Teachers, any thoughts? Law at A level.....

[quanglewangle]

ds is thinking of doing Law at A level. He has been told by head of sixth form that there is a lot of essay writing and some universities prefer students without Law at A level.

So, is there any more essay writing than any other arts or humanities subject (he has decided against sciences)?
And is the point about uni true? Even if it is, those unis can be avoided.

But they aren't offering Law so are they just trying to put him off in order to keep him? ds says I am an old cynic. He is very able, and his form tutor says he is probably the most able student in the year.

you can go to the old bailey any time...

By the way, there is a website that lists the subjects studied at A level and the number of student studying them. There are a huge number of kids studying psychology now and subjects like languages, physics, chemistry and so on are on the wane. I think it is a QCA or DFES type website, I don't know if anyone can help me out here, but it makes very interesting reading.

It is so difficult to decide what subjects to study when you don't have a final career in mind, but if you know you want to study law, then you can look at the university guides to find out whch subjects the universities like students to have at A level.

That is a point, he can study Law at uni in combo with other things, as long as you do the 6 core subjects you can then do your finals

quanglewangle do you have any lawyer friends he could talk to about what working in Law really involves?

No, Countess, I am deficient in legal friends. We are all scientists in this house (except for ds2 apparently) and my cronies are mainly arts graduates. But, just realised as I speak, I have an old aquaintance from my M.Sc course that went on to be a solicitor. We still exchange Xmas cards, maybe I'll get in touch with her.

bundle, we are about 300 miles away from the Old Bailey, alas.

I am keen ds gets it right. It isn't only what you are interested in, subject-wise, it is what suits your personality and what you enjoy doing. Not enough just to enjoy the subject. I could watch David Attenborough til the cows come home (why I chose biology) but sit me on a mountain side watching lesser-spotted whatever and I would be bored out of my mind.

Like the law in combo idea btw

Re psychology at A level, My friend is Deen of Scient in Psycholgy at a very high ranking University and they would rather students have Cemistry Physics and biology than psychology.

I teach a lot of A level students. Many 'middling' students do psycology as they think it sounds 'cool' and they will all be able to psychoanalyse their mates. Much better to do a subject that you already know you are good at.

I would imagine that much the same is true for Law. Students will think they will be Judge Deed overnight and will get disenchanted with the amount of work expected of them.

Dean of Science

I think the point about Uni is true - red brick Unis tend to prefer History/Politics A Level to Law.

A lot of solicitors don't have a first degree in law - but bear in mind that the CPE isn't a particularly cheap course to do, so it's cheaper to do law as your first degree, than do a first degree then CPE.

shoot me down for being simplistic/ rude about anyone BUT
...most good universities and future employers will like "harder" trad subjects for A level, eg 3 separate sciences, history, languages, classics, rather than Psychology, law, media studies, sociology etc.
By all means let yor ds get library books on philosophy of law, English legal system etc, but I'd steer my kids away from vocational style A levels if the issue arises.

Dh and I are lawyers, of 2 different sorts...

wocher, Titjob

ey up, CarolinaMooncup

/apologies to OP for the hijack!

No probs pmsl

Thanks everyone, this has been most enlightening. Seems a shame these subjects, that carry so much prestige at degree level, have so little status at A level. I had no idea.
So he had better think again. Ho hum

blimey things must have changed - I did a Law A Level and got into LSE and my friend got into Cambridge......! Would say at the time it was very simlar to the first year of a law degree (brother was studying for is degree at the same time...)

Just a quick update.

Thank you all again for your comments - they came in really useful yesterday at a 6th form college open evening. I asked the law and psychology teachers questions based on your responses (ds went right off philosophy at the open evening).

The law teacher agreed that law A level has always been thought a bad idea if you are considering law at uni and Connexions are still giving that advice. But she said that their experience didn't support that. Their pupils don't have any trouble getting places at all the 'good' universities including Cambridge, Kings College London etc.

The psychology teacher said much the same (for other subjects at uni). It is such a popular subject these days that an awful lot of students (and unis) would be disadvantged if it were the case.

His subject combination could still be a problem (law, psychology, english language and geography at the moment), but tbh I was so impressed by the vitality and enthusiasm of the staff, not to mention the excellent results, that I don't think I'll discourage him. He is very, very bright and gets excellent results with no work. I can't see him coming to terms with working at this late stage unless it is a subject he is enthusiastic about, and he did seem very keen.

So I have given him all the info and now it is up to him.....
Oh, the sense of relief that as they get older they are responsible more and more for their own decisions.