A level choices - safe options or not?

[traceyinrosso]

My 16 year old has submitted her sixth form application form listing French, History, Maths and English Literature as her choices. We were glad she picked these subjects as she enjoys them and finds they naturally come easily to her. She is a high achiever predicted about 7 As and the rest As at GCSE . She doesn't have any definite career plans and was talking about doing a History degree but says she doesn't want to end up as a teacher and thinks prospects for History graduates arent great. She talked about midwifery but we feel that whilst midwifery is a rewarding career that she might wish she was the doctor and not the midwife in the labour room. She has been told she can take science A levels as all her 3 sciences are predicted As but these subjects dont come as naturally to her. As her parents we want her to be happy and suceed but should we push her towards the safe choices that might not take her where she wants to be career wise or let her choose sciences and then potentially face the problem she might not get the grades she needs for medical school. Anyone else had same dilemma who can offer some insight please ??

She's made very good AS choices. Many students are unsure at 15-16 what they want to do at university (let alone a career). It sounds as though she hasn't said herself that she would be interested in medicine - has she expressed any interest in the past?
The AS choices she has made would be good for a wide variety of jobs outside science/technology - including law, accountancy and management trainee posts.

I would encourage her to stick with her strength subjects that come naturally to her. She may well pick a course at uni then change her mind after starting (is fairly common). A level subjects like science and maths are difficult and like all subjects require much depth of knowledge and quick understanding at a more advanced level. Although beneficial for more subject specific degrees, many universities will look at the overall grades attained. Some universities even do combined degrees where she could do a major in one course and a minor in another, could be something to look at?!

Medicine has cropped up on and off as a potential career for the last 18 months or so but she had just thought she was rubbish at Chemistry so dismissed it as knew she needed A level Chemistry but now she has nearly finished her Chemistry course and is on target for an A* so is now thinking perhaps she could do it hence the change of heart over A level subjects

Speaking from experience, Chemistry A-level is MUCH harder than Chem GCSE. You have to really hard working and pretty intelligent to get anywhere. I went from getting 100% in my Chem GCSE to a D at AS level.

I would say encourage her to do the subjects she knows she will excel in.

It's not ideal in terms of fees/ student loans etc but she could always do medicine as a humanities graduate later on if she felt pulled that way..

I'm 31, been qualified as a doctor a few years. Entered med school as a grad with a chemistry degree but plenty of my friends had humanities/ arts degrees.

Although obviously I'm biased, I think training for and working in this profession are much easier a few years more mature and with a little life experience..

If this route doesn't appeal I guess although it's tough, she needs to really think about how much she's interested in medicine. How about some good work experience??

M x

If she really wanted to do medicine, she should have been getting the required work experience by now, eg. St John's or Red Cross, helping in an old peoples home, working with disabled youngesters etc.
If she doesn't really want to do medicine, I would go with the subjects she enjoys, then choose a degree in something she is interested in. Most graduate careers are for "any subject".

I also can't see why someone who wants to be a mid-wife would want to be a doctor, doctors do very little in normal deliveries in the UK (in fact you might not see one in a straightforward birth).

Her A levels spund really good choices to me ,it seems to me that to be successful at medicine you have to be really sure about it and very committed.There is practically a medicine stream at ds school from beginning year 12 ,it's not exclusive but they do get specialist help with work experience applications etc

The midwife/dr thing is about status and authority I would guess - comments being made by people who think she's too clever to be a mere midwife and should aim higher (I have been on the receiving end of those comments, I know what I'm talking about! I never did become a midwife...).

Unless she has a real sense of vocation to do medicine, I would let that one go, it's a hard enough road to follow for people who are really committed to it. That looks like a good set of A-levels to me, and History degrees can lead in all sorts of directions. Most people who employ graduates aren't interested in their subject knowledge but in skills they can use in the workplace - in processing complex information, analytical thinking, decision-making, effective communication, working on your own initiative etc etc - all things History, like most arts and humanities degrees, delivers in spades.

I think its a bit of a shame that if she wants to do midwifery you are talking her out of it!

campergirls I agree with that. Midwifery is a hugely rewarding career in itself, and is a stand alone career, rather then a doctor's assistant.

Agree with what others have said about chemistry A-level being much harder then GCSE. If she's not scientifically minded, she will struggle with medicine.

Better to be a motivated, excellent midwife then a half hearted doctor. If she is very good midwife, and academic, she can go on to do Master's, even a phd, becoming a doctor of midwifery. I know nurses who have followed similar routes.

Also agree about her getting work experience in health care.

Midwifery and medicine are really different. There have been times I wished I'd looked into midwifery further before going into medicine.

There's no real substitute for good work experience- although nursing home/ red cross etc will help you know whether you want to work in the healthcare/ care area I think the hospital/ gp environment is best if you can get it. Speaking to doctors of all grades is the best way to find out about the reality of being one.

I came from a modest background- my family didn't know a single doctor apart from the one we saw as a patient. Cant say it would've entirely reversed my decision but there are things I wished I'd known ( such as having to move around the country for training opportunities etc) ..

Please feel free to pm me/ have your daughter pm me if you have any questions I could help with..

If she's still unsure about medicine then doing science a-levels would keep her options open for longer. Could she do biology, chemistry and then one or two others from her first choices?

Midwifery is a rewarding career and you can go far in it, management, research, consultant midwife, head of womens services, etc.

Thanks for everyones comments - I think it's one of those decisions she will need to make for herself at the end of the day (with some support from us) butI have said I will not try and talk her out of midwifery if she really wants to do it but I know how much she loves History with a passion and feel the only thing that is putting her off a History degree is the lack of direct career access afterwards as she doesnt want to teach. Unfortunately, in the current economic climate it is sad that academic achievement is only seen as a means to an end (ie to a good job)rather than the pursuit of knowledge seen as wothwhile in itself !

This link has a few ideas for what you can do with a History degree

www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/jan/16/history-degree-careers

I shouldn't worry about direct career path you can do practically anything non scientific with a history degree .

Things can change a lot though in sixth form ,my ds was devoted to English and determined he was going to read it at University.By the time he applied his eyes had been opened to other possibilities and he applied for Politics totally the right subject for him.Still loves English but wants it to remain a hobby,still thinks he might take an elective in the English dept though

totally agree with the change of direction once they are in 6th form; my son has done a complete turn from a sports degree (which has been the goal since he was in year 9) to applying for law and criminology!

I also think you would be ill advised to steer her away from mid-wifery if she is interested in this subject. If she does want this she really needs to have Biology at A level and could still do French, (or English),Historyand Maths and this will give her a broader range of quality A levels.