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

DS is now picking A levels. He wants to do Law at Cambridge. He's doing Eng Lit, History and psychology A levels.

Eng lit, sociology and law recently got a family friend offers from Bristol, Manchester, and more plus interview at Oxford. LNat important too of course. If she likes sociology I would encourage that with history and eng lit which are both strong choices.

No idea on the whole A level thing as I’m not from the U.K., but just jumping in to say that understanding economics is very helpful in quite a few fields of law, especially competition/antitrust law.

@clary Whilst the name “facilitating” subjects might not be used, for extremely competitive universities, for Law, it’s sensible to do 2 from
the Cambridge list of “best subject combinations” for Law and these comprise subjects that were all facilitating subjects back in the day. The word facilitating really just means a solid foundation and A levels that facilitate many degrees.

The subjects listed by Cambridge are: English Literature, a Language, History and Maths. Economics and Law are on their third A level list, sociology is not. My suggestion for a very competitive course (not just Cambridge) would be English Lit, History and Economics based on the best prep advice from Cambridge.

History, Economics and English Lit would be ideal.

However it’s more important that she does well so it would be better to do Sociology and do well in it than one of the others if she’s going to find it a drag, same for the two English options

I genuinely don't understand what Cambridge think sociology is (and also continue to note the gendering hierarchy of subjects there...

Given Cambridge actually offer a degree in sociology (HSPS) it's even more baffling really.

@Piggywaspushed I didn’t write their advice but for Law, Sociology isn’t recommended as a third A level. I’m sure the uni of Gloucestershire wouldn’t care. It all depends on university and how competitive the course is. They don’t recommend it for HSPS presumably because they don’t believe it’s best prep for their course.

What's gendering of subjects? Do you mean boys don’t take English? They can if they want to!

They do recommend it for HSPS as it goes.

You don't have to go all the way to Uni of Glos you know to find a uni that deems sociology worthy.

There's been lot of research about how subjects that are viewed as harder (eg economics) tend to have predominantly male uptake. It is always interesting to note this phenomenon in action on a female dominated website. This is discrete from the facilitating subjects lists.

The OP never mentioned Cambridge as it goes.

Well this thread has been very helpful for dd!

Shes been undecided between psychology / sociology, plus history and English literature for law at a Russell Group. Psychology it is!

I did English Language, English Literature, Sociology and Law A-levels (A,C,A,A).
I did a psychology degree and then a GDL and LPC.
The sociology a-level was by far the most helpful for my legal studies and even in practice. I’m now a partner in a law firm specialising in Financial services. (The A levels were over 20 years ago tho!)

Don't discount sociology, it’s an excellent (and very hard) course that teaches critical thinking, debating skills and understanding of human behaviour and how societies function which is central to any legal career. I’d jump at a grad with sociology as we see so many applicants with the ‘standard’ subjects that people think are attractive to law firms.

Economics is a good shout though. I think English, Sociology and Economics.

@Piggywaspushed I clearly have said high ranking universities and courses that are competitive. The OP asked a general question and obviously might be thinking about the bottom 10 ranked universities and not the top 10. However assuming that dc wants to make the most competitive application for a competitive course, then the Cambridge advice is good. It’s saying what subjects are best for a competive law degree and it’s not really a comment on the value of sociology. From the subjects listed by OP, English Lit, History and Economics are the best choices. However if DD isn’t aiming for an elite law degree, then of course sociology has its place.

Thank you so much for all your insights. I have shown her the thread and she's narrowed it down a little- law and English Literature/Language are out.
She has an opportunity to do French AS in addition so may take that alongside if she does choose sociology.

Which is fine but you shouldn't just take a subject because some people on MN say so. Specific to Cambridge , their info is of course useful.

I am right at this very moment looking through UCAS forms - piles of sociology and law students applying to law at RG universities. Never had an issue.

The advice remains - do what you have the potential to enjoy most and also consider the grade profile of students in the school if you can get your hands on it. In my school you have as good a chance of getting an A star to B grade in psychology, law or sociology and a much lower success rate in economics. But that may well not be true of individual schools.

@Piggywaspushed The Cambridge info is useful for all elite law school applications! I’ve no idea why you cannot see that. Of course many other universities won’t care - you might just need to be a human being to get into some, but Law degrees can be competitive so why on earth not be an applicant with the most relevant subjects? It’s interesting Cambridge like languages. We all know they are harder than sociology. Choice of subjects says something about dc and the more academic ones help with an application to elite law schools. History of Art and Law are on their third A level list if that helps! There’s RG and there’s elite. They aren’t the same!

History, economics and law.

