Law degree A Level choices

[Cannotbelievepeoplecanbesojudgemental]

My DD is currently deciding upon her A Level choices. She wants to go onto university to study law. She is expected to get 8s and 9s.
This is really a question towards thise who have studied / are currently studying law. Which A Levels do you think would be best out of the following?
History
Sociology- this is her favourite GCSE currently.
Economics
English Literature
English Literature and Language combined
Law

I am not sure if you posted another thread on this subject recently?If so apols if I repeat myself.

I haven't studied law but I have a good deal of experience wrt universities and A level choices; firstly I would say she should take the subjects where she will get the best grades, as law is competitive.

If that's no help, then I suggest history, Eng lit and one of the others, but probably not law, as oddly enough, it is not specifically encouraged by unis for law candidates. Obvs not lit and lang with Eng lit, so then sociology or economics, both fine.

ETA: I say history and Eng lit as they keep the most other doors open if she changes her mind about law; with those she could also do a degree in Eng lit or history.

Not law or sociology

I was also going to say avoid law and sociology
which would leave history, economics and English lit

A-Level Choices: Essay-Based Subjects
It is no secret that a law degree will involve a huge amount of writing essays and, therefore, it is usually recommended to take at least one subject that will develop these skills, which you can talk about in your personal statement. Universities and certainly employers in the legal sector look for candidates who showcase the ability to write coherently, reason and argue. As a result, A-levels in English literature or history are highly regarded subject choices.
On the other hand, having sciences or maths alongside an essay-based subject is also seen as very impressive since these students have a strong ability in problem-solving, logic and analysis – which are key skills needed for a law degree and certainly a career in law.
A-Level Choices: Facilitating Subjects
Whilst not strictly necessary, it’s worth bearing in mind the idea of facilitating subjects. According to some Russell Group universities, you must have at least two facilitating subjects as part of your A-levels.
Facilitating subjects are traditional academic subjects which allow you to keep your options open for the future and enable you to develop many key skills needed for any career within law. They include maths, English literature, physics, biology, chemistry, history, geography and a foreign language.

Economics
English lit
History

Law needs perfect English Language, logic, interpersonal skills, confidence in speaking to people in every walk of life (and often before judges and juries.) By chance my relative did English Language, Theatre Studies, Psychology A levels, then Philosophy at Uni ( so logic etc.) Has worked out great for a barrister. Of course the obvious need/drawback? was then to do the Law Conversion Course post graduate, very pressured and very expensive if you don't get funding from future employer or Inn. Agree she should do subjects she likes best at A level. She may not fancy law in the end as a career, many don't.

History, eng lit, economics would be a great combination. I would avoid sociology and law.

University law tutor here.

English lit and history would be useful and well regarded. I'd also pick economics as it's a useful one and gives you a grounding of a lot of economic and political issues. Caveat being that if she'd get a much higher grade in, say, sociology, go for that.

We're not keen on law A level as it oversimplifies things to the point that you have to unlearn and start again, which a lot of students find frustrating, or worst still they rally against us that actually they know best (which we find frustrating!!).

Sociology and combined Lang/Lit tends to be looked down on by the Oxbridge/Russell Group unis, but depending on where she wants to go would probably be fine at a lot of places.

Although DD went to Oxford with history, maths and English language rather than lit. She structured her A level around modules she could tailor towards her future degree course. Durham, York & Warwick also had no issue with it.

I’m a solicitor and I would say English literature, history and economics or sociology (whichever she thinks she’d do best in).

Thank you. Lots to think about.

DS wants to study law, he's taking

History
Maths
Further Maths
Physics

These are just the ones he got 9's in GCSE and he enjoys

All facilitating subjects

I’d avoid law & sociology for the reasons others have said.

I did English Lit, History & Biology, probably not recommended unless you love biology, but I got offers from all Unis I applied to.

My daughter thought she wanted to do law at uni so picked law as a A level. Then realised she definitely didn’t like law! Ended up dropping law at the end of year 12 and doing maths instead and is now studying chemistry. I’m sure your daughter has put more thought into law at uni than mine did (I suspect it was related to watching Suits!) but worth considering that plans can change!

