How important are recommended academic units?

Every college has different recommendations. For example, for Columbia University it says that the recommended units of english are 4, maths are 4, science are 4, history are 4, foreign language are 4, and academic elective are 4. Next year I’m planning to drop an AP history course in exchange for AP Micro and AP GAP, and an AP language course for AP Environmental Science. If I don’t reach the recommended course units because of this, how will it affect my chances for different colleges?