<p>I took 17 credits my first semester-- 14 of those were honors. I don’t recommend that everyone do that, but I came from a rigorous HS background and knew that if I didn’t push myself, that I would quickly become bored. (I believe 16-17 is also the minimum for engineers first semester anyway.)</p>
<p>Honestly, I’ve never had a semester lighter than 16 and I’ve gone up to about 20 credits in a semester too. As long as you aren’t stacking the classes schedule-wise (as in, all one -right-after-another during the day) I think you will be OK. But think about your ability to commit to other things-- like clubs and sports.</p>