I wanted to add that while I agree with the subjects suggested in general, there are few things that are not quiet accurate on this thread.

Firstly, universities have done away with the idea that facilitating subjects are needed. Yes, for sure, you need to do biology for a bio degree (ditto eng lit, maths for those degrees etc) and it might be a good idea to take those sorts of subjects (other things being equal) if you are not sure of degree direction. But it's not the case that RG unis require two of them. I know many YP who got RG uni offers with one or none.

Cambridge btw has a list of recommended subjects https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/choosing-high-school-subjects which is worth a look if that's an option; and LSE has similar advice https://www.lse.ac.uk/study-at-lse/Undergraduate/Prospective-Students/How-to-Apply/Admissions-Information but most other unis even RG ones do not have similar strictures (unless a specific subject is required for a course obvs).

And wrt sociology, which is not getting the love on here, and Eng lang/lit; well Warwick is fine with lang/lit for its Eng lit degree, as is Birmingham (random search of two highly rated RG unis; basically most are fine with it for Eng lit, never mind as a general A level). And sociology, while it is not on the Cambs list (econ is) is certainly fine for the majority of universities and honestly not looked down upon. Again, I know YP with A level sociology who got offers from Edinburgh, Leeds and Bristol.

She should take the subjects she will do best in, as grades matter above anything else really.

My DS did French, Spanish and Biology. Got a first in Law with a Language, and has been working as a lawyer for 6 years.

Reading with interest as ds in a similar position.

Of these a-levels, which 2 in combination would be most favourably looked on by universities for Law?

Philosophy
Economics
Politics
English Lit

His third A-level will be Chemistry. Which two of the four options should he choose? He finds all of them interesting, although English Literature is his least favourite of these.

Of those four I’d say just pick his two favourites. Really nothing in it.

How is Economics useful please? tia

No one has actually given a reason for sociology . It's just snobbery.

You can't in one breath say 'do an essay writing subject' and then decry sociology which, checks notes, an essay writing subject.

Even if facilitating subjects were still a thing sociology would be fine with English and/ or history. A lovely combination in fact.

I always think economics gets excluded from a lot of this snobbery, as do psychology, politics and RS. Always fascinating.

I teach sociology. Every year my students progress on to a broad range of destinations, including Oxbridge, law, Russell Group.

Not sure why I bother posting though as MN tends to ignore the actual on the ground experience. English Lit is declining in popularity. An inevitable consequence of this is a rise in other subjects. Sociology is in the top 5 or 6 of subject choices for girls. It's not fringe. It's existed as an academic pursuit for two centuries.

It’s not the universities that are the issue it’s the law firms. The City firms won’t like sociology. Well they didn’t when I was there. Any “proper” subject is fine.

At 16 I wanted to do home ec a level my lovely dad saved me from myself. I did end up at a top Magic Circle international law firm which I would not have got near with home ec on my cv. Caveat this was some time ago may have changed.

Sorry saw you teach it. I did modules of sociology at university alongside my law degree and sadly it was only when I left that off my cv that I got job offers. This was years ago hopefully the snobbery has improved.

Cambridge may not list sociology but I bet it quietly adds it soon. I'm pretty sure it's on an acceptable subjects list for its prestige HSPS degree. A lot of the sociology disdain finds its roots in the fact that private schools dont always offer it. They didn't used to widely offer psychology either but have adapted to change. Loads of applicants for HSPS have sociology A level. Cambridge is hyper aware of discriminatory admissions processes. Excluding subjects which are widely offered in state schools would not be a good look. And they don't. Last is beginning to adapt and change too.

On another note, the subject my DS found most useful in his degree ( which was not in sociology!) was sociology.

Yes, Thea, I do think we need to be wary of old information. Current lawyers do suggest the landscape is altering . The elite old school tie probably don't like it!

Going on some MN lore, the only 'facilitating' subject there is Eng Lit but he shouldn't do it if he's not keen. I think any of them are fine. Chemistry is the least obvious!

My DS did economics A level. He had a fabulous teacher who stimulated debate about economic policy. It's not always much of a debate subject though. Quite a lot of rote learning of terms.