Taking multiple "light" semesters? Forum

[preamble]

I came into college with 30 credits from AP exams - the school I attend awarded me a full scholarship that covers tuition and fees up to 120 credits (the number of credits necessary to attain a B.A.) If you have transfer/exam credits, the scholarship amount is adjusted accordingly. I really did not want to graduate a year early so I decided to strategically take lighter credit semesters to push my graduation date further off.

I did this twice - my very first semester, I took 12 credits (4 classes) under the premise that I would "adjust" to college level work and ensure I was able to do well. I then took a second 12 credit semester the fall of sophomore year because I began taking some graduate coursework and I began working as a tutor and TA.

Now I am entering my junior year and I am considering a third 12 credit semester because I just accepted a research position with an institute in my city. However, I am apprehensive about taking the third semester because it may look as though I am just slacking off or that I am incapable of handling academic obligations alongside other commitments... My utmost priority is my GPA - I currently have a 3.98 that I am trying to either maintain/raise.

For what it's worth, even with the lighter semesters (including the hypothetical third one) I will still be graduating a semester early and my final semester will be REALLY light, like 9 credits or so. During that last semester, I'd likely be interning/working somewhere for 20+ hours a week to compensate.

Will a third light semester look really bad? Are the two previous ones already detrimental? I know the TLS adage is "LSAT and GPA are all that matter" but I was hoping for a little more nuance + explanation if at all possible.

Thank you.

[heythatslife]

No one cares about how many credits you took. There's no "nuanced" or deep explanation necessary - LSAT and GPA drive the rankings, but there's no metric for credits taken by applicants.

[preamble]

No one cares about how many credits you took. There's no "nuanced" or deep explanation necessary - LSAT and GPA drive the rankings, but there's no metric for credits taken by applicants.

Ok, thank you. Sometimes I worry that thinking about law school admissions in black and white terms might end up biting me in the ass, even if a lot of it really is so black and white.