More common is about 32 courses in 8 semesters at 4 courses per semester. Students at quarter system schools will commonly take more courses (e.g. 48 courses in 12 quarters), but each course is “smaller”.
It is also likely that most students do not take half of their course work in humanities (like philosophy, art, and literature), since, even in the realm of liberal arts, there are the social studies and science subjects.
However, it is true that most pre-professional majors other than engineering tend to increase in popularity at less prestigious and less selective schools, while liberal arts majors tend to decrease in popularity at those schools.
Perhaps that may be because those employers who hire liberal arts majors for their presumed ability to think and learn (as opposed to specific skills learned in college) are more likely to strongly favor more prestigious and selective colleges, while those more willing to hire from less prestigious and selective colleges are more likely to be looking for specific majors or skills learned in college.