<p>Background: I'm a sophomore at UCSD looking to transfer, and I'm trying to make a decision about one of my classes. A normal courseload at my university is 16 unites/quarter. My first two quarters last year, I carried 18 units, or 4 rigorous classes+a few seminars for fun. My third one, I carried 14, or 3 classes, because 1 of them was a very difficult 6 unit history class and the 2nd was my first upper division, and as I was going through some health stuff, I didn't want to overload myself. My overall GPA is currently a little over 3.8, and my major GPA is a 4.0 (high school GPA 3.8, SAT 2170. :/)
I am looking to transfer into top scores- my reachiest reach will be Columbia, probably. </p>
<p>I am currently enrolled in 4 classes- 3 upper division political science classes (my major) and an intro level Econ class for my minor. 1 of those upper division polisci classes is extremely hard, not in my concentration, and would probably earn me a B or lower, bringing down my overall GPA and ruining my 4.0 major GPA. I would also have to devote a lot of time to it that I could spend on other classes, meaning I'm worried my grades in those classes could be impacted. If I dropped it (a no-fault drop, so nothing would show up on my transcript), I could probably bring my overall GPA up to a 3.9 and keep my 4.0 major. </p>
<p>My question is, will having my GPA that much higher be better than having a lower GPA but more classes? Or is it like high school admissions where they prefer you take a more challenging courseload even if you don't do as well as you otherwise would have? Will having a lighter courseload (comprised of 3 rigorous classes) hurt me? By how much?</p>
<p>Also, for the record, I work 15 hours a week, have an internship, and have a research position at the my department, along with some extracurricular clubs, so I do have a reasonable amount of activities occupying my time outside of class. Also, if I drop the class this quarter, I'll probably take 5 classes next quarter to make up for it, since I am eligible for an Honors Research class because of my research job, and it's slightly less time consuming than regular classes.</p>