<p>Take this fictional scenario: Miriam and Beatrice are two college students applying for grad school. Assume their stats are comparable in most areas--same major, GPA, GRE, research, prof recs, major-related ECs, etc. </p>
<p>Miriam took 4 classes per semester in college.
Beatrice took 5 classes per semester in college.</p>
<p>Beatrice's extra classes were not major-related and were too varied to become a minor. Is Beatrice necessarily more competitive an applicant than Miriam?</p>
<p>All things equal, if the classes have nothing to do with the intended field it will not make a difference.</p>
<p>Edit: I should say that if the classes make the applicant more marketable (ex. heavy math background in a science related field), then they will matter. But if they are a random smattering of classes, forget it.</p>
<p>Would you recommend taking only four classes per semester if it means a slightly higher GPA?</p>
<p>What about this fictional scenario:</p>
<p>Miriam and Beatrice both get into one or two lower tier grad schools, while Gertrude (who took five classes a semester and used that extra class to get extra major-related experience) gets into everywhere she applied.</p>
<p>You’re still in HS! Please stop worrying and enjoy the rest of your senior year.</p>
<p>My advice is… DO NOT OVERLOAD in your first year. College is extremely different from high school where you’re expected to learn A LOT more material in shorter amount of time and you will need as much time as possible in order to learn and absorb the material.</p>
<p>Well, Gertie wins, obvs.</p>
<p>But I was going under the assumption that both Miriam and Beatrice went above and beyond the major requirements regarding major-related classes (sorry for not stating this, but this was my thinking). My problem is that tuition at the school Miriam and Beatrice attend only allows them to take four classes, so a fifth class would cost much more. And Miriam’s reason for taking fewer classes is simply that she can’t financially afford to take more, but I’m guessing grad schools will never know this reason.</p>
<p>Grad schools would much prefer Miriam to use the extra time to get involved in research rather than worrying about paying tuition for a fifth class unrelated to her major.</p>
<p>^
Ditto. Research is generally much more important than coursework, assuming you have the basics (including any pre-reqs).</p>
<p>Assuming these two applicants attended the same college and had the:</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Then it should be safe to state that an extra smattering of non-major-related (not just non-major, but non-major-related) courses will not make a difference. Grad schools as a rule only care about major-related courses and activities.</p>
<p>Note, however, that the definition of ‘major-related’ varies widely between different disciplines and between grad and professional schools. Med or law schools, for instance, may highly value an extra assortment of non-major courses, because in their view these non-major courses may still hold relevance as it may help make one more ‘well-balanced’. However, a PhD program in biology, for instance, would not really care at all about those same courses.</p>
<p><em>facepalm</em></p>
<p>I was just trying to give a thorough answer. :P</p>
<p>The best part is, that if two such candidates existed, only one of them would get in. I still feel this process can be rather random at times.</p>
<p>You are using a false set up, I know there is a name for it but I can’t recall. Which is you? You are leaving out so many important things. This is a ridiculous exercise.</p>
<p>My daughter usually tried to take too many classes. She would always be overly enthusiastic or ambitious. I would say it bit her in the ass many times, but she has been successful in her grad school apps. I wouldn’t say to go that way–she was likely admitted on her research background, not her gpa. Never can say, though.</p>
<p>Wait, are you seriously still in high school?!?! Stop worrying about this stuff!</p>