A level choices

[Butterfly44]

Confirming A level choices mine definitely wants to do Psychology, Biology and is toying between putting down sociology or media studies. At uni she's hoping to do something psychology based. Looking at course content and both exams are essay writing and analytical. She's veering towards media studies as she's interested in how media affects peoples mindsets and the creative element. I know historically it's been looked as a 'soft option' but wondering if it still is today?

I don’t think there are really any ‘soft’ subjects any more so don’t let that worry you. Dd has four offers for Psychology at uni and they all just required one science at A Level and your dd will have two anyway. Bath said they wanted a combination of essay subjects and numeracy subjects - but Psychology A Level counts as both!

One thing I noticed about Media Studies when I was looking at it for ds, who’s in year 11 - there seems to be a practical aspect. There’s an NEA worth 30% which involves creating media products. That’s as far as I fit in my research as the school I was looking at want a portfolio as one of their entry requirements.

@crazycrofter thanks. She quite likes the idea of creating something for the NEA. She 'researched' TikTok and saw examples those doing A level media studies had created. It's a last moment swerve as she had been set on sociology as her 3rd choice, though delving more into the content realising it's a lot more theory heavy which she'll already be doing for psychology.

How about Geography? Has some science in it but the human geography will be a nice compliment to psychology.

My DD did Media Studies A level a few years ago. I was glad she did, as the only other essay writing subject she picked was Eng Lit, which she hated with a vengeance and gave up at the earliest opportunity. However, with the benefit of hindsight she wishes very much that she'd done Sociology instead of Media Studies, as she thinks it would have taught her more interesting things, whereas Media Studies is more about stuff you find out about anyway as a young adult. Sociology is very much her 'should have done it' subject.

Some unis like Maths A Level for psychology, but it's risky if she's not very good at maths.

A Level Media was, like all subjects , 'reformed'. The word on the street is it was rendered very theoretical and dull. Quite a few schools have jumped ship to film studies.

Sociology is broader. Depending on the board and spec she could, for example, do a unit in media and/or crime , family (both useful for psychology), health (ditto) and it also directly teaches research methods.

It's much more relevant to psychology.

UCAS suggests that sociology is a good fit:

www.ucas.com/explore/subjects/psychology

I think media studies is still a soft option tbh but then I'd put sociology into that bracket too. If she's dead set on either then it'd have to be sociology.

Give sociology a go sometime and then come back to me.

I'd put sociology into that bracket too
I see, and do you work in university admissions? Funny how Cambridge don't have any problem with Sociology.....www.cao.cam.ac.uk/behind-the-headlines/subject-choices-matter

I don't think media is a soft option - look at how disinformation is such a problem! I think we need more youngsters studying politics and media studies!

However, I also wonder if she's considered geography - it opens up more doors and would go very nicely with her other subjects.

I would definitely recommend Core Maths as a 4th subject if taking Pyschology & Biology. It's a half way house from GCSE to A level. DD has been doing it in Yr12 & 13 for 2 hours a week and it's really helped with both Pys & Biology. I believe some schools take it in Yr12 only so I assume have more lessons in that year.

I would say Sociology has a lot more relevance to Psychology.

Both subjects are interesting and have huge scope. Either of them will be fine alongside psychology & biology so she needs to work out which will suit her the best and potential for achieving the highest grade. Often the subject isn’t relevant to university study but the grade most certainly is. If she’s looking at a psychology degree then her choice of biology & psychology A levels will give her every option of universities (grades permitting). Her 3rd subject could be absolutely anything she fancies.
Does your school offer taster sessions where she can sit in a class and give them a try? It’ll be over her head most likely but still give her a bit of an idea / feel. If not, can she speak to 6th formers already doing these subjects - ideally someone who is doing both sociology & media?
As a poster has already mentioned, If your school offer ‘core maths’ as a 4th subject it’s worth considering. It’s nothing like A level maths but more of a gcse extension of useful maths (stats, financials, etc.) It’s very helpful in supporting the maths required for the sciences she’s considering too (biology, psychology & sociology). At DDs school it’s done in yr12 like an AS level. She’s not especially mathsy but is enjoying it.

@EngAng
It’s interesting that if you click on The Subject Matters link in the link you posted, at no stage is Media Studies a recommended subject for a Cambridge degree. They list lots of subjects which are considered good prep but not these. So a blanket “any subject will do” is not accurate.

A strong combination is maths and biology and psychology. Sociology is perfectly ok though, as you can see.

I dint think her third subject will matter too much. Just pick a subject she can get a decent grade in.

Is also suggest she looks at the uni options available.

Business also works too

If she added English language then speech therapy at uni is an option.

Does she want to do speech therapy?

Op says something psychology based.
So I’m just suggesting things to consider

Few people who do a psychology degree are psychologists so for many it’s not vocational. Speech Therapy is vocational so I tend to see it as very different with fewer transferable skills. That does need consideration by the DD though.

Yes I know this.
Hence my suggestion.
I tend to ask people to consider where do they want to be after graduation then work backwards

I would just add to be cautious about taking too many untried subjects. DD started off with 4 subjects, one of them being psychology. She discovered that she hated psychology, so she dropped it after AS levels.

She found psychology very boring and unchallenging. The workload was much greater than any of her other subjects (chemistry, biology and geography). There is a lot to memorise with lots of case studies by people with unpronounceable and hard to spell names.

Biology is a good fit with psychology BTW. Oh, and DD didn't find psychology particularly maths heavy either.

As an A level Biology teacher at a very large colege, I can honestly say that most of the students do better in Biology if they are also doing Maths or Chemistry. Core maths (mentioned above) is a good option if the student thinks A level maths is not for them - it really teaches kids how to apply their skills.

*college

@RampantIvy

I would just add to be cautious about taking too many untried subjects. DD started off with 4 subjects, one of them being psychology. She discovered that she hated psychology, so she dropped it after AS levels.

She found psychology very boring and unchallenging. The workload was much greater than any of her other subjects (chemistry, biology and geography). There is a lot to memorise with lots of case studies by people with unpronounceable and hard to spell names.

Biology is a good fit with psychology BTW. Oh, and DD didn't find psychology particularly maths heavy either.

Sounds like your dd brain is scientific, facts etc Similar to mine and I detested psychology for same reasons. Could be ten differentl theories.