taking an interesting class or two, and just college in general. Best four years of our lives, anyone?

We value the diverse voices and fresh ideas that our guest bloggers bring to BookRenter.com. However, the ideas and opinions expressed in guest posts are strictly those of the post’s author and don’t necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of BookRenter.Com. The information in guest posts is often drawn from a variety of sources, and we count on our guest authors to verify and fact-check the content they post. BookRenter.Com makes no claims, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of guest post content or the suitability of the content for a specific purpose.

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The Surprising Economic Impact of Renting VS. Buying (Infographic)

Filed under: Education - BookRenter Team
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That’s $101 Million In Your Pockets

Filed under: Company Updates - BookRenter Team
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By VP of Business Development and Founder Colin Barceloux
Colin has a BS in Management Information Systems and a Minor in Information Technology from Santa Clara University where he graduated with Honors in 2003. Colin resides in San Francisco and is an avid snowboarder, basketball enthusiast, mountain biker, and golfer.

Today, we announced that BookRenter has saved students over $101 million dollars off the cost of textbooks. This is not only a special day for BookRenter, but also for me personally. When I started BookRenter I hoped that we’d reach a point where we would help so many students afford school, but now I can see this is really just the beginning. I got the idea to start BookRenter when I was a college student at Santa Clara University. Like students today, I was extremely frustrated with the high cost of textbooks. While at school, I worked three part-time jobs to help cover my out of pocket expenses, and textbooks were always the largest. The more I thought about it, the more I realized the status quo – buying textbooks and selling them back – is just a really expensive rental. When I started BookRenter, textbook rental was a new thing and today thanks in large part to BookRenter, rentals are fast becoming the preferred method for getting course materials.

From the very beginning, our mission at BookRenter has been to make education more affordable. After tuition, textbooks are the largest educational expense. Course materials cost on average $1,137 per year (College Board); that is a staggering number. For the millions of people attending community college, that averages about 40% of the annual cost of education. By renting textbooks, students can save up to 80%– that’s about $500 per year depending on what you study. When you start to apply that savings across the student population of the US, the result is tremendous. And for students scraping by on loans and grants to get through school, the impact of textbook rental takes on a whole new meaning. We created this picture to help people see how huge textbook rental can be. It makes us realize that $101 million is really just the beginning; $172 billion, here we come.

The Surprising Economic Impact of Renting VS. Buying (Infographic)

EMBED THE IMAGE ABOVE ON YOUR SITE

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The Reality of Making Education More Affordable

Filed under: Notes from an Entrepreneur, Post Grad and Career - BookRenter Team
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By VP of Business Development and Founder Colin Barceloux
Colin has a BS in Management Information Systems and a Minor in Information Technology from Santa Clara University where he graduated with Honors in 2003. Colin resides in San Francisco and is an avid snowboarder, basketball enthusiast, mountain biker, and golfer.

Hi, everyone! Just popping into the blog because I wanted to share a chance encounter I had with one of our customers. Last week after work, as I was going to the gym, I was stopped by the front desk worker who noticed my BookRenter.com polo shirt.

She asked if I worked at BookRenter, and I said I did. Immediately she practically hugged me and said how much she loved our company, and if it was not for BookRenter, she would have had to drop out of San Francisco State. She said that recently they raised tuition, and the money she saved renting books went to pay for the cost increase. She was the type of student who I could tell was working a couple of side jobs to pay for school, and using BookRenter had lifted such a tremendous burden on her life. I thanked for her business as she was tearing up.

We push ourselves every day to make a difference in students’ lives and to make education more affordable. The $60 million we have saved students so far is not just a number on our website, but also a reflection of the positive impact we are making on society.

Thank you for allowing us to serve you. If you have a story you’d like to share, we’d love to hear it in the comments.

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