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Original poster

A level choices.

29 replies

Dietagainmonday · 22/08/2014 13:00

16 year old dd has just come back from enrolling for six form, she has chosen double IT, biology and law for A level.

These are her favourite subjects but my feelings are they sound random rather than well thought through.

what would her options be after getting her grades?

OP posts:

WaffleWiffle · 22/08/2014 13:06

I don't wish to come across as rude here - but the choice of subjects is your daughters choice and not yours. If she wants to do these subjects then so be it.

Does your daughter know what she wants to do after A levels? If not, then taking subjects that offer her a wide breadth of education is a good thing.

Original poster

Dietagainmonday · 22/08/2014 15:03

It is entirely her choice. As a parent who has interest in her dd I just wanted advice from anyone who would know if there are anything courses/work that go hand in hand with these subjects.
What's your problem?

OP posts:

Creatureofthenight · 22/08/2014 15:06

It depends what she wants to do after A levels?

antimatter · 22/08/2014 15:08

yes they are a bit random as they match with her strongest subjects

I guess all you can do is sit down with her and look at various university courses and see where she can get with them.

She won't be able to choose some courses but others will have no restriction as to what A Level she sat.

Did she do gcse in Law?

Lunastarfish · 22/08/2014 15:10

Is she interested in studying law at university? It isn't necessary to do so and a lot of universities actually don't like it. She may be better of changing it to a more traditional subject like history, English or a foreignlanguage.

However, it is important to study subjects she likes and is good at. Normally it is the grades universities want - not the a level subject.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 22/08/2014 15:19

waffle yes you do sound rude.
GCSE and A levels must ultimately the child's choice, but it needs to be an informed choice.

There is nothing wrong with a parent saying get on the internet and look at courses your interested in, what do they want?

If the OPs DD is interested in IT as a career she ought to do maths. Likewise a law degree will think favourably of history or perhaps MFL or English.

It really isn't wise just to choose random A levels just because you like them.

Original poster

Dietagainmonday · 22/08/2014 15:19

Thank you. She didn't do law at GCSE there wasn't a option to do that at her school..Did well in the other subjects
Has no idea what she wants to do from this and has had many talks with careers adviser.
Would RE be a better option? This has been another strong contender

OP posts:

Original poster

Dietagainmonday · 22/08/2014 15:20

Sorry. No she hasn't mentioned doing Law at university.

OP posts:

antimatter · 22/08/2014 15:23

I asked because you said that those were her favourite subjects.

I'd say History would be better if she wanted to do Law later on. I think RE should be good too.

antimatter · 22/08/2014 15:24

Either would show she can reason and write essays.

Besta · 22/08/2014 15:25

Can I just add bitter experience to try and make sure that the A levels chosen are definitely the ones she wants to do. My DD realised halfway through AS that she'd chosen the completely wrong ones and it's been a bugger to try and sort them out now for A2, without resitting the year, which she doesn't want to do......

Floop · 22/08/2014 15:26

I think she's fine. Better she does what she wants than half arse some she doesn't.

BackforGood · 22/08/2014 15:32

Did you get out of bed the worng side this morning waffle ?

I do agree it's goo that they go with strongest subjects / those they like, but I also see your concerns with those. I also empathise as my ds (who has just finished his A-levels) has no idea what he wants to do as a career, and didn't settle on his University subject until well into Yr13, and I've got a dc going in to Yr11 who doesn't know what A-level subjects to do either
However, I'm not sure how 'strong' / traditional her choices are.
RS/RE is very well respected - really good training in putting forward an arguement. I don't know why it's still known as RS/RE, as it's mainly about phiosophy and Ethics now, which would go well with the biology.
Would there be the option to do a single IT, and add in RS, to keep her options open another year?
I'm no careers advisor, but have read on here and other places frequently that law isn't a particularly respected A-level, and that those who go on to practice law certainly don't need to do it at A-level.
What about Government and Politics, if she likes the idea of law and also RE ?

LightastheBreeze · 22/08/2014 15:32

Could she maybe do single IT instead of double and then she could fit another subject in to give her more scope for uni courses.

titchy · 22/08/2014 16:28

To be honest it really depends on her ambitions and ability. Put bluntly if she's got mainly Cs at gcse, is happy to go to a university which generally makes offers around the Cs and Ds mark then those choices are fine.

If she has mainly A and A* at GCSE and is considering RG or similar for university then she needs to rethink.

Floop · 22/08/2014 16:30

titchy makes the most valid point on this tread. If she's looking at metropolitan/old polytechnic universities they make offers based on points and won't care what the subjects are.

lljkk · 22/08/2014 16:40

Biology & IT go really well, lots of computing in genetic sequencing or modelling animal distributions or disease spread nowadays. Well, all the sciences require lots of computing. Even the lab techs have an advantage if very competent with IT.

IF biology is a very strong subject for her, I think it's a great combination. The law course will be good for reasoning & ethics (huge issue in lots of biology now).

Perfect A-levels for someone who wants to set selves up as a Admin bot or paralegal working for a law firm that specialised in scientific patents, for instance. There must be other directions.

lljkk · 22/08/2014 16:43

Oh wait... Which A-level syllabus is it? Does it include computing (which coding languages)?

roguedad · 22/08/2014 18:28

titchy is right. If she might be aiming for high rank university then doing mostly non RG preferred subjects is a really bad idea in that it will close off a lot of options. I'd have a long chat with her about what she wants to do post A level and if there is something definite in mind then I'd gently suggest making some choices at A level that will keep that option open. If she wants to do some serious science then maths A level is a much better choice than IT. That applies even if she wants to do computing related at uni. If the IT courses do involve a lot of coding rather than the bullshit ICT courses of the past that would be better of course, but I think while lljkk is right about the modern links between biology and computing, access to that at a decent level needs some post GCSE maths. I really disagree with waffle - good parenting is about helping kids make sound choices, not about abdicating all responsibility and letting them do what they want.

Mutteroo · 22/08/2014 23:19

Advise your child to consider subjects she'll enjoy and if these are the ones she has already selected then all you can do is support her (and make sure she revises!)

My son selected his A level subjects using his head over his heart & regretted it. Unfortunately, his results last week reflected his boredom with those subjects.

louisejxxx · 23/08/2014 08:36

As others have said..It really depends on what sort of uni she is looking to get into (If indeed she wants to go at all) and what grades she is likely to achieve.

She has a nice mix of scientific and essay type subjects..Biology is a good choice. I would agree with the pp that said perhaps see if she would be willing to change her mind and do single IT. Could English Lit be an option instead?

Georgethesecond · 23/08/2014 08:44

Law is not as well respected as RS - so she could at least swap those two. Biology is ok. Presumably she wants an IT career?

Hillbilly71 · 24/08/2014 00:45

Biology, Chemistry and IT would be a better combination.

BlueStringPudding · 24/08/2014 12:45

What is double IT exactly? I hire graduates into IT and have not seen that before. If she likes IT then a Maths and/or Computing A level would be a good choice..

senua · 24/08/2014 22:42

Here's a link bsp. They are withdrawing the qualification - the last chance to sit exams will be summer 2017 - which makes one a bit worried about how the school will treat it, they could decide to chop it and not fully support pupils currently taking it.

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