book totin' question

[Matthies]

Bring the books - professors will point out lines they feel are important (especially in Con Law). You'll want to have them just in czse (no pun intended) you want to highlight.

As to bags, I'm a big fan of Tom Bihn (http://www.tombihn.com/) - I got the Brain Bag...they offer a custom made padded computer container (sized to fit your laptop)...it's around $200 for the whole thing but I've given it 2 years of rough treatment and it looks new. I've dropped the bag in the street hard and the laptop has always been undamaged.

It's waterproof (resistant?) and has pockets on the front and top for mouse, wallet, keys, etc. It has a hip strap to take the strain off your back.

You'll spend a lot of money on books and they won't last as long or look as good as this bag.

REI bags are also good...I've got one of those I use for overnight business trips.

Roller bags are common at school too - they don't appeal to me but some students swear by them.

Good Luck!

I second the Brain Nag its HUGE, still the biggest cubic inch bag I have ever seen. Holds everything and protects your laptop. I very sadly had to give it up when I went to a 17 inch laptop and I have gone through 4 bags since then with nothing coming close to the Brain Bag. I'm going back to the BG this year, and just give up some protection for my lap top, BEST BAG EVER

[dischord]

I just left my books at a locker (and later a journal office) every day.  It helped me get work done more efficiently to be forced to do it at school; if I ever had to take books home, it was never more than one at a time, which isn't bad at all.  I'd recommend that to anyone who has the chance.  Another plus is you never have to worry about leaving one at home, because they're always on campus.

Plus, it is a physical impossibility to look professional with a rolling backpack.

In doing this were you usually able to make it home in time for dinner? (I'm serious -- I really don't want to have to eat out/on campus because of $$).

And re: the bolded . . . I'm not really concerned with looking "professional" or not, but is there anything remotely practical that doesn't look so hopelessly dorky?  I mean, no offense, guys, your taste is your taste.  But I myself am not too happy about having to rock a padded camping backpack with a million straps, and I'd rather die than have a rolling backpack.  I've had my eye on some large satchel-type bags and stuff, but I don't think that's going to work unless I'm okay with weekly appointments with a chiropractor starting at age 25 . . .

[jacy85]

If you have a locker, and plan on having all your stuff at school pretty much all the time, than all you need is a laptop tote.

But if you plan on carrying ANY books with you, for the love of god, do NOT get a satchel.  As you already know, you'll kill your back.

I personally would never rebind my books (which is inevitably going to be, or has been a suggestion here).  They're too damn expensive, and you lose every cent of resale value (and I'm talking half.com resale, not the $2 you get at the bookstore).  I've made a decent amt of money back on selling my stuff back on half or amazon.

So it really does come down to a nice laptop backpack or rolly bag.  These are NOT all "camping" backpacks; I suggest you look into some of them by various manufacturers.  Yes, they're still a backpack, so you're going to have straps and whatever. But many are very simple, nice colors, etc. 

[goaliechica]

I unbound all of my casebooks and put them in binders, and used a regular northface backpack with padded straps for my books and my computer. And then about a month into school I wound up in the emergency room when my back completely gave out on me. I had to actually crawl down the stairs of my apartment, and they had to give me a morphine shot so that I could untwist myself enough just to be able to sit. I'v never had back problems before or since then, and I'm in pretty decent shape.

So I use a wheeled bag now, and anyone who thinks it looks unprofessional can suck it, as far as I'm concerned.

[philosophia]

Some good stuff here.  I found this bag on overstock and it looks pretty nice.  It's a rolling backpack, but is leather and looks less ridiculous.  Plus, it can double as a weekend bag.  And, it has a computer protector.

http://www.overstock.com/Luggage-Bags/APC-Leather-Backpack-on-Wheels/708661/product.html?#custreviews

Or maybe this one... (which is decidedly less attractive, but seems okay)

http://www.overstock.com/Luggage-Bags/Leather-Backpack-on-Wheels/33080/product.html?

FYI, I will be using public transportation since my school is a block from a station, so I think something I can roll OR carry might be ideal.  Plus, I plan on renting a locker at school and the rec center for on-campus storage.

I think I have reasonably incorporated all of your great insight into a workable solution for me.  Too bad if I look like a jackasz, my already-bad-back will thank my ego later! 

