Just to respond a little, I actually just finished with my Master's in applied physics, so yeah, it can work with an academic life. ^_^ Actually it can even be beneficial, much like turning off the Internet -- where yes, you lose access to help docs, but you also lose access to distractions.
If you want a little more unorthodox advice I'd offer, "don't buy the textbook unless either (a) it is a workbook which must be submitted for the grade or (b) you were really so powerfully impressed that you want this book as a lifelong reference." Ask the professor to ask the library to put the textbook on reserve in the library -- so that nobody in the course can take it out, but rather you share it at the library. If this leaves you muttering about Kant's categorical imperative, remember that if someone else is using it, you can form an impromptu study group and make a new friend. :D. For that matter, student societies should have copies of the texts, and a study lounge at the department might also have them. If nothing else works, copy homework problems from a friend taking the same course and look up the same material in alternative texts in the library (or on the Internet) -- but that's almost never necessary.
My impression from reading his/her comment was that he/she is a high school senior, in which case what he says would make sense. 35 hours a week in classes, plus the activity and homework load he would need to make UChicago, plus meals and transport, add up to at least 14 hours on weekdays, without making allowance for inefficiency, laziness, akrasia, etc or leisure.
If you want a little more unorthodox advice I'd offer, "don't buy the textbook unless either (a) it is a workbook which must be submitted for the grade or (b) you were really so powerfully impressed that you want this book as a lifelong reference." Ask the professor to ask the library to put the textbook on reserve in the library -- so that nobody in the course can take it out, but rather you share it at the library. If this leaves you muttering about Kant's categorical imperative, remember that if someone else is using it, you can form an impromptu study group and make a new friend. :D. For that matter, student societies should have copies of the texts, and a study lounge at the department might also have them. If nothing else works, copy homework problems from a friend taking the same course and look up the same material in alternative texts in the library (or on the Internet) -- but that's almost never necessary.