Thoughts on this A level combination?

[Alwaystheplusone]

Please can I have your thoughts on whether this a bad combination for a child that is a hardworking but average student and isn’t fixed as to what path to take following A levels: Geography, Sociology and DT?

I'd look at what universities would accept DT as an A level for a Geography degree.
Yes, useful for cartography - but drawing maps is quite a small part of Geography degrees.

Sounds OK to me @Alwaystheplusone. I'd be surprised if any uni didn’t accept DT as an A level.

I guess the only caveat would be that sociology, while it’s an engaging and challenging subject, does not keep open any specific doors, uni-wise. The same is true to some extent of DT. You don’t need sociology A level to study it at uni; and even something like product design engineering at Loughborough requires maths or physics rather than DT A level.

So it might be worth considering, as keeping more options open, maths, physics, biology or if more hums-inclined, Eng lit, history? But if there is a strong indication of a higher grade in DT/sociology than maths/history then stick with the former.

Most of the time geography A level itself isn’t even a necessary subject for a geography degree. DT wouldn’t be an issue in the slightest

Jeeeeze.
And there was me thinking that having useful subjects would give you a good start in your further study.

It's up to the institution (or specific department within) to decide what is essential / desirable / neither here nor there / not acceptable. Many degree courses only have requirement for 3 A levels at certain grades as a requirement, no subjects specifie, other than the proviso that e.g. General Studies / Critical Thinking will not be considered as one of the three.

Back to the OP's question, Geography would fit the wider requirement for 'a science' for some courses, Sociology 'an essay subject'. DT at a suitable grade, plus two others, would meet the requirements for e.g. BA Product Design at Sussex.

Geography and Sociology as a pairing would be a good background for Human Geography, assuming that they ate a genuine expression of the student's interests.

DC was in a position of knowing what they wanted to do, but there not really being any combination that was more suitable than others. They picked Geography, Chemistry, Psychology and they have been no issue in getting Uni offers.

Geography and a hard science like chemistry are a good combination. Chemistry is really useful for earth sciences and geology for example. It’s not DT and Sociology! However those won’t really matter either but Chemistry is better!

Chemistry may be 'better' if, and only if, the DC can get a decent grade at A level.

@ErrolTheDragon I was responding to the poster whose dc had it! Therefore assuming the grade was as required by all the offering unis. Not saying this dc should do it but it’s not a left field choice as suggested.

And there was me thinking that having useful subjects would give you a good start in your further study.

Yes, of course.

But there are two distinct aspects to 'useful subjects'.

The first is what general skills can you develop while doing an A level.
The second is what specific knowledge to you gain.

For some degrees, you have to have a combination of the former and latter - if you want to do physics you really need to have a grasp of both the skills and content of A level physics and maths, for example. You need to hit the ground running, they're not going to teach you from scratch.

For other degrees there's no assumed prerequisite knowledge. Geography is one of those - I know someone who did it at Cambridge who when wondering which of physics, maths, engineering lit or geography she should drop, was told she didn't need the latter as they'd be teaching her all the geography she needed. In the event she dropped the English, but the point is the maths, physics and 'an essay subject' were the useful skills, the content of whatever topics were covered in level geog wasn't needed.

So, first thing a student needs to figure out is if they're likely to want to do a degree that does have specific A level requirements.

If not, then think about what range of skills their choice of A levels develops , combined with some idea of how well they're likely to do in them.

Are these the subjects your Dc does best in and is most interested in?

Yes, they are