@bouders, Our college considers taking 2 extra classes a course overload. I don’t think anyone is recommending that students overload their schedule with the intention of keeping all the courses, and I think keeping all of them any length of time is a mistake. The idea is to quickly determine which courses/professors are a good fit and which aren’t. Signing up for extra courses gives students backups so they can off-load classes with disorganized professors, unclear objectives, unreasonable workloads, unclear grading policies, professors whose accents aren’t understandable, or professors who have personality issues. But they have to be willing and able to cut the extra classes loose.