Rate these A level choices

[Justbecausesomethingexisted]

Dd thinking of choosing Art, Psychology and Mathematics...her 3 favourite subjects at gcse. No idea she wants to do after A levels.

Wierd combination or good combination?!

Is she in line for a 9 (or high 8 and good at Algebra) for Maths? A level is quite a jump.
Art and Maths combination is good for design and architecture.
Psychology degrees also use maths mainly statistical.
Although they have no idea what they want to do it's worth exploring a bit more as realistically by the summer of next year they will have to make some sort of choice.
What are their strengths?

There's courses such as landscape architecture where geography may be a good third or design where physics may be useful or perhaps educational psychology (where art therapy could be integrated?).

This is a good previous thread that might promote some thinking options.

Thanks for your reply. She is in line for a 9 in maths. She hates science and struggles with it ( not so much biology) . Very good at art and she enjoys psychology so these two She is sure she wants to take...but very unsure about third choice as nothing else really appeals so hence thinking of maths

Thanks for the link to the thread looks really interesting!

Maths uses problem solving skills. Psychology essay and critical analysis skills . Art is creative.

I would say the choice shows breadth of skill , but useful to look if it facilitates the next (as yet unknown) step.

Maths is a great A level to add in I would say.

Use this website , add all subjects you chose and it will give you which courses you can do in university .
https://www.informedchoices.ac.uk/

I just put those subjects into Informed choices and two degree suggestions are very odd. Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Are unis so desperate to recruit they don’t want Chemistry any more for these degeees? I am not sure I would apply for Geography with those subjects either. More investigation needed I think but some degrees are certainly ok.

you definitely have to have a level chemistry to do chemistry or chemistry engineering at a decent uni

tbh psychology feels like an outlier there. unis are a lot more brutal these days.... I would think a bit more about what she wants to do.... either swap psych for something like physics or swap art for bio would be my personal take on it.

I hate to say it but a level choices based on what you 'enjoy' may lead to a not so ideal mix....

@therealcookiemonster I was surprised at those two in particular. I’m also of the opinion that doing what you want might lead to fewer degree choices or not being competitive at the best unis. Biology would work well instead of Psychology. Psychology is taken by huge numbers now and obviously the A level is useful for other degrees. I would try and look at degrees these A levels throw up and see if any are suitable and then look at best unis to see if they have preferred subjects, eg Geography for Geography etc. It’s very useful for planning too but this is not a particularly competitive degree. So checking degree courses matters.

also from what i remember of my brother applying for uni last year, psychology is seen as a weak a level (not my opinion) and unis don't rate it as much as other subjects

Hi

Thanks for all the replies. I think it's hard if you just have no idea what career to pursue and I think both physics and chemistry are not really in the running.

But yes I absolutely agree that the take what you enjoy route my possibly not be the best way to go.

Also agree about informed choices...I was surprised at some of the suggestions with different options selected!

Biology may be an option.

Ok if she fancies doing art, but unfortunately art won't allow her to go to Uni. Psychology and maths are ok. Is she very good at maths because it's for people who love it.

She is very good at maths. But art won't get her to uni? For anything?

What utter nonsense. Art is a totally fine A Level to get into uni, and in fact teaches excellent time management which can benefit students once they hit uni. Please ignore @Jandob they don’t know what they’re on about!!

Psychology IS a science, so make sure she understands what it involves for A-level.

Otherwise, I think they are a great choice of a-levels. They are three solid subjects, which could lead to a wide range of degree courses.

@therealcookiemonster - that really not the case any more.

Which comment are you replying to thanks

@Justbecausesomethingexisted It’s the comment about psychology being a lesser A level. Like many A levels, it is what you put with it that matters and what you want to study. It’s not great for some degrees but fine for others.

DD could do the Morrisby test for possible careers. It looks at likes, dislikes, skills and attributes and comes up with a few suggestions. Surprisingly accurate for my DC.

My DD did Art, Psychology and History. She was interviewed at Cambridge (but did not get an offer), but has offers from the likes of Durham. It's nonsense to say Art won't get you in to uni (and is pretty much essential if going into a creative career), and Psychology is on the 'preferred' subject list for many courses at Oxbridge so is a perfectly respectable A level.

If she's interested in those 3 maybe she'd be interested in User Experience Designer as a career It uses psychology (understanding user behaviour, questionnaire design) visual design (drawing layout etc) and statistics (understanding user behaviour from data)

Those are great choices for your daughter especially if she doesn't know what she wants to do. It's great if she is choosing subjects she enjoys and subjects she is good at.

Have you checked the A'level results for each of the subjects at your daughter's school?

Maths and art would open up degrees like architecture and urban planning.

Thanks all! Though I confess I never thought to look at the schools a level results!

Interesting
Art. 78% A -B. Psychology 74% and Maths. 40%

A-C grades. Art 100% Psychology 93. And maths. 58%

Also bear in mind that uni is optional. There are plenty of degree apprenticeships or learn while you earn pathways out there nowadays.

Neither of my friend’s girls went to uni - one is now a chartered accountant and the other is finishing a degree apprenticeship in Business.

My DD didn’t go to uni and is a successful business analyst earning more at 27 than I did as a teacher with UPS3 and a middle TLR in my forties.

My DD went to Oxford uni with an Art A Level. In fact, she was offered places at all 5 of the top universities she applied for.