A Level Choices and where to go next

[MolesaremadeofRolls]

DS, Y11, has just about settled on Maths, FM, Psychology and Music A Levels. Not terribly clear about where these might take him though. Practical skills and dexterity not a strength and definitely not interested in engineering so no qualms about not doing physics. Obviously could do Psychology, esp with offering Maths, but get the feeling that zillions of people do that and a tiny fraction must get jobs using it. Would definitely not be a performer using Music, but possibly interested in other aspects - again not sure practical skills up to Music Tech. Really enjoys Maths, but not super-stellar; something Financial Mathsy or Economics (realise you don't need it at A Level, but then how do know you want to do it at degree level, although also know degrees are much more maths orientated than the A Level) a possibility. Read about Actuarial Science; advice seems to suggest you need to be super-brilliant at Maths to get through that, so not sure that fits either.
Any ideas?

Maths and Music very popular combo. Social science based degrees/ data science / cyber security / AI in addition to the ones you mention might be good.

It might be worth exploring the economics / /business /finance areas with work experience. Some Unis have quite exciting stuff like mock trading rooms. Accountancy apprenticeships with degree?

Lots of different psychology courses but BPS accreditation is a must. It can lead to all sorts of areas not JUST psychology jobs.

Traditional areas like Law will be open to him too.

Does he have access to something like unifrog?

Dd wasn't sure what she wanted to do but knows it has to involve music in some way, so is doing a Musicology based degree. Lots of Humanities subjects can lead to graduate entry positions. The path doesn't necessarily have to be crystal clear !

No, agree, and hopefully things will crystallize over time. It would be good to have a goal though. He is did Computer Science at GCSE which he found straightforward but incredibly boring and is definitely not the sort to build his own computer at home, but maybe some of the Data Science areas might be of interest.

DS girlfriend is doing psychology degree with a view to doing some sort of music therapy as a career. Would something like that work?

It could be worth looking into a short programming type open course to see how he likes that kind of thing .

For current y13 there were lots of virtual work experiences you could see if any are still available? Lots of finance type ones

www.studentstream.co.uk/blog/virtual-work-experience-opportunities

DD started with psychology as a fourth A level in year 12 and found the workload very heavy. She said the subject was boring and unchallenging, and the sheer volume of work was such that she dropped it at the end of year 12. She improved the grades of her other subjects by being able to concentrate on three subjects.

Interesting @RampantIvy my DD is finding Psychology her easiest A level (predicted A star) and not work intensive at all (history by far takes up most of her time, and still only predicted a B). Art is her third A level (A). She finds it interesting as it's not something she has studied before and is so relatable. Not interested in doing it beyond A level though.
But I think you are right OP psychology seems to be a very popular degree choice these days.

Her psychology teacher said she was throwing away an A*, but she just didn't find it engaging enough. She achieved an A at AS level. I think the interesting stuff was covered in year 13.