To be furious about this?

[LahDiDahDiDah]

DD went to enrol at college this morning after collecting her GCSE results. She wanted to go on her own with friends so I didn't go with her.

She had been given a conditional place for her chosen 3 A levels in January, and got the required GCSE results.

This morning she was told that she had to chose a different A level as 2 of her chosen subjects had been timetabled at the same time!

She was put on the spot and told to chose a different subject and was told that if they had enough applicants for the course, they may still change the timetable and she can do the one she had chosen.

The two subjects timetabled at the same time are subjects that go together - Maths and Computer Science. I mean WTAF!

So she has no guarantee, two weeks before the course is supposed to start, that she will be able to do her chosen subject.

I have rung the college asking them to get back to me to discuss but AIBU to think this is nuts?

The college should absolutely have known what would be blocked together at the application stage. It's appalling disorganisation that they didn't. They really should organise it so she can do it. If they won't, is there any possibility of doing two a-levels at that college and finding somewhere she could do the third A-level on-line?

That’s absolutely nuts, OP. Of all the things to timetable together - I could possibly understand if it was a v small school but a huge college?!

Oh right.

Yes they usually look for maths, comp science/ICT and physics or other stem subject.

Is there an ICT qualification she could do?

Exactly.

They must have known by May at the latest how many applicants for Computer Science!

Why didn't they tell us this would be a possibility?

In that case I’d be very surprised if they didn’t have more than one a level maths class.

or are not all the students doing a levels?

ask if she can swop to a different maths class.

I used to work at a school that had a sixth form,

sure you know how many applicants but lots don’t get the grades or change their minds or whatever.

there’s a big gap between applicants and who turns up on the 1st Sept

I agree this is appalling, OP.

If DD does well she will have excellent options with Physics and a variety of third choices. However there are Schools of Computer Science that now like to see CS A level. For example, Imperial College came tops in the Times 2027 league table; whilst Maths is the only requires subject, the three most highly recommended other subjects are Physics, FM and CS. (There is much longer group of recommended subjects, so no one should panic.)

Having said that I agree with everyone emphasising that Maths is the key. Doing as well as possible in Maths will open many doors in CS. The CS A level is not necessary. Still, this was a strikingly regrettable conflict.

Best wishes to DD.

OP, people are giving you solutions but you cannot seem to accept it, it doesn't really matter size of the college - the facts are the college is going ahead with this. Speaking to the college probably won't change anything, so your daughter either accepts the change in subject or you can call other colleges as PP have said.
If she sticks with it, you need to fully support her to not make the decision worse.
I also agree doing further maths could be a good option if she wants to do an IT apprenticeship after.
I am sorry this is happening to your daughter but you need to exhaust other options if she is adamant about doing computer science.

Exactly OP and I'd be pissed off too. Short-sightedness.

I wonder if this has happened at this college before? My friend's school started managing some lists using AI last year and it caused loads of issues.

This should have been worked out by the college. My eldests school they have it sorted for a science or humanities pathway when it comes to Highers.

We do also have the luxury though that they can take a bus 3miles to the next school.

Can she do an online A level?

Can she not stay at school?

I would suggest she starts looking at Apprenticeship vacancies now if she can't do what she wants at A level anyway.
If she's lucky the right kind of opportunity will come up and she can get started as they don't all run according to the academic year. If nothing else she will get a feel for the vacancies, what they look for, which companies recruit etc.

surely it’s not uncommon? And I wouldn’t necessarily think of CS and Maths as co-a levels, Physics and Math yes. We had blocks to choose from to prevent this.

That's not true. You can do comp sci at uni without maths. I know of a student going to do just that.

Not true! People I know who did Computer Science at a very good uni never did Maths beyond GCSE.
Without googling, can't say it's true for all unis, but looking at a couple of good unis, you don't need maths.
OP, either she agrees to this, or try other colleges/schools. There should be other places that let her pick what she wants.

Maths and CS is one of the most common A Level combinations! Most unis requires maths to study Computer science. Maths,physics and CS with FM is probably the most common and popular pathway to Computer Science at uni.

Concerned there are a few posters that do not see that these go hand in hand and think this is acceptable and that you're the problem!

OP are you genuinely sure there has not been an almighty misunderstanding and she can study both. Absolutely ludicrous these cannot be studied together and as the mother of a uni student studying joint maths and CS I'd be livid if this had happened at my YP sixth form.

Neh

she has a choice. Either go to that college and not do the subjects

or go to a different collegeb

they won’t change the fact that they are on together.

It is a little odd because I’d imagine that pairing is fairly common, a bit like biology and chemistry for students wanting to study medicine at uni. I would query it for that reason alone but if your DD is the only one affected, they’re unlikely to change things around just for her obviously.

If she just wants to do an apprenticeship it probably doesn’t matter much unless it’s a degree one with certain subjects attached. I’d be more concerned if she wanted to go to a top tier uni who expected both those subjects I.e Oxbridge.

It's not too late to look elsewhere. I used to work in a sixth form college and we came up against this frequently - sometimes it worked in the colleges' favour and sometimes it didn't. Don't let your DD be pigeon-holed into doing a subject she didn't or doesn't want.

That would seem like a common combination so I would be annoyed (and surprised) at that too. Our sixth form has grouped Economics and Politics in the same slot which also seems like a common combination.
This is why I have always encouraged my DC to apply to more than one college and keep one as insurance in case their first choice college makes changes at the last minute. DD’s friend turned up on induction day in July to find they were no longer offering the A level course she and others had applied for (English language) due to lack of teachers lack of interest apparently although there was no shortage of pissed off applicants on the day. Instead they were told they had been moved to English Literature which is really quite different.

Chemistry A level is a really hard one - unless they are heading for a career that needs it I'd rethink that one.

My DS did computer science at uni - he works in cybersecurity. He did maths, further maths and physics and had no problems getting offers

Continue to contact the college and emphasise that is the subject she wants to go on to do as a career. Timetable clashes can be resolved - I was told I couldn't do one of my A-Level subjects (which I went on to do at university) because of a timetable clash but I was very stubborn about it and refused to choose another one. It helped I think that it was quite an unpopular subject so they wanted as many people as possible to study it to make it worthwhile. In the end I had to accept an uneven timetable with one longer day each week but that wasn't a problem.

This all depends on staff. Maybe they have other commitments/teach on another subject.
Maybe it's only the girl in this post who has chosen this combination, or only a few and it's not viable to move the blocks.
I think it was mentioned it's a reasonably sized college, so they aren't going to make a fuss over the loss of one student like a school sixth form struggling to keep going would.

The choices are to look at another school or college or to pick another subject instead.

@LahDiDahDiDah could she do Maths at an evening class? Or even online?

Maths is the most common A level to be taken with computer science - this year, for all the students taking a level computing, maths was the most popular second a level for them to take - nearly twice as many as took physics alongside computing for instance.

https://analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/Alevel/SubjectCombinations/

So if you’re offering computing, it would make sense to ensure it works alongside maths. Problem is maths is a popular one to go with lots of things - there would have to be a lot of timetable options.