Humanities A Levels choices

[SaidTheLovecats]

DD is in Year 11 and considering her A Level choices.

She is certain about History and English Lit (predicted 8/9 for both). She is considering for her third choice:

Politics
Sociology
Philosophy
Classics

Only Politics & Sociology are offered by her (good, state) school.
All four subjects are offered at a different sixth form (high performing, local).
She likes her school and I’d prefer her to stay where the staff know her and the school day is more regimented, but we have visited the other sixth form and she liked it, will no doubt know other kids there and I also felt positive about it.

She has no idea what she wants to do at university. Vague ideas about journalism or law as a career.

She ideally wants to aim for a Russell Group university, but she’s open minded. We are not pushy parents and will go with what she wants.

What are these four subjects good for in terms of entrance to different degrees? Does it matter if it’s essentially another humanities subject - are they viewed differently by universities?

Yes, I know that. And that's fine for the OP, too. However, his interview was for sociology so I'm guessing maybe it was particularly helpful in his context; whether you agree or not is up to you.

I don't think there is much to choose between these subjects. At DD's (state) school sociology was regarded as a soft option for the less academically able, but I am sure that isn't the case everywhere. DD did A levels in English, History, Classical Civilization and Maths and got a place at Oxbridge. Her school recommended she do the Maths alongside the humanities subjects to demonstrate she was not just a one trick pony. Perhaps that swung the balance, perhaps it didn't. She enjoyed the variety though.

My DD is doing English Lit, History and Sociology A Levels. She feels they complement each other well although 2 lots of NEAs is bloody brutal and there is a huge amount of writing. She’s hoping to do Liberal Arts as a degree as although journalism is tentative she knows how competitive it is so wants to keep options open. Predicted grades 3 A* so wouldn’t describe her as academically less able and she says Sociology is definitely not a soft option. Hope your DD enjoys whatever she decides!

@Piggywaspushed Yes. As the third A level. I am always amazed people don’t read all the info from Cambridge.

However as the DD here hasn’t mentioned Oxbridge, I’m not sure it matters but Eng Lit and History tick the boxes. Maths ticks every box @Godesstobe. English, History and Maths actually ticks 3 boxes.

It certainly helped him write a better PS.

I'd vote for class civ, because it's very (or can be) broad and interdisciplinary, adjacent to many modern disciplines (iiterature, history, art, sociology, philosophy etc) Many for the price of one. (Full disclosure, however, that I am a classics professor...)

I’d just stay at the same school. Dc usually settle better and they are offering decent options. The other possibles offer no advantage unless she wants those subjects at uni.

Thanks again, all. Lots of food for thought here.

I would rather she stay at her current school to be honest @TizerorFizz Its got good pastoral care and behaviour, and really good results.

The other sixth form is a high performing sixth form college (state). Excellent results, but the students seem to wander off to the local cafe or fast food place in ‘study periods’, whereas her school requires them to stay on site and use the sixth form study area. Just seems a bit more conducive to learning. DD is bright and well behaved, but lacks organisational skills and can be a bit of a dreamy drifter without a rod to her back at school .

I’d love her to do Maths A Level or a science to keep options a bit more open. She’s predicted 8 for Maths and Double Science, but whinges constantly about them and says she can’t wait to drop them after GCSE, so it’s a bit of a non starter.

She liked the interdisciplinary syllabus for Classics @VeryQuaintIrene. There was no option to study Classics when I was at school d I thought it looked fabulous, but again - had to bite my lip not to project my views too much!

Re:Oxbridge. Her school took some of the high performing black and mixed race children to Cambridge in Year 10 (DD is mixed race) on some sort of widening participation thing. She didn’t love it for the reasons you might imagine - too white, too stuffy, felt out of place. Although she did a taster day in the History Dept and when we dug a bit deeper, she actually really enjoyed the content and interaction with teaching staff, so there’s hope yet.

Excellent results, but the students seem to wander off to the local cafe or fast food place in ‘study periods’, whereas her school requires them to stay on site and use the sixth form study area. Just seems a bit more conducive to learning.

Success at sixth form level comes from being self motivated. That means planning your own study and finding out what works for you.

DD's school was one where you only had to come in for lessons. So DD might have days where she worked for a bit at home, then had a driving lesson before going into school , a study period at school (where she might work, or she might chat - being at school does not mean they are working!) and then leave before school finished for part time job and then worked at home in the evening. Of course that was not every day! Some days she did go into school for a full day and work in the study area in study periods. Some days, she only had one lesson timetabled, so she went into school just for that, spent some time studying with a friend but spent most of the day working at home.

I think this sort of flexibility is great to build good organisation and study habits. And helps with the transition to university where there are generally not an awful lot of contact hours for humanities subjects.