I voted for water changes not considered because, for me, it depends on the cicumstance. If I've ordered a fish from online, then I know when it's coming and will perform a water change a day or two prior to it's arrival. Sometimes, though, my fish purchases are spontaneous (saw something I couldn't leave without at the LFS) and I can't always correlate that purchase with any particular water change day. It just sort of happens.
Either way, I do try to hold off on the next water change until the newbie has had a chance to settle in a little (2 or 3 days).