Is sociology, business & politics A level combo a bad idea?

[LatinSisters]

A mum from school yesterday was appalled that my DD is wanting to study sociology, business and politics at A levels, saying that none of them are academic and she won’t get a place at a ‘good’ uni. DD has no clue about a career or a degree. She’s not taking any of those subjects at gcse so it’s a risk but this mum wasn’t getting at that. DD is definitely more interested in humanities than sciences. She works very hard and is likely to get the following at GCSE
maths 7, English x2 at 7, 3 sciences at 6, history 6, PE 7, Food 7/8. (Total of 9 subjects at 6/7 type results).
She thinks she’ll really enjoy sociology and politics, and that business could be interesting. BUT are these a ‘bad’ combination?

Only that I'm not familiar with the A level. I am sure it's fine . I've done a very quick read and seems to be fine with universities, course depending A careers expert might have a more informed view than mine. The critical factor is that she's interested and that's worth more than anything else. Students do well in subjects they like, generally.
The Food and PE idea was just that those were good predicted grades. Again, if she likes them, she's likely to do well. That was all.

There's no 'course depending' about it!!

@Sharptonguedwoman is there such a thing as A level food?

Interesting about food tech for A level.

There is an A level in food and nutrition, but a quick search of schools local to me shows that no one offers it. Hmm wonder why not? some offer textiles which IME is less popular at GCSE.

Maybe students interested in food do a catering course post 16. Might that be of interest?

For me the issue with what the history teacher says re a low grade in history A level, is what kind of grade would she gain in politics? The skills used are similar. And at least she knows she likes history. I have often come across students (not saying this is your DD!) who, liking none of their GCSE options at all, have picked new subjects for A level - and had come a complete cropper bc they haven't liked them either. Of course if she does some research into what the A levels will involve - check the spec, look at a few past papers, look at the CGP guides - then that may well resolve any possible issues.

That's why for me PE (you haven't said what the issue with the sports it?) or food (if available!), which she likes, might be better options than three totally new subjects. That's all.

@Sharptonguedwoman agree with @Piggywaspushed, there is no issue with sociology A level for any university, course depending or not. Except that of course it won't help you get on to a course to study engineering, or maths, or French. But that point has already been made, and clearly if the OP's DD wanted to study maths at uni she would take it for A level.

You can do a B Tech. If it’s not where her heart lies though…, and depends if school or 6th form college probably.
Honestly, if your DD has chosen these subjects, have a good chat with careers and good luck to her. My DD did a couple of A levels and a B Tech. (6th form college)

There is a handy Ofqual tool that shows A level subject combinations (see link below). Of those 18 year olds who sat Sociology and Politics in 2024, their 3rd A level, in order of frequency, was History, then Psychology, then Eng Lit, then Business. The overall numbers are low but if your DD does her due diligence and checks out the syllabus and exam papers, then she goes into this wanting to engage, do well, and with realistic expectations.

analytics.ofqual.gov.uk/apps/Alevel/SubjectCombinations/

@LatinSisters I would steer clear of 3 new subjects too. Why would these be less work than studying new things in History or reading new books? Thats really not logical,

I actually do think History or Eng Lit should be in the mix. These are anchors for many uni subjects. Also @Piggywaspushed is not correct. Cambridge list your DDs subjects as “relevant”. Not preferred. Obviously I’m not suggesting she’s looking at Cambridge but what courses are you looking at? And where? I tend to think that looking at what subjects the best unis want (Eng Lit and History are top trumps along with maths and MFLs ) and accept that other subjects are more course specific is the best advice . Ideally do one of these then the other 2 won’t really matter.

Its also true lower ranking unis won’t care that much. Others say they don’t but might. Depends on what others offer. Business is vocational so maybe that’s something she might like at uni? Getting decent grades also matters so I would not overload on 3 new ones.

I teach Sociology A Level- politics and sociology are a great combination as the core modules have elements of social policy and it helps if students understand different ideologies/ policies introduced by different governments.

Other popular choices to go with Socio are psychology (as both do research methods), History, English Lit (supports with understanding of wider context/ depending on which books they cover may have strong links to feminism) or some students do it with a Business/ HSC/ Sport BTEC. Media is another popular one- again lots of links to perspectives and brilliant if the college does the Media option for Paper 2.

A levels are a significant jump from GCSE, so would prioritise subjects she genuinely enjoys and which suit her skill set.

Current Politics A-Level course is not 'easy'! Far too much focus on the process of government and far too little on the political philosophy. Unless students engage with the news all the time, they will struggle with the AO2 & AO3 requirements in relation to analysis and examples.
What about Soc. Pol. & RS as a combo? RS is very much a traditional academic subject and emphasises critical analysis through teaching of Philosophy, Ethics, and Theology (most schools do Christianity as the world religion, there can be some variance though).

DS did politics, sociology and geography A levels. He loved sociology and got into a Russell group uni with that combination. He liked politics as well - and they worked well together.

