<p>Agree with mochamaven. Four classes is plenty for first semester. Back in the day you had to get a certain score on the SAT or petition in to get into English 127 or 129 (as opposed to 100-120 level English classes), so you might check and see if that’s true today and if you qualify. 300 level classes tend to have prerequisites or be junior seminars, so do fact-checking on the availability of these courses to freshmen. Listen to what upperclassmen have to say about the professors and put a lot of faith in that. Don’t try to challenge yourself with too rigorous a courseload first semester, the transition to college in terms of academics, time management, and social life (as in too much partying) can be dramatic and everyone in my suite had a lousy academic first semester (although fantastic socially).</p>