Frequently Asked Questions For Ross University
As you have no doubt figured out, medical school is a very expensive undertaking, and the costs associated with it keep adding up. Books make up a large portion of associated costs, and by the time you are through with school, books alone will likely end up costing thousands of dollars. Island Thrift is here to help, both by offering used books at good prices, but also by sharing information about books. Whether you buy from us for from another source, we hope that you have found this information helpful. Listed below are questions frequently asked by incoming first semester students:
Do I REALLY need all of these books?
Are all of these books used in first semester?
If I don’t buy all of the books ahead of time, what are my options?
How important is it to have the newest edition of something?
In addition to the required and recommended books, are there other books I should buy?
Do I REALLY need all of these books?
There is no one good answer to this question. What YOU need will be different from what another person may need. It all depends on your learning style. If you like surrounding yourself with a lot of books from which to reference, you may benefit greatly by buying all of the books on the list. However, the handouts that are given out in class are typically pretty good, so if you can understand the concepts without doing a lot of extra reading, you might benefit more by using review and high yield books. It just depends on what works best for you. That said, if you haven’t yet figured out your learning style, you might consider purchasing the required books for first semester, and then figure it out as you go.
We do recommend buying at least one book for each subject and several for anatomy.
One important thing to mention is that your professors will assign readings from many of the required books on the list. You may not find time to read everything ahead of time, but if you do, you might find lectures to be more fulfilling.
Are all of these books used in first semester?
With the exception of neuroscience, you will use all of the books on the booklist both in your first and second semesters. Unless they make a change to the curriculum, you will cover most of neuroscience in your second semester, so you may not need to buy these books until then.
If I don’t buy all of the books ahead of time, what are my options?
If you get here and decide you need a book, there are limited options. Here they are:
- Go to the campus bookstore and buy your books new, but expect to pay quite a lot. Shipping to Dominica is very expensive, so every book the bookstore brings in is subject to high shipping charges. If the bookstore is out of stock of something, they can order it for you, but it will take some time to get here.
- Check out Island Thrift for used books. Our shipping prices are very low in comparison to FedEx and USPS so shipping with us with save you some money.
- Look for other students selling their books, either outside of the library or near the shacks. Sometimes you can get a really good deal, but not always. If you are in doubt of the price of something, you can always check to see what it goes for in the bookstore or on amazon. The most likely time to find students selling their books is at the very beginning and end of each semester. Also make sure to check out the 4th semester sale which usually happens two Saturdays before finals begin each semester. You may also want to keep your eyes open for notices posted around campus – students often put up posters of books and stuff they have for sale.
- The library has almost everything you need on reserve, and books can be checked out for 3 hours during the day, or if it is after 8 pm, you can check it out overnight (but you must return it by 9 am the next day).
- You can always order books over the internet, and amazon usually has the best prices on used books online, but you must take into account shipping costs, which can be considerably high. Considering the time it takes things to get here (up to 6 weeks!) and the amount you will pay in shipping, you may be better off just purchasing books new at the bookstore (if you can’t find them used anywhere on campus).
How important is it to have the newest edition of something?
As you may have figured out by now, textbooks are a huge industry, and it seems a new edition is always coming out. In some fields of science, new information is presented each day, but in others things haven’t changed much. Therefore, a new book may come out, say in biochemistry, and may have quite a lot of new information. But a new edition of an anatomy book may not be all that different, as the human body hasn’t changed all that much. Sometimes new editions come out and the only difference is that the cover has been changed, while other books may have completely updated information. The best way to find out if a new edition is that different from the old one is to ask a professor here. They have been using these books for years, and will tell you if an older edition will suffice.
In addition to the required and recommended books, are there other books I should buy?
Most students find various review series very helpful, such as Pretest, BRS, High-Yield, Lippincott Illustrated Reviews, Biotest series, Secrets series, Made Ridiculously Simple series, NMS series, Lange series, etc. When purchasing one of these books, some subjects you need the newest edition, as many of these books cover current trends on the USMLE Step 1 exam, while others have just updated miniaml info, added some questions, taken out some questions, ect. so the old edition is perfectly fine. Speaking of which, it is ESSENTIAL that you pick up a copy of “First Aid for the USMLE Step 1.” Plan to use this book throughout your first two years, as it will help direct your study for the boards. It is of course important that you pass your classes, but even more important that you get a good score on the boards. Good luck!
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