As a former academic advisor… I would typically recommend that students take at least enough credits so if they drop the one class that has the most credits they will still complete 12 hours. As a parent (OU Engineering-- Boomer!) my child did not do that-- she took 15 credits; and her Chem class was worth 5 credits (worked out fine for her- she did well in all her classes; second semester now is taking 17 hrs) Music classes can be deceptively time consuming-- a one credit class may require hours of lessons, rehearsals, performances-- so ask around. @3scoutsmom may have more info on the level of work required for music classes at OU. And as someone said upstream-- maximize your AP classes-- even look at taking CLEP exams (OU does accept these for some classes.) OU also has a winter term and a May term where you can find some gen-ed courses available online (and yes the NMF package will cover tuition- but not fees- for these classes as well.)