Typical A levels for law

[Come]

Am I wrong in thinking that for law specifically that there's no need for any specific A-levels apart from one essay subject?

My mc interviews were 1 partner chat at linklaters, 2 partner chat at Allen & overy and 3 partner chat at slaughters! But that was in 1894. I did select trainees for a few years at the one I eventually went to though. I agree that the number of applications is vastly greater now but so many are just not the right people who aren’t really suited to the pace and type of work. I do think there is very much more more racial diversity In those selected @pivoinerose but I agree the same type of people get through, and the same type are successful and fly once in and the same type might get in but just can’t do it and drop out. The latter are often the ones who look great on paper (1sts at oxbridge etc) but just don’t have the common sense or commercial understanding or ability to work well with others that is needed.

Very good point about racial diversity. I was really just thinking about the spread of unis and how little they differ from the current spread. Gender is strikingly different and I had completely forgotten to think about racial diversity, shamefully - my own intake was very white.

My Scottish son got all five of his offers (including Oxford) with A level equivalents in politics, music and religious philosophy.

He also had AS level equivalents in English, chemistry, maths, and physics though.

Re - The Great Gatsby - I think it’s only on combined Lit/Lang English A Level at the moment.

Politics is an interesting A Level - History A Level has almost as much political content. History generally a very, very big syllabus

It’s on the OCR syllabus as part of American Literature. There can be a huge overlap with Histort as essay discuss the concept of the American Dream , the Great Depression etc My Antonia delves into the concept of immigration and racism in the US. The examiners comments pick up on some students writing a History essay rather than an English essay and the need to balance contextual information but producing an English Lit essay.

Surely this defines on exam board and syllabus chosen. DD had no overlaps at all between History and Politics.

Well yes of course TizerorFizz. A point I made in the original post.... and then subsequently (several times....).

I think that people are perfectly capable of looking at the Excel or AQA specification for Politics and comparing that with their schools specification for History and forming a view. The Politics syllabus is massive and covers lots of ground. It doesnt tend to linger on anyone topic but really flips through topics like the meaning of the executive, composition of the legislature and judicially and the overlaps/ old separation of powers issue. It then almost covers philosophy as it covers political thinkers - including I think Nihilism. There’s a chunk on lobbying and pressure groups etc.

The Politics A Level des not have a varying syllabus - it’s rigid and only 2 exam boards offer it.
AQA and Excel.

I actually think it’s a useful A Level to introduce some concepts of administration law etc.

Some pupils in a particular school must have been very unlucky or lucky ( depending on how you see it) to have had so much overlap that Poivoinerose described at the school where she was so heavily involved ( in what capacity no idea having seemingly also trained at Magic Circle as a solicitor). There was clearly no need for that as contrary to the Politics A Level course many boards

History syllabus offers so much diverse choice but it depends on the History teacher.

However back to the point I would advise people to follow their natural strengths with A Levels - I regret that my daughter did such diverse things such as Drama grading and then Chemistry A Level.
She was really good at English and Drama and was the school scholar for the latter ( where one of the schools ex scholars was in a well known film last year). I feel sorry for people attempting foreign languages when I know people who are mother tongued taking the same exam.

Learn by my mistakes and get your kid to do what they excel at. Someone I know is a surgeon with Art as his third A Level!

“ They are fine although the politics together with history is going to be weak/ potentially boring if the two specifications overlap, as they often do” pivoinerose

The surgery/ art connection is not in the slightest bit surprising. Are you aware of the work done by medical artists? Hardly surprising that someone with an interest in anatomy/ surgery might also be a talented artist.

You clearly aren't familiar with the financial juggling required by schools Noras, and therefore the various (often very difficult) choices which have to be made. This was minor in the scheme of things but for our SLT the choice was between discontinuing politics as a subject which would have been disadvantageous for the less academic students or finding a way to spread the existing teachers across both the history and the politics A level. History was extremely popular as a subject at our school with very large classes at A level so reducing some of the workload for teachers to encourage them to take on politics teaching was a tactical thing. The financial situation was utterly dire for our school just a few years ago: in fact we were one of the very lowest funded schools in the country (although managed to achieve some of the best results in the country thanks to exceptional leadership).

In terms of diverse choices I would encourage them not the opposite. I tend to leave my DC to their own devices and we've had some quite eclectic combos at A level but they've all done fine (so far). A lot of bright DC like to mix things up. DS1 is a doctor and included history in his choices - he just liked it. DS4 is a research scientist and included drama. DS3 is a detective and took physics and history and something else (but read History at Oxford then Cambridge and has never dabbled with physics since - again, he just enjoyed it). It's a good thing, not bad.

The main thing is to do the subjects that get you considered for the course you want. What makes you a strong candidate? Taking 3 A levels that are less good prep doesn’t make dc a strong candidate on a selective course. They will have to ace tests or hope others are less competitive. If dc are likely to want a non selective course, then it’s less important.

The A level guidance from Cambridge is clear. Politics and lots of other subjects are great as a third choice! DD submitted a Politics essay to Oxford back in the day. No one thinks it’s a back number as an A level but it’s best to look very closely as to what A levels are best prep and do two of those. Often the third is far more of a free choice. The best schools know this and advise accordingly.

Do you mean submitted as her written work for an Oxford MFL application TizerorFizz?

Various subjects are certainly seen as softer options. That isn't the same as saying that all those who opt for them are less capable - they may simply be enthusiastic about the subject. Not sure that you saying 'no-one thinks' makes that so! It's just a thing. Fair to say no-one thinks that further maths is a back number, or physics, or chemistry, or French (etc) but a bit of a stretch with certain other A levels. That's where the whole facilitating thing sprung from. It's been ditched because parents in particular got a bit over zealous about it and pushed less able DC into doing subjects they weren't really up to doing, thus crashing grades at some schools - but the same 'status' accorded to certain A levels and not to others still remains.

Quite a few of my friends did law at university, as I remember they all did English Lit and History A Levels. Third A Levels were a mix of academic subjects they were good at and / or interested in - quite a few languages, politics, sociology.

I'd say two essay subjects rather than one, demonstrating a good ability to research, write, analyse and construct a good argument.

@pivoinerose Yes. Back then she did. They wanted en essay.

She had her facilitating subjects. Thought she liked politics but didn’t like the course. I do believe the subjects listed by Cambridge are exactly the same but they say take 2. Then there’s a long list of other subjects that can be taken. Some surprising ones are on it. Politics certainly is, History of Art and Law are on it.