Thanks for the comments!

[dischord]

Why not carry a backpack for school, where you'll be 95% of the time your first year and where you'll look like 98% of the other students, and then get a satchel for those times you want to look more polished? Franklin Covey has some really great bags.

I'm far too attractive to carry a camping backpack, but I trust people will learn to appreciate the flair with which I wear it.

Because I'm way cooler than the other kids.

No, seriously though, my pride will not abide anything like the suggested styles.  I mean, I don't judge others for wearing them, because they are eminently practical and it's not like all of them are poorly designed, per se, they're just TOTALLY not my style.  It's really not about what other people think, it's more that the prospect of having to cart around such a thing makes me depressed.  (And yes, I know that to some this sounds ridiculous, but whatever.  I'll let you be you, and you should let me be me).

So, since I neither want to be unfashionable nor crippled, anyone else care to comment in more detail about the feasibility of keeping everything in a locker?  I know I'll have one at school.  I just worry about time management issues, especially since I both have no idea what my schedule will look like and no idea how big a casebook is except that it's just big.  So for example, could one maybe take one book + one computer home in a (more) normal bag without dying from the weight?  Would a casebook fit into an oversized laptop bag, or a large messenger bag?  And work-wise, would it be possible to only have to take home one casebook per day?  To be able to do this, will I have to be on campus for like 17 hours a day?

[SCK2008]

Dischord, you'd be the laughingstock of every indie sewing-circle around if you wore a backpack huh?  You'd never live it down...

[Ender Wiggin]

Why not carry a backpack for school, where you'll be 95% of the time your first year and where you'll look like 98% of the other students, and then get a satchel for those times you want to look more polished? Franklin Covey has some really great bags.

I'm far too attractive to carry a camping backpack, but I trust people will learn to appreciate the flair with which I wear it.

Because I'm way cooler than the other kids.

No, seriously though, my pride will not abide anything like the suggested styles.  I mean, I don't judge others for wearing them, because they are eminently practical and it's not like all of them are poorly designed, per se, they're just TOTALLY not my style.  It's really not about what other people think, it's more that the prospect of having to cart around such a thing makes me depressed.  (And yes, I know that to some this sounds ridiculous, but whatever.  I'll let you be you, and you should let me be me).

So, since I neither want to be unfashionable nor crippled, anyone else care to comment in more detail about the feasibility of keeping everything in a locker?  I know I'll have one at school.  I just worry about time management issues, especially since I both have no idea what my schedule will look like and no idea how big a casebook is except that it's just big.  So for example, could one maybe take one book + one computer home in a (more) normal bag without dying from the weight?  Would a casebook fit into an oversized laptop bag, or a large messenger bag?  And work-wise, would it be possible to only have to take home one casebook per day?  To be able to do this, will I have to be on campus for like 17 hours a day?

You're going to law school and you're worried that it's the backpack that's gonna make you look like a nerd? 

Seriously, you will be spending many hours per day reading.  Where you do it is up to you, but there are days when I don't leave the library until 8:00, and then I still have more to do when I get home.  It's not like that every night (like now, as you can tell by the fact that I'm screwing around for a few minutes before I get to work), but at times like now (my second memo is due next week), I am generally doing about 10 hours a day of reading, plus class time.  I bring all of my books with me to the library, because I don't feel like walking back to my locker, but it would not be ridiculous to stretch my legs while switching materials. 

[dischord]

Dischord, you'd be the laughingstock of every indie sewing-circle around if you wore a backpack huh?  You'd never live it down...

Lol.  Yeah, none of them match my skinny jeans  

Ender, it's not that I'm afraid of looking like a nerd . . . I mean, I don't know how to explain this to someone who isn't as aesthics-obsessed as I am sometimes, but it just makes me feel bad about myself.  It's not so much what other people think as it is my looking at the thing and being like, "Eww." 

I actually have a plain, beat-up, old school L.L. Bean backpack that I like quite a bit, I just don't think it will be adequate, either in size or in terms of back pain.  Although it was my dad's backpack when HE was in law school, and while he didn't have a laptop back then, as far as I'm aware it was fine.  So maybe I'll just stick with that?

[SCK2008]

But how do you reconcile your intellectual snobbery with your fashion sensibilities?  Is that possible??