Advice on A levels please ( law and psychology)

You don't need a GCSE prior to studying those and most places I know don't actually have those options for GCSE.

I took Psychology A level and loved it as it was interesting learning theories. I agree that it's wise to choose subjects which lend themselves well to university and/or your daughter's current university choice. On the other hand I think it's important to have one subject which she will enjoy, even if it is non-enabling as others mentioned. A levels are tough so she should choose something she will like to help her succeed. Good luck with it all xX

Another lawyer who was told (quite a few years ago admittedly) that Law A level is not favoured by University. I had one non-facilitating subject as I did English Literature, History and Sociology.

Law is very competitive so she needs to pick options that put her on a par with the other applicants. If she has the same predicted grades in non-facilitating / less favoured subjects compared to an applicant with 2 or 3 facilitating subjects then she is at a disadvantage.

If she is right get her to do more academic subjects.
Maths, history and English or a language.

I would not suggest a Drama A level, but I can see the value in GCSE - not just if you want to be a barrister and stand up in court but for any role where you might have to give presentations (some solicitors often do - and if you work in eg marketing or sales you'll be doing it all the time).

I'm a solicitor and studied law at a RG university. I studied English Lit, History and Psychology at A Level and was actively told by universities not to study Law at A level as they would basically re-teach everything I'd learnt and in more detail (so there's a risk you don't listen properly in your first year as you think you know it all already). This was early 2000s so attitudes may have changed. Psychology wasn't considered a great A level at my school but I think it was helpful for law as it's very analytical which is a key skill for studying law. Basically I was told to stick to classically academic subjects - French would probably have been better than psychology but I couldn't be arsed.

I agree with previous posters - law is very competitive and it has become more and more difficult to get a training contract (solicitor)/pupillage (barrister). Your daughter should definitely aim for the best university possible (doesn't have to be Oxbridge though - I visited and it was not for me, ended up in London as I needed a big city). The vast majority of my peers are Oxbridge/RG but I have non-Oxbridge/RG friends who are v successful so it's not impossible, but it will be tougher.

DD didn't do it either but the ones who had a drama background were the best on the Public speaking course! Didn't think your DD was on it, goodbye! However the point is, for students doing some courses, especially English, it is not a wasted subject. Would not actually suggest it for law.

But she didn't do Law or Psychology A level either, so swings and roundabouts (she did Eng lit, Hist, Philosophy).

Not true bojo my DD hasn't done drama and she was the best on the course :)

Drama is brilliant for Law! DD as a pupil barrister attended a training session at her Inn and the lecturer was from RADA. Voice training and confidence in speaking to an audience! Drama students were the best on the course!

Statistically RG universities accept more potential law students with A level Drama then they do Law

I would definately reconsider both psychology & law A levels. Maybe pick one, plus one facilitating subject.

As a solicitor I would say not to bother with law at A level. Yes at degree level or even do the 1 years conversion after your first choice degree before the LPC (Legal Practice Course).

The whole reason why English literature is better for a law career is precisely because you disect books. Very many lawyers do this every day! This is also why it it is a facilitating subject and Language is not. When you are applying for very competitive courses at the best universities, choice of A level is important. So if you are aiming high, then Literature with the other A levels gives two facilitating ones. If students prefer Language, that is no problem but it is not best prep for Law.

Why literature instead of language? If you do literature you have to enjoy dissecting books. If I had had the choice, I'd have done English Language A level.

You don't need Law A level to do law, in fact in my day, I don't know if it's still the case, law faculties preferred you to do something different at A level.

I'd suggest swapping the law A level for history. The other two are fine. If she decides she doesn't want to do law after all, she'll still have a good breadth of subjects.

Very few Barristers go to non Russell Group universities. If you want to do Law at university, aim for the best possible universities because it is ultra competitive in the world of work. As suggested, English Lit, History and Pschology would be fine. The other A levels may even rule you out from certain employers. It would not be the profile they are looking for. Law A level is not considered particularly worthwhile.

If she wants to do Law, it is possible to convert after a first degree so you don't even need to do Law at university. It would be ok to do English, History etc.

And some schools let very able dc choose all non-facilitating choices, potentially restricting their university options, so it's good to have the conversation!

It's not just Mumsnet either (although it does get silly here). Some schools try to push able students towards all facilitating subjects. The whole thing is a bit out of control.

One non-facilitating subject with two facilitating ones is definitely okay, because that's what the rather restrictive Russell Group booklet says. Mumsnet does tend to want to be stricter, lol! The Trinity list is much more informative imo.

And over 3/4 of students aren't at RG unis anyway. If your dd is likely to be aiming at A's for her A level results, maybe she should think about swapping a couple of her A level choices for ones on the Trinity A2 list. If she's not, those choices are probably fine.

One non-facilitating subject with two or three facilitating ones is arguably okay. After all, even Music doesn't make the list.

I'm a psychology teacher and have taught at A-level and GCSE. It's never expected that students have studied psychology at GCSE, the A-level course starts from the basics. I had people on my psychology degree course who hadn't even studied it at A-level - they had a little extra work to do to catch up on basics.

Although it's not considered a facilitating subject, the skills associated with psychology are transferable and a number of employers and universities say they actually really like it if individuals have studied psychology (this was during careers sessions).

Yep, another one suggesting she needs at least two facilitating subjects if she's aiming for a top third ranked uni (roughly!)

Eng lit plus history with either psychology or law would be better.

Law degrees prefer you not to have done law A level (usually) - for psychology degrees(bsc) they might prefer maths and a science (but English etc ok for a BA in psychology).

You should check requirements of any potential degree subjects at a range of unis.

Basically, facilitating subjects keep more options open.

As pp have said, I'd advise her to stick to facilitating subjects.

You don't need to do law a level to study law. My daughter is doing a law degree and when we went to open days the unis said the overwhelming majority of students did not have an a level in law, many schools don't offer it.

Looking at the course she wishes to do in broad terms is important when picking a level subjects. So for example for medicine it should be more science based.

My daughter did English, history and government and politics at a level. The odds of her being able to do a medicine based degree would have been limited based on these. She doesn't have to decide now, but she should have a fair idea of the sort of degree she wishes to do.

If she does do law she should look at that carefully, it's not an easy career path and it's not an easy degree, it involves a lot of work, primarily reading, with a long road to qualification as either a solicitor or barrister and is very highly competitive.

None of them are facilitating subjects. Eng Lit is; Eng Lang isn't.

For a law degree at a lower ranked institution those subjects would be fine. For a higher ranked institution I'd strongly suggest swapping one for History, and Lit not Lang.

If she's interested in a Psychology degree she needs another science - would suggest biology. There's a lot of Biology in Psychology A level.

The lack of GCSE is not a problem - no one does those subjects at gcse!

If not going on to further study at uni, what does she want to do? Why those subjects?