Another A level combination question!

There is very little human biology in AQA
That does n’t matter. The content and core scientific skills will be relevant and help her get an idea of what will be an important part of anthropology degrees. It will also help her access courses like this which do require biology or maths.
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/human-sciences

Tbf though, DH did medicine without doing biology! Just had a bit of catching up to do...

Gatsby is one of those odd texts that is better studied than read, I've found. She should definitely give it a chance. I find most students go in feeling underwhelmed but it stands close scrutiny really well - it's dense, poetic and clever. Class discussion to draw all this out brings it to life a treat. Unsympathetic characters can be a bit off-putting to teens as well but again are great to discuss and dissect.

I’d second adding Biology into the mix for Anthropology given that the OP’s daughter isn’t enthused about the English lit texts and is an all rounder.
It isn’t an entrance requirement but would help- I read Anthropology.
My DD wants to read Classics and is taking Latin, Classical Greek and Ancient History for A level,
She was torn between AH and EL but given 50% of each language involves an analysis of literature and prose she agreed with my thoughts that EL would be an overlap’ of core skills and opted for AH.

I don’t think liking the English texts is actually a prerequisite. I did The Rainbow and King Lear as 2 of mine. Really didn’t like either as books to read, but there was so much to analyse and write about That they were great ones to study. Some of the others I preferred as ones to read but there was less to get my teeth into.

By overlap I mean core skills learnt in the A level rather than exact content covered.
Anthropology is a broad subject but usually degree content has a lot of social science. I would therefore favour starting with DT, two out of English or Classics or History and biology or, as titchy suggested, geography instead of biology.

DD is year 13, doing Eng Lit, History and Class Civ. She dropped Biology.

No overlap in subject matter, but they are all obviously essay subjects. Her Eng Lit is Tess, Wuthering Heights, Street Car, Revolutionary Road, Hamlet, and Modern Poetry Anthology. For History, Tudors, Russian Revolution, English Empire and Gender History. Class Civ is prob 50/50 ancient history/Literature. So she is covering Odyssey, Aenied, Religion, plus Greek Theatre which is Frogs, Oedipus, Bacchae.

DD loves her choices, but it is a lot of reading, and quite a lot of cross over with Theatre and Drama too (which she did for GCSE, as well as Class Civ GCSE).

My son is about to start 6th form with Biology, Chemistry, Latin A levels and Classics for AS level.

Latin was his favourite GCSE subject, but of all the bridging work, Classics has been the one he has enjoyed most.

I’d say it is more like English than History, just in terms of how much of the work load is reading plays. (I did Ancient History as part of my degree.) DS’ teacher was very interesting when we met to discuss subjects: he was saying that Classics is a lot of reading, and the best students do a lot of reading around the subject - so if you don’t like reading then Classics might be more of a struggle than anticipated.

Your daughter’s choices sound very interesting, I wish her an enjoyable 6th form.

My DD is also doing history and classics. Classics is way different with absolutely no overlap whatsoever-it sounds fascinating tbh. She’s added in maths and English literature, so will wait time see on workload. I suspect one will get dropped at some point. Her 6th form also offer English Lang/lit combined (so it is still available) and she was really interested in that but didn’t like the texts on offer for it so went for straight literature.

I'd have suggested Biology or Geography for Anth rather than English, depending on her interests -
Social Anth or physical Anth.

Oxford like a combination of science and arts/humanities A levels. So maybe DT isn’t strong enough for them. However Bristol are not prescriptive. So most RG universities would be in range one would think.

Studying Arch and Anth has been a long standing way to get into a top university without the grades required for Law, History or English. Oxford want AAA and Bristol AAB. So I think what she wants to do is ok but not the best combination. But it might not need to be for a course which is often not as competitive as, say, Law, English or History.

I think on unifrog or it could be ‘complete university guide’ online you can type in the course and the uni and it tells you which A levels most students have when they’re admitted. May be a useful tool to see what is generally accepted if there are no specifics given.

Presuming by classics you don’t mean A level Latin or Greek and therefore yes there is going to be overlap with History. If she is serious about anthropology then Biology should be included in her A level combination even if it is not an entry requirement.

I don't disagree with you there.

Yes I know. My point is that in spite of this certain unis still favour certain subjects.

Russell Group ditches ‘facilitating subjects’ A-level list

@Ginfordinner If by top unis the OP means Oxbridge, LSE etc then they do tend to prefer the subjects on the facilitating subjects list.

Another consideration is that some unis view Anthropology as a Science so may have a slight preference for a Science A Level to be added to the mix

I don't think universities look at "facilitating subjects" any more, just the right subjects for the degree.

Apart from DT all the other subjects are quite essay heavy.

She needs to ensure she is doing two facilitating subjects and check specific entry requirements for the unis she may apply to. DT does seem an unusual choice. Has she thought about Sociology or Geography? I don’t think it’s necessary to have done Geography GCSE to pick it up for A Level.

I don't think History and Classics are too similar (Ancient History and Classical Civilisation would be but I think schools and colleges teach one or the other) but I also agree English language might be worth a look. I would have done it if it had been on offer in my day.

Modern history and politics are quite similar and have some cross-over but lots of kids do that combination.