Take less or more credits?

College Majors Engineering Majors
1

<p>I transferred into an Engineering program as a nontrad student and so far I have all As, taking around a 12-13 credit load. </p>

<p>I doubt that I will do a pHd, but there is a slim chance. I read somewhere that they prefer their students to take 15-16 credits. I would also like a shot at funding if I go to do a Masters.</p>

<p>Should I up my credit load? There's no additional classes that I NEED. I can't take more classes that I need for my major (Civ E.) because they aren't offered this semester or because of time conflict. So, to up it to 16, I'd have to take Biochemistry or Japanese, something unrelated to my major.</p>

<p>I also commute 3 hours round trip (including parking and walking to class) every day or around 12-15 hrs a week. So, I would like to keep it at 13 credits and continue to get good grades and understand the material. But I also study a sh@tload so I would not want to find out later that I'm pulling all As but admissions boards think I'm a slacker because I'm not taking 16 credits. </p>

<p>Opinions?</p>

2

<p>In your situation, I would indeed recommend more because it will look more favorably on you. Take a required relatively simple GenEd class, preferably an online one so that you can have flexibility in scheduling. That way, you can get 16 credits without too much added effort and still open up more interesting classes that you seem to be more interested in.
I’ve always been a fan of maxing my own course load, but that’s only because I know I can. If you can’t, don’t worry about taking less. But 15 is usually a threshold, so don’t drop below that if you can reasonably help it.</p>