At my school, most kids take 4 classes, and the maximum is 5.5. One class is supposedly worth 4 semester hours, but there is some major variability due to the fact that labs are attached to lecture for no additional credit. Thus, Introductory Cultural Anthropology is worth the same as Organic Chemistry I + Lab-- that is, one course credit. Weird.
I usually take 4.5 credits, twice the .5 has been P/F and once it was for a grade. Once I took 5 credits. I'm taking only 4 for the first time next fall, but all of my classes are graduate-level courses in the natural sciences, one is research independent study, and one has an attached 4 hour lab. So it depends.
All in all, adcoms care MUCH more about your GPA. It's advisable if you can handle it to overload once with 2+ science classes just to show that you can manage, and take some grad-level classes if possible, but generally taking extra classes can't really set you apart.
The line to use for interviews is, "I found that as my undergraduate years went on, I was taking fewer and fewer classes, but getting more and more out of them." or "I would rather take X challenging classes and truly invest myself in them than get by with a surface understanding in a hectic courseload, when the temptation is to focus more on juggling responsibilities and making the grade than actually absorbing the material." Every faculty member I've spoken to about that eats it up. Seriously. It shows maturity and a lack of navelgazing resume-beefing.
Z
