Third A level - Sociology or something else?

Family members who took Politics A'level all seemed to regret their choice (they found it a bit dull). I would suggest her favourite between Economics and Sociology, plus an EPQ on an area of Politics she is interested in.

I am surprised must say! Must be because OP's DD is otherwise doing 'proper' subjects...

Funnily enough butterfly that mickey mouse ruling was applied to my friend at school because she wanted to do Spanish! Apparently, French and German were the 'proper' languages. Imagine that now.

She went to Cambridge and studied languages with her Spanish (and French and German...)

Yes, I was referring to MN/general Sociology snobbery not specifically this thread.

I do actually think that this thread has been refreshingly sociology snobbery free... thus far.

Ermmm ...she's doing maths.

Three A levels is all that is required.

I am surprised at a selective school she is starting off with only 3 subjects! Are there no other stem subjects she is good at? That would keep open many morevoptions for her

I wanted to study sociology at A level and was called up to a meeting with the deputy head and told not to as it was a Mickey mouse subject.

I was so indignant and incensed I took it up anyway and as they didn't have any teachers for it, I had to go to the local further education college for my lessons, which was an adventure!

I thought it was the most useful, interesting and relevant subject I had ever studied, a real eye opener to how society and the economy works.

This subject alone began my journey into research and academia and I took it alongside economics A level, also very interesting.

There are a huge array of job opportunities that open up with anyone with these subjects as their background especially if you are interested in working with people or in business so law, social work, teaching, public sector etc.

I ended up doing a master's in a similar subject to sociology and I have a very good public sector job now which I absolutely love.

Be prepared to study widely around the A level material given and I would say it is difficult to get a top level grade in the subject but that doesn't matter, if you are an interesting person ( and it's not just about top grades these days if you want to apply to Oxbridge). Being an interesting character with interesting experiences/ take on life to talk about in your interview is important. In my experience, opening your mind up by studying something like sociology will help with this.

The Sociology snobbery is hilarious. I’d encourage A levels that interest her and if there is overlap all the better.

DD is doing Geography, Psychology & Sociology and only at this stage in Y12 is she starting to benefit from crossover. Not only linked topics but whole swathes of the curriculum eg research methods. It ties all her learning together and makes it a much more holistic, deeper learning experience.

I might be biased because did both Sociology A Level and a Sociology BSc, but it’s a brilliant subject and she should do that. Any snobbery about comes only from people who don’t know what it is. It’s everything about how society does and doesn’t function and is a great underpinning of history and politics.

It teaches complex critical thinking and arguing, and is great preparation for any degree where you have to write essays and make arguments. I think Sociology A level is harder than History actually, more to learn and remember.

More than 20 years ago now I did politics A level followed by a politics degree. We duplicated the A level in the first year of the degree.

She should do what she will enjoy. Although I regret not doing politics and economics at uni as it would have been a more rounded useful degree.

Oh yes, I forgot RS and geography teachers. Also true, although at my school our geographers are obsessively Physical!

Our Sociology is taught by RS and Geography specialists. All experienced, get good results. Do not be automatically put off. There is a lot of cross-over with RS and the Global Development option is essentially Geography.

Sociology in its popularity as a subject (4th most popular non core GCSE, for example) has possibly outstripped the supply of sociology teachers...especially in schools. Most sociologists who want to teach target FE and sixth form colleges.

Lots of teachers in almost every subject don't have a degree in that subject to be fair.

I teach three A Level subjects - got a degree in one of them - my students do well. Our head of maths has a law degree, our head of MFL has an English degree, our politics teacher is a history graduate. We have a head of Latin who is an English graduate. And so on.

The thing about sociology is there aren't many specific teacher training routes into it, especially in less urban areas - and so lots of teachers of a range of other subjects (commonly psychology, politics, health and social,English diversify into it).

Teachers are lifelong learners -so long as they do the learning and the boards offer decent training (and the teacher is keen , dedicated and intelligent ...) it's not as big an issue as you might assume.

Actually, that is a very good point. Schools around here are struggling to find sociology teachers, and in ds's year, the class pretty much had no teacher for the last two terms of A Level.

I would suggest checking if she does genuinely enjoy reading. If she doesn't and will limit herself to just doing her set texts then she is unlikely to excel at English. Basic control of written English is a real limiter so students who managed good results at GCSE don't always do well at A level if they can't write eloquently and read widely. I would personally also want to know how qualified the sociology teachers are. Do they actually have sociology or related degrees and what are the historical results like at the school. They don't teach it lower down the school so sometimes you get a Specialist teacher who just teaches sixth formers ... and sometimes you get a PE teacher who did a unit of sociology in their degree and has got 'roped in'. Schools need to run it because it is popular with students but it's not always easy to staff. I agree that with other comments to do what you enjoy but many students pick up sociology without really understanding details of the content.

I had a student message me from university. She'd done well at A-level (excellent essay skills) but never grasped the mathematical/graph aspect of Economics. She took Econ as a minor in her first year.

"OMG Mrs X. The equations. On the board. I ran away!"

😆

Economics for a "non facilitating" subject, goes well with maths and is well regarded. Some of my children did it and enjoyed it.

English lit with the history already chosen have often been a good compbination for subjects like law (I did English lit, histroy and German and read law at university).

I'd agree totally. DS did really well at A level, chose a degree with economics in it and ran for the hills after 3 weeks of the extra maths lessons. He prefers talking about the ethics of economics than doing it!

Assuming she’s interested in all the subjects I would go for Sociology. It’s easier to get the top marks and the better grades, again assuming she has a genuine interest in the subject.
my friend who didn’t like the subject but picked it as it was ‘easier’ didn’t do very well but I got my highest grade in sociology.
I wanted to read Law at uni (I 100% knew what I wanted to do) and as such picked the ‘easier’ subjects like English Lit, Psychology, Sociology and History ( I didn’t drop any). Friends who picked politics, economics or maths etc, struggled to get the best grades.

goodluck!!

I teach Economics. She should look at The Economics Book (Dorling Kindersley, often in libraries, Waterstones have the whole 'Big Ideas' set) and see if the subject matter grabs her.

If not...avoid!

You only need sub GCSE competence in Maths for Econ A-level unless you plan to go further. It's mostly an essay subject.

One of mine found Economics A level really enjoyable and relevant to their Geography and History A levels (regretted not doing A levels Maths though as it was specified more than Economics A level for Economics based degrees).
The other has done History, Maths and Geography.

I do think Maths is a harder A level (eases them in Year 12 then really steps up for Year 13 - for A level they do need to be a high 8 or 9 at GCSE and great at Algebra). Maths needs continued effort and time devoted to it.

History A level is a lot of content and essays so can catch them out if they don't really start doing and planning past paper essays in Year 12 as there's not enough time in Year 13.

Geography was the winner for both of them.

I'd work from why History and Maths A levels?
What does she enjoy most about them?

Both are analytical and great A levels and Economics would be the easier choice I would say. Get her to listen to a few podcasts or watch some Youtube content to see if this sparks her interest in the content.

Sociology and Politics could be History level of 'lots to revise' and for History /Politics at degree level Economics would be facilitating anyway.

Also worth emphasising that he did economics A level without maths . He loved it but had a fabulous teacher. He couldn't apply for most straight economics degrees without maths A level but found the A level really complemented history and sociology.

PS , your DD is correct in her suspicions about politics A level. Quite dry.