Do universities view some subjects as 'soft' options?

[Appuskidu]

For background-I am just pondering that when I did my A levels-we only had the option to do 'curriculum' subjects-maths/physics/English etc. Well, I think psychology was offered as an option when I was leaving to go to university, but for me-it was just 'subjects'. DH and I both did 'subject' degrees (English/Biology).

DS is now in y11 at the local grammar and is on target for 8/9s in his 12 GCSEs, all being well. He is undecided which A levels to do, but isn't keen on English/humanities/maths. He likes physics but keeps being told that A level physics is nothing like GCSE and is bloody hard without maths. He would do biology at a push.

His best subjects and the ones he loves are computer science, graphics, business studies and drama. All non curriculum 'subjects' (going back to my opening gambit!).

Would universities look at his choices and say they are pants subjects? Or do they just look at grades and see e.g. Three/four A*? Is he best doing biology instead of one as it's a good all round subject (I believe the RG call them facilitator subjects?). How much do universities want 'proper' subjects?

Do I even make any sense?!

He needs a bit of career advice but I just wondered if there were any knowledgeable people/teachers/uni bods out there who can advise?!

What would he like to do at University? What would he like to do as a career?

Russell Group/top 30 will expect at least 1 if not 2 traditional "facilitating" subjects which develop relevant core transferrable skills. If he looks at the requirements for a potential degree course it will usually specify its subject preferences and minimum entry requirements.

I would say that if he wants to do computer science then he'll probably need maths.

There definitely are subjects that are seen as more valuable/impressive; maths and the sciences being the main ones I believe. Ultimately it will depend on what sort of course he would like to do though. They might specify in the entry requirments online

Thank you for all the replies :)

He is thinking of computer science. We just idly looked at Nottingham university which says it needed AAA but AAB if you had computer science A level already. It doesn't mention other required subjects though.

If he wanted to do (for want of a better word) an academic subject at a top university then he would be best advised to do 3 academic subjects at A-level. The kinds of universities that focus on academic subjects with few vocational degrees offered would indeed classify some vocational subject a-levels as less desirable.

However he doesn't want that path does he? He is more likely to do a vocational subject at university - one of the universities that specialise in those kinds of degrees and are top-rated for them. Or perhaps he'll pursue a career without getting a degree, so he would be very sensible to do vocational a-levels.

He will need maths ( or possibly physics) for computer science. Especially at a decent uni. He might get away with economics for a lower tier institution but he will have to have something mathematical. I was told this by a friend who is a professor of computer science, when my DS was looking at uni.

Hmmm ok, this is all interesting stuff-I'm glad we've started thinking about it now! Thank you.

Does anyone know anything about doing physics A level without maths??

Yes Maths A-Level is seen as the most useful subject for Comp Sci. Oxbridge, Imperial, Warwick, UCL, Bristol all require A-Level Maths. However I'll add Kings College London to your list of Unis that don't require it:

"At least one of Mathematics, Computer Science, ICT, Computing, Electronics, Physics, Statistics or Software Systems Development. Plus GCSE Mathematics at grade B (or equivalent)."

You should be able to find 5 good Unis that don't require it for upcoming entry although that might change in the future. The question often comes up in the Student Room Computer Science forum.

Thank you-that's so useful. I might start a post to see how hard it is to do physics without maths!

Caution: yes it is possible to do physics A-level without maths A-level and yes some university courses for things like computer science will accept applicants who don't have maths A-level.

BUT: there is about a 50% overlap between the skills and knowledge needed needed for physics A-level and maths A-level. A lot of physics is applied maths.

Any university course that prefers applicants to have maths A-level but accepts applicants without is going to have smallprint saying that students without maths a-level have to take a module in y1 (which will be called something like "maths for computing" or whatever) which will be equivalent in difficulty if not more so than the maths a-level avoided.

What does he really like about computer science? If he is really into it then he could well learn to love maths. It's an amazing subject with a lot of interesting stuff in it but some kids get fixated on "I hate maths" because of bad, boring teaching for years.

Maths is a language that is truly wonderful to study in depth but imagine trying to get kids to learn to love studying a language where you have to only learn grammar and spelling by rote throughout the first 12 years of schooling and don't get to even understand the existence of any poetry or stories in that language until A-level. His love of computer science could indicate that he has fallen into this trap and he could be inspired to suddenly realise how great maths is - perhaps some maths tutoring from a maths-loving current university student could help?

If he doesn't have hidden potential to be great at maths then one of the non-mathematical vocational subjects mentioned in your op would be better.

Computer science is a facilitating subject if you want to take Computer Science at university OP!
There are lots of different Computer courses at uni so it really depends on what type of career he is interested in. Most unis (and most employers) would prefer maths for courses (jobs) that require programming but there are other types of course that may not require this. Business (think they have dropped the studies) is the type of degree that you can do without the A level. It could be possible to take a Computing for Business type of degree without the Business A level for example.