Psychology AND sociology alevel

[rainsbows]

Does anyone have any thoughts on doing both of these as alevel? Are they too similar? Are they seen as rigorous by Russell group universities? Dd is also doing history and wants to do law. She’s loving all three subjects.

Option b is to do psychology, history and English literature - the more traditional route. She got 9s at gcse but doesn’t love English.

I’m of the mindset that she should do what she enjoys, ie, the former. But quietly nervous she’ll be limiting her options.

Don't do an English A Level if she's not enjoying it at GCSE, especially if she's not a reader.

Those options are fine, there are no specific requirements for law.
Perhaps if she liked sociology and English equally she would be better doing English, but if she doesn’t enjoy it there’s really no point.
Universities will prefer an A in sociology over a B in English Lit.

She got a 9, she’s brilliant at it in terms of the analysis / historical / social context. But doesn’t love reading for pleasure by any means.

This is my thinking too. Ultimately it’s about hitting the top grades and I know she’ll be more enthused by sociology than English.

I did both psychology and sociology A levels (albeit 25 years ago!). I didn’t find them too similar at all and thought they worked well together. Can’t advise on their suitability for going on to do law though.

I agree go for where your DC will get the best grades. Sociology is a a great subject.

I also wouldn't get hung up on Russell Group unis. Lots up fantastic high ranking non Russell Group.

S2 chose one of those (shamefaced, not absolutely certain which one - ah yes, Sociology) but spent some time choosing - there were attractive modules in both. We looked at the curriculum and I wouldn't have said they were the same at all. It's possibly like a STEM student doing Physics and Chemistry... or possibly Mechanics and Statistics 🙂

His others were History and Government & Politics.

Ended up with a 2:I in law from A Top University and is now studying for his solicitor exam.

I did both and they are really not that similar. I note Cambridge says this:

We recommend that you choose 2 of these A levels (for arts subjects…)

• English Literature
• a language, such as French, German, Spanish or Latin
• History
• Mathematics, which is useful for many courses at Cambridge, including Law

Not sure if other top unis are bothered…not seen anything but others would be better able to advise

@Bufftailed S2 only had one of those and it didn't seem to bother them

I did both (admittedly many, many years ago) because I thought I’d enjoy them. And I did! I had no idea what I wanted to do as a “grown up“ but I turned out fine and for what it’s worth? I’m apparently in the top 0.5% of earners in the UK. And I didn’t go to a RG university.

I did psychology, sociology and English (in 1999!) and got BCC. Sociology and psychology are totally different in terms of content and learnings. Enjoyed it all, although under achieved in terms of grades at a shit comprehensive. Went on to study psychology at uni, got a 2:1, into a career in HR, always earning comfortably above average. She should study what she enjoys.

I teach sociology. My students do a very eclectic mix of subjects - psychology and history are common. Plenty have gone on to law degrees. My DS did economics, history and sociology and they complemented each other really well.

One of my DC did both, with English language, and enjoyed them both. Now doing linguistics which includes a bit of all of them.

My daughter did English, sociology and psychology. She got offers from Edinburgh, York, Exeter and Durham.

she loved both and is now about to embark on a sociology degree.

she loved English at gcse and originally was looking at that for her degree. She didn’t enjoy a level anywhere near as much.

I did sociology and psychology A level, about 30 years ago mind but I enjoyed both and they worked well together.

Thank you everyone. She’s still got a couple of weeks to finalise but I think she’s confident to continue with psychology, sociology and history plus epq. Thanks for the replies.

If she would potentially be interested in psychology at degree level if she is interested she should maybe think about core maths instead of the EPQ. Mathematical understanding is a really important part of psychology (as a BSc). 100% agree she should do what she is enthusiastic about!

Still very much wobbling between English lit and sociology. We’ve drawn out pros and cons lists and talked it through with ai but no nearer to a decision. We’ve looked at uni admissions too. She’s doing all four at the moment which definitely isn’t sustainable so she’ll need to drop one soon but she’s genuinely torn.

I did Psy, Sociology, Law and English Lit 30 years ago in my crap comprehensive. Got ACAC

2.1 from Russell Group Uni in Psychology

GDL and LPC 10 years later.

Am now a lawyer (partner)

I would do the English personally. I did both psychology and sociology 15 years ago as an AS and quite frankly the sociology A level is an absolute piece of piss and absolutely not the same standard as something like history. Maybe it’s changed, I doubt it has. This is when you dropped one after AS year - I got 100% on the exam, my teacher was devastated.

She really really really does not want to do English Literature unless she is an avid independent reader. Seriously.

This in many many spades. If your DD would happily read Tess of the Durbervilles independently and debate its ‘hidden context’ for 6 months it’s the one for her. If not forget it. It’s brutal.