Taking fewer course loads undergrad affects Harvard/Yale??? Forum

[kevink7m]

hi

[Br3v]

At my university the full expected full course load is 5 half credits per semester meaning that in a year I am suppose to take 10 half credits or 5 full credits. Therefore 20 credits to graduate.

1st year: total 8 half credits
Semester 1: 3 half credits
Semester 2: 5 half credits

2nd year: 7 half credits
Semester 1: 3 half credits
Semester 2: 4 Half credits

3rd year: 9 half credits
Semester 1: 4 half credits
Semester 2: 5 half credits

4th year: To be determined.

My question is did I mess up my 1st and 2nd year by not taking the full 5 half credits per semester? How badly will harvard and yale look down on it? My idea was drop the low marks to get the highest gpa possible. Should i continue this strategy in my 3rd and fourth year or is it better to have a full course load with a lower gpa? For example is it better to have 4 half credits for my 3rd and 4th year with a gpa of 3.9 or take full course load with a 3.8 or 3.85?

Thanks

I am pretty confused by what you are asking.
But here you go:
1) NO school will care how many credits you take (unless its weird and like 1 class a semester spaced over two decades)
2) The answer in regards to Law School acceptances is ALWAYS go with the higher GPA

[WhiteyCakes]

Flame

[tsr92]

I don't think this is a flame since OP also asked this in the Canadian law students forum. Anyways, schools in the US pretty much just care about cGPA as they don't do anything like drops, last 2, best 2, or best 3.

[kevink7m]

I will try to clarify. So instead of half credits think of it as courses. In my 1st year I took 8 courses and in my 2nd year 7 courses. I took summer school in between to make up my shortage in classes since the expected classes you need to take per year is 10. 10 courses a year means 40 in my 4 year undergrad.

Thanks

[indo]

I will try to clarify. So instead of half credits think of it as courses. In my 1st year I took 8 courses and in my 2nd year 7 courses. I took summer school in between to make up my shortage in classes since the expected classes you need to take per year is 10. 10 courses a year means 40 in my 4 year undergrad.

Thanks

law school does not care. you are fine

[kevink7m]

I was thinking that taking less than the full course of of 10 classes per year would be looked down upon since other students can manage the work load.

For example

Student 1: takes 8 courses per year and takes summer courses to make up for the missing courses and gets a 3.9
Student 2: Takes 10 courses per year without summer school and gets a 3.9

In this case I think its pretty straightforward that the student who took 10 courses per year and got the 3.9 is stronger because they were able to manage more courses while maintaining the high gpa. But what if student 2 got a 3.85 or a 3.8. Where is the threshold where it would be better for me to drop a course to keep the high gpa?