Help please - what courses available A-levels: Biology, Chemistry & Maths

[AnnieK5]

Hello! First poster here and looking for some advice on what courses DD can study with the following A-levels:

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Maths

She’s finding making a decision on what to study so daunting and DD says the school isn’t really giving any guidance except for saying she is advised to study medicine. She’s considering this but would like to explore as many options as possible before making a commitment of choice.

She asked for my help a few weeks back but I am finding it a confusing mind-field (I didn’t go through the UK system myself ).

Would anyone please be so kind to list some courses DD could take with her A-levels apart from medicine? She’s very open-minded so anything goes.

Thank you so much!

This course was recommended at some point on another thread.
www.etrust.org.uk/insight-into-university
It's a 30-hour STEM uni taster course that they can work through over the summer term/holidays at end of year 12, to fit around other stuff. I'm hoping to persuade my DS to do it. He's doing the same A levels as your DD, but with economics too - he needs to choose which one to give up, as well as choosing a degree course to apply to. Natural sciences will be the default option if he doesn't have any firm conviction about what he wants to do - or possibly a Scottish university as you can be more flexible in subject choices in first year.

I fully admit I don’t come at this from the angle you might be looking for, but I’d encourage her to ask herself different questions, ie...
Does she want work that involve travel?
Does she enjoy being in a team?
Would she like to live rurally or in a city eventually, what makes her happy?
Does she mind long hours?
Would she like to work outdoors or indoors?
Are there other important things in her life (ie sport) that she wants to keep going with? Would that work?
Does she want to work in nature? With animals? With children? With sick people? For a charity? In environmental science? Etc etc
Does she enjoy research, or teaching, or lab work etc? Has she really though about being in these environments for her working days?
What sort of people would she like to work with? In what setting?
How long does she want to study for?
How important is money? Career? Progression? Ethical working? Academic recognition? Time off? Work life balance?

After that she could narrow it down, but it’s so so easy to lose sight of what makes us actually happy when there’s things we feel we should do because we have the ability to do them, especially if other people (ie school) are pushing in a certain direction.

My son is applying to do Geology, based on his love of science combined with a need to be outdoors whenever possible. It wasn’t obvious to me until he explained, but it suits him well.

I really don’t understand the assertion that clever young people do law because they are lemmings and cannot think for themselves. If someone was good enough to get to Oxford it seems odd they didn’t analyse what subject would make them happy at university or indeed work. My DD liked MFLs at 18. One fantastic aspect of law is that you can do a conversion course after any reasonably academic degree. So anyone can study a wealth of subjects for a first degree and then convert if they want to. No one should feel they must do law as an undergrad if it’s not really for them.

I think some doctors are pushed into it too. Family expectations definitely come into play. Some people who do medical courses actually seem to have problems relating to other people. Many of us will have met rather superior doctors down the years! Some degree and careers rank highly with schools and parents. Do highly that no one looks at the alternatives.

I’d love to know what university offers renewable energy degrees as mentioned earlier. With engineering - always do a broad degree (eg mechanical) and specialise later. Most engineering degrees require physics.

Sorry - it was Sustainable Energy Engineering. Who offers that?

Percy, but that is your daughter, and she is almost 30, so almost a generation away from teenagers currently deciding A levels.

Even if your daughter was ever typical, things have changed. I suspect it was always the case that some parents steered their children into professions, and is certainly true now. It certainly happens in medicine. It may happen in law. It does happen with STEM.

And there is a whole “she’s going to be a doctor” thing. I know DD was always cautious about sharing her ambitions with some people, both within the family and outside. Getting into medical school takes a fair amount of planning, and it is far too easy to focus on a goal of getting a place and forget to check that something that seemed like a good idea at 13, and which caused a momentum of family interest, it still something that appeals at 17, or indeed 25.

One sad tale from the London state school my friends DD attended. The DDs friend had narrowly missed her medical school offer, and was rejected. As a result she fearer she would be sent to her parents home country for an arranged marriage. Essentially the girl only had two options. Medicine, or marriage to someone on the other side of the world. (In the end apparently, she was allowed to resit and reapply, so got to stay in the UK.)

Geology

I don’t see what age has got to do with it! The thought process for DC now should be exactly the same! So stop having a pop @needmoresleep. It is tiresome. Plenty of us have older DC. That doesn’t mean we are complete idiots. I recall you don’t have a DC at school either now so why are you the fount of all wisdom for 17 year olds?

My advice is good. Take a look at what you are good at and do that as a first degree and convert to law if that’s what you want. Greater maturity can really help when making decisions and not regretting them. It can also be a route for medicine applicants too. No career should ever rule out later starters who are perhaps more suited to the job.

My DD stuck her finger up a patients bum yesterday and managed to dislodge the bung that was causing the pain. She describes what followed as tsunami of shit. And people think medicine is glamorous 😂.
Choose a subject that sounds interesting, not one that you think leads to riches and prestige.

The same can be said of vets! However you can dodge the tsunami by changing degree!

Why would you want to change degree ? Surely you'd know about the poo before going into it. Someone said medicine has some glamour to it - I was hoping to show it really doesn't. And my other DD is studying to be a vet so my 2 do try and outdo each other on their disgusting days.
So I'll add, do some research about any potential degree course to ensure you know what you're really letting yourself in file.

That was a tongue in cheek comment. Sorry my attempt at humour bypassed you! No of course no one changes a degree because of that. I agree with the lack of glamour! I agree with doing research.

@PresentingPercy apologies. Teach me to read quickly while shoving a cake down my mouth while marking.

Something like Geology. DH is a geologist and he waxes lyrical about maths and chemistry being useful. You by no means need to do A level geology. He says that's piddly easy.

Also psychology. For the same reasons plus the biology is helpful

My two DSs did these 3 A levels. One did medicine, the other started off with offers for pharmacy, then got better A level results than expected, and took a year for a re-think. Then did a masters in chemical engineering. He didn’t manage to get a placement year, or a great grad job after graduating with a 2:1, so did a year of a grad job in procurement. He is now very happy in a big 4 accounting company training to be a chartered accountant in audit.
So my points are
No 1, they’re great A level choices with a huge variety of options available.
No2, you don’t have to get the choice right first time, there are many choices available, and plenty of time.
No 3, taking a year out after school is sometimes a really good thing to do, especially if not quite sure of degree choice. It’s a lot of money! DS didn’t do anything glamorous or expensive with his year, he worked in a local supermarket, and learned a lot about life!

@Chilldonaldchill

Don't let her decide to study medicine unless her life's ambition is to be a doctor. I get very cross when I hear of schools advising students to study medicine "because they can".

And also because it impresses future parents.