@TizerorFizz I would steer clear of 3 new subjects too. Why would these be less work than studying new things in History or reading new books? Thats really not logical,
She didn’t say less work. Her take is that the rationale that she’s already studying English & history is irrelevant as they become ‘new’ at A level given they’re different periods in history, and new texts. Similar skills are required for English, history, sociology, politics etc so whether they are new or not, seems unimportant. All are a step up from gcse so will have a new feel regardless. She’s already had taster lessons in Politics, Business and Psychol at her current school. Not sociology as they don’t offer it. She enjoyed them all. I think it’s worthwhile her looking at the CGP books as pp mentioned and perhaps asking if she can start with 4.
I’ve just looked at Birmingham Uni (I don’t think that is what you would call lower tier, is it?) - providing she gets great grades she can do BSc Economics! Plus lots of really interesting degrees around global development and social policy etc. She’s very interested in looking at societal issues, so there doesn’t seem to be a concrete reason for not doing her chosen subjects.

@Oblomov24 had your DS done those subjects at GCSE?

My daughter does sociology and loves it. In fact she is applying to do it at degree level.

Cambridge offer HSPS which is sociology, politics and social anthropology so not sure why people think it's not a good choice for a uni like that....

Tbf @LatinSisters she would need A star AA for econ at Birmingham and the fact that you get a lower offer if you take maths A level suggests that there is a lot of maths in it. I would not advise applying for econ without maths A level (I know (of) students who failed to get offers from unis such as Leeds with A stars and FM too). You may just be pulling an example out of the air and she has no intention of applying for econ, in which case fair enough.

Certainly her current choices would lead very well to degrees in areas such as social policy or politics (and variants of). If that's what she's interested in then all good. And your research all backs up what most people here are saying, that these subjects are perfectly acceptable to even higher ranking universities.

I work in FE Education and both my DC have been through the system.

I would say that the most important thing is that your DD enjoys whatever subject she is studying.

My sixth form offers a wide range of A levels some of which the majority of students would not have studied before. Most of our students enjoy and embrace the opportunity to study something completely new. And just because they enjoyed a subject at GCSE doesn't mean they will love it at A level.

I would say Sociology,Psychology and Politics would make a very good range of A levels which gives her a broad choice moving on to uni. Business is also popular at my sixth form and imo certainly wouldn't hold her back.

Assuming she isn't planning on apply for Oxbridge most unis would not have an issue with this mix

Yes, I was just looking at Birmingham out of interest (trying to find piggy’s DC’s degree that’s similar to Cambridge’s HSPS) when stumbled upon the econ. Just highlighted to me that DD subject choices are actually fine and it all depends on the grades. Yes A*AA is highly unlikely. Just proves what a few of you are saying is absolutely correct. So thank you very much!

The degree is PPE at Birmingham. Policy, politics, economics.

York offer social and political sciences which might suit.

This tells you what you need to know:

successatschool.org/advice/subjects/what-are-facilitating-subjects/204

The RG hasn't used 'facilitating subjects' as a guide for many years, so that link is immediately outdated.

Dn is at Oxford. She did English language, sociology and drama. The only thing that matters for most subjects is that you get higher grades to access the offer

I’d just like to say a huge thanks to everyone for making this such a helpful discussion. She’s still plenty of time to think things through but it’s been very reassuring. I think what makes it difficult (and also quite fabulous) is that there are so so many choices.

lol - ok - the OP didn’t need to know that then!

@HeavyMetalMaiden They don’t call
them that now but the elite unis look for “best A level subject combinations.” and taking 2 of the recommended subjects works well. So for social sciences this is maths, Eng lit, History, MFLs, Add in Economics. Politics, Sociology, Law etc. It’s terminology not advice that’s changed.

@LatinSisters Economics at Birmingham is not possible without economics or maths I would suggest. It’s very competitive. Maths falls into recommended subjects for economics at most unis.m, even if they don’t spell it out. So saying these A levels qualify for economics is a stretch. But might at a low tariff uni. Or look at business degrees. Without certain subjects, it’s far more difficult to make a good application for hugely competitive courses. Agree that Birmingham is great. If DD doesn’t get 8/9 in any subject A start might be hard at A level. I think your DD is wrong about history. Even if it’s different if is a valuable subject.Most DC study a different era.

@TizerorFizz well according to Birmingham’s own website you are incorrect, it IS possible to study economics without A levels in economics or maths. In fact nowhere asks for economics. Surprisingly at Birmingham, the minimum required is Gcse grade 7 maths - need to have A*AA at A levels (or AAA if have maths at A level, so obviously a preference but not essential). There’s no reason why a candidate can’t have Business, Sociology & politics A levels with the grade 7 gcse maths. So the combination stands. It’s the grades that matter. She doesn’t want to do an economics degree but the point of my post is about the subject combination.

Also where does it say on ANY university entry requirement (bar Cambridge) that they look for “best A level subject combinations.” and taking 2 of the recommended subjects works well? Please link as I can’t find anywhere that says this and this is exactly what the mum was insisting upon and the original point of my post. If it’s only Cambridge then that is fine. She’ll not be going to Cambridge. But are other universities saying this? If so, where?

I’d be more concerned about her wanting to study three a levels in subjects she’s never studied before. Bad idea