Further maths or a language

[agraceabrace]

DD wants to study either Politics and Economics or straight economics at uni. She's in Y11, predicted mostly 8s and 9s one or two 7s.
She's obviously already set on doing Politics, Economics and Maths. She is predicted a 9 in maths, French and German
DD loves Languages it's a passion and she has been teaching herself for about 5 years. She's effectively fluent in French and German.
DDs school think she should start with a 4 A-levels, with the provision of she can drop one if it is too much. DD wants to try.
The school have suggested she either do Further Maths or one of the languages. With further maths maybe making her more competitive should she go down straight economics route for uni, but the language might be a nice touch for Politics and Economics or future employment.
DD is more interested in Politics and Economics than straight economics.

Do you think she would be better taking a language (if so which one? She's equally good at both) or further maths.
DD loves maths and languages so this is a real struggle for her!

I did French, Maths and Economics A Levels. Then did Spanish A Level many years later.

I would recommend French, Maths, Politics and Economics as more variety than just Further Maths.

I'm a massive fan of vocational.qualifications but wise careers advice will look at the current attainment levels, ability levels and personal.ambitions when making choices about qualifications. From the information given, this girl is clearly very bright, has a keen interest in the expressed area and is pondering 2 sensible choices. It just isn't wise to advise 16 year old to run 2 completely different sets of qualifications to provide a back up plan. There is enough choice in what she is looking at to give her plenty of options. Obvious no-one has a Crystal ball, but there doesn't seem to any reason why these academic options aren't realistic. Chucking in a random voc qual that is in no way related to anything else of what she wants to do looks indecisive and confusing. The demands of A-Levels and voc are also very different in terms of time and type of demand, timetabling and just where they are delivered. Of course it is just my opinion but it does come from a place of many years experience preparing students for these kinds of choices, teaching in a post 16 environment and university applications. I'm just trying to help the OP with what I think. Of course, she doesn't have to pay any attention.

@level414243 It’s not you who is looking at admissions at uni to see if candidates match entry requirements. Construction or vocational qualifications that are not relevant don’t meet the criteria for the degree the dc might do. The dc will be rejected. The fall back position is getting an alternative job after her degree. Any risk analysis of degree entry requirements, and choosing subjects post 16, would show taking suitable subjects is low risk. Taking unsuitable subjects is high risk.

Based on old experience i would say you only need further maths if you are doing a maths degree - the maths in other subjects only really needs maths A level -although being taught FM firms up your knowledge of the maths degree.
However she should have a look at what roles/jobs she wants and consider whether economics is right for them - depending on the risk analysis role she wants it may be better to have a more mathematical degree than she is looking at - econometrics at least?

Further maths

This will be the last comment I make on your bizarre suggestion. At some point, you do need to narrow the curriculum to allow in-depth study. At this age, I was passionate about the subjects I chose to study. It wasn't a failure of any system that I didn't spend time adding on a construction or hospitality module. Likewise, what I studied is absolutely not everyone's cup of tea whereas they would thrive in a vocational.environment. Just because someone is academic doesn't mean they possess the correct for skills for construction. The converse is obviously true also. It's not about being scared to go out of your comfort zone but as we enter adulthood we should be able to choose to persue things that interest us and that we stand a chance of succeeding in.
What about all the children who depute their best efforts will only get a grade 3 or 4 in maths GCSE...should we be encouraging them to go out of their comfort zone and study further maths?

@level414243 Have you ever heard of horses for courses? Dc can study all sorts of vocational courses but they are not, mostly, good prep for academic study. My DH is a consulting engineer. He is responsible for designing buildings, road design, environmental schemes, structures, and lots more for clients. Not a single employee of his will have studied construction in the way you suggest. It’s inappropriate. All have engineering degrees and have maths and physics A level. This is the “norm” to get you into the degrees. Something off the wall “to stand out” is not helpful or risk averse. It’s just poor advice.

I would say for economics it depends on how high she is aiming. For the likes of LSE, Oxbridge, Warwick etc FM would definitely make her more competitive. A lot of the higher end unis expect it even though they don't necessarily stipulate it as a requirement. For example, LSE ask for an explanation as to why you haven't taken it if your school offers it. So I think it's important to decide this first. Also FM is not for the faint hearted, my DS is studying it at the moment and it takes up most of his revision time even though he has 3 other subjects.

@level414243 Oh dear. You are out of your depth.

Turns out Chipsgravyfanta was a PBP and level414243 was a sockpuppet.

German

Does she love maths? Not like but love? If yes then take further maths. It will be gorgeous. If she only likes maths then don’t - it will be hellish.

@ErrolTheDragon Had to look those two up. Clearly showing my age. I thought PBP was payback period!