I agree with @Piggywaspushed- by all means take psych if she will enjoy it and do well. But if she would do better at sociology or enjoy it more, an A level in it will not stop her getting offers from RG unis even for law. I really don’t know why the subject is demonised on MN. See also PE A level (which led ds2 to a full list of RG offers + Luffers of course).
ETA very good point about grade potential. Maths v well taught in my DCs’ school, some other subjects less so.

“Why on earth not be an applicant with the most relevant subjects” @OhDear111- how about bc you will do much better in another? Surely an A in sociology (which is the op’s dd’s fave GCSE) is better than say a C in economics?

She's already ticking the box with Eng lit and history.

Not law or sociology. I would suggest English Lit, history and economics. My step son did a law degree and non of his cohort had a law A Level. The university actually discouraged a law A level.

But also. Why the supposed hate for sociology at universities? As I say upthread it’s one of the hardest things I’ve studied yet one that has been most impactful in my life.

Surely Oxbridge and the RG aren’t swayed by Maureen Lipman in a 1980s TV ad?!

@youegg Elite courses are able to take the views they wish. DC in this case suggested Economics as well as Sociology. Therefore one assumes they see Economics as an A level they can get a top grade in? Otherwise yes, of course do Sociology! No one objects to the subject but strength of application will matter at some universities and of course LNAT scores too. Although plenty of uni options without taking LNAT. We don’t know if the DD is an A star all the way student or not.

DD is at school with a lot of aspiring lawyers and they do a range of subjects, but all quite academic subjects.
So for example, History, English Literature, German and Music is one friend.
Another friend is doing Maths, Further Maths, Spanish, Physics and Economics. They will likely drop one of the A levels.
Another friend is doing History, Politics, English Literature and RS.
So it varies, but they are all doing academic subjects.
English lit, History, languages, Maths are the most facilitating I think.
You do not need to do more than 3. If in doubt ask the universities she will be aiming for. I would have thought that if she does History and English Literature she could pick a third one she really likes like Sociology, but double check.

If Sociology is indeed demonised, is it? DD’s grammar school does not offer it as an A level option. The reason some subjects are seen as more academic - is it because the most academic kids do them, typically, so if you achieve an A or A star, you got that in the context of competing with other very academic kids? So chicken and egg situation?
And @Piggywaspushed you did say “In my school you have as good a chance of getting an A star to B grade in psychology, law or sociology and a much lower success rate in economics.” Why is that?

The OP has a DC expected to achieve all 8 and 9s who will presumably cope with the most rigorous subjects at A level anyway. Getting on a Law degree is not the problem, getting the training contract or pupillage is where the bottle neck currently lies? Hence she is right to go for the subjects most likely to end up with a training contract/pupillage further down the line. I guess she could check with recruitment in big law firms directly. I think whilst law firms do try to be inclusive, they are private businesses at the end of the day and are free to do as they please. I reckon none will want to exclude a genuinely talented DC from a comp where a lot of kids are advised to do Sociology type subjects and it is the norm to do just that, amongst their peers.

As far as I can tell some of DD’s friends are doing languages at A level because the school wants them to, they are good at it and it could possibly be easier to get into Oxford Law with French/Spanish/German, rather than straight Law. Although it is an extra year and hence extra tuition costs and all the other upheaval of doing a 4 year degree (not graduating with your original intake).

Plenty of grammar schools do offer sociology - it's often down to available staffing and expertise . Not many private schools. As you say it's chicken/egg and probably comes down to old fashioned academic snobbery.

I have taught five A levels now and I can say with some degree of confidence that sociology places the most demands in terms of hard work and the understanding of really quite complex theoretical ideas on students.

But, you know, I don't need to defend it . The OP's child obviously really enjoys it so will no doubt get an excellent GCSE grade. The fact that she is at a school that offers it suggests the school itself doesn't block bright students from doing it.

The reason economics students do less well is probably because it is open to students who can be accepted with 4s in English and maths (welcome to the real world MN!) and that is not adequate to succeed. I think it also attracts (specifically at my school) lazy boys who think they will be paid highly just by dint of having economics. Plus, certainly law and sociology have a more stable teaching staff and , basically, better teachers. My point being that individual school contexts matter. My DS had a brilliant economics teacher at his school . I am pretty confident that if he had come to mine he would have struggled more to get his A star. My school, unusually for a state comp , offers classics. But the results are poor - possibly because our students are coming up against those at highly selective establishments. So, if you were going to even attempt a bit of game theory with result predictions at my school specifically you wouldn't necessarily do classics, economics or history. At DS's school you would have targeted economics.