Advice on A level choices. How are children supposed to know at 15 what career?

I have no advice but in the same boat! My daughter is looking at similar a levels but is thinking biology instead of maths. We have been to some uni open days to see if any of the courses sound interesting to help her to decide what she might like to do. She has been interested in one particular course so that has helped her. It's so hard to navigate and seems so young to be making choices!

@Spamfrit in terms of changing, yes it’s pretty common. Especially if results have thrown a curveball. Ironically a YP I know got a lower grade in business (!) than expected and considered switching for geog where they got a higer grade (tho in the end they didn't). My DD switched an A level about a week into the first term.

Which top-tier universities though? Cambridge I agree has it on its “less useful to study” list but even then, you could take two from its preferred list and be fine.
LSE has a similar list. So there are two that say that. Do many others? I wonder. And neither of those actually excludes it or says they will reject those who have it. So probably better to try to get to Cambridge with three A stars in English, history and business than subbing the business for a B in economics or maths.

And if you look at a business degree at Leeds, or management at Warwick, or business management at Birmingham (all surely top-tier unis) none of them mention A level subjects at all.

Let’s face it, not many of us can say our A levels are directly useful to our working lives. In terms of skills, yes for sure. And in terms of some subjects yes indeed. But I doubt if many people working in project management are using their knowledge of the Tudors on a daily.

This is something you need to speak to where ever you apply. Our 6th form was brilliant and courses were being changed around on GCSE exam results day to suit the needs of the students who had already been accepted and what best met there grades.

That's great for your daughter and I hope she enjoys her course.

If OP's post had indicated that her son was interested in Business at uni, my advice would have been different.

Instead, it seems that he is unsure about what to do, and wants to keep his options open, which is why I pointed out that some unis prefer certain subjects in case it's a relevant consideration for him 🤷🏼‍♀️

All I'm going to say is again my daughter has unconditional offers in to Exeter, Durham and Bath with a BTEC in Business. She's not studying economics, she's studying business so no requirement for economics. Thank god the unis aren't as judgmental as half the A Level parents who post on this board.

My daughter has three top tier unconditional Uni offers to study business with a Business BTEC, the offers include Bath, Exeter and Durham. She has applied for two more and none of them have asked for Economics.

If she was going to do Economics the key A Levels are Maths I believe with Economics which she doesn't have.

It's just not actually conducive to business. Many top tier universities do not recommend it, and would rather suggest a more 'academic' subject like Economics if business of interest. I'm genuinely not trying to do it down for the sake of it. It's just that if you want to work in business, it isn't a particularly useful qualification.

If he was already interested in Maths and is good at English then Maths English and PD gives him a good A level base for a degree going forward if he wants to go into marketing/business. Maths leaves open an Economics degree too.

Why do you say that business is not a well respected A level? Anecdotally I know a number of YP who did it and went on to do well at good unis, gaining excellent degrees and in some cases doing a masters, in one case starting a great role in London.

What about business A level is a bad idea? Who is not accepting it? Just out of interest really.

Agree, and LSE is renowned for being difficult to get into! Look at a broad range of Uni's to get a sense of entry requirements. Economics and Business A levels are quite different.

Business A level is fine at the vast majority of universities and is on the preferred list of a fair few.

It's best for a child to do subjects they like and are good at.

It's better to get an A in Business than a B in Economics.

Look at courses of interest and what A levels if any are preferred.

I suspect Business or a Management degrees is better than a marketing degree.

OK @Spamfrit just a few thoughts.

If he is having intervention to get his maths up to a 7, an 8 on his very best day, I suspect A level maths is not a good idea. Maths teachers on these boards agree it should not be done with a lower grade than a 7, and if that 7 (while a fune grade) was hard-fought-for, it's probably not ideal.

Yes does he want to go to LSE? Or Oxford or Cambridge? Those are the main unis that specify in general specific subjects. While that's all good and those lists are useful, there’s no benefit to your DS taking physics (or whatever) when he hates it and won't get a good grade, just bc it's on the list.

It's important of course to take any subject that's needed for your uni plans – medecine? take chem and bio; engineering? take physics and maths; Eng lit? take errrm Eng lit.

A lot of degrees have no specific subject requirements.

What makes sense is to take subjects he likes that he is good at. I would say art may no0t be the best idea unless he plans to pursue it. Maths may be out of his reach tbh. English lit is great if he is good at that. How about another humanity – history, RS? A new subject like psychology, sociology, politics?

Despite some comments on here, there is nothing wrong with business A level (not Bus studies btw). Does he do it for GCSE? It can be done as a Btec - perfectly good – but the A level is also available and not a vocational subject to be looked down on. If he would do well and get an A, that's a lot better, and will open more doors, than a C or a D in maths tbh.

Take a look very specifically at the product design courses. Not sure if you’re staying on at the school or looking at other sixth form options. My son was interested in 3D design, and found that some places do a very arty 3D design course, quite sculptural almost, housed in the art department, and others do a more “science DT architecture” 3D design course which is a bit closer to engineering. They have a lot of overlap but some are really quite arty - my son was avoiding them because he was more keen on the engineering-leaning options. So he may find a design course that really ticks a lot of art boxes too.

The competition for degree apprenticeships is huge, Literally 100’s of applications for each spot. I reckon it is easier to get into Oxford or Cambridge!

I'd be wary of Maths, given the effort he has to put in to be a 7/8 candidate at GCSE. I'd be asking his maths teacher whether he is a strong candidate and what A level grades pupils with his profile usually attain.

Not sure if it is still the case, but Business used to be a vocational subject typically taken by weaker students.

Really, A levels are the most intense learning they will ever do. Unless they want to go into a really specialised area like medicine they need to do A levels in subjects they enjoy, otherwise it will be a miserable 2 years for everyone.

I work with one the biggest marketing agency in the world and no one has marketing degrees. It is all about AI now and customer behaviours. Behavioural economics is super useful and also any art skills as AI produces a lot of crap and people need an eye and an understanding of people and their target customer to choose what will cut. Anthropology very useful too. I would suggest to google the key directors of the biggest marketing agencies and see their background. It will change quickly though!

I’ll be super blunt. A level in business studies is a bad idea as is a degree in marketing. Virtually everyone I know who works in marketing does NOT have a marketing degree. My company has probably about 10 marketing type people - not a single one with a marketing degree.

I can’t advise on what your DS should do but I definitely know that business studies is not a particularly respected A-level and that a marketing degree is borderline unusable in the real world. Please also remember marketing hires have collapsed due to AI…

it is only worth keeping options open if he might want to go down those routes.
I was just worried that with your initial list he seems to be closing both science and humanities routes.

If he doesn't like physics then he probably won't like degrees for which Physics is needed either.