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?

It really is best to go what you love and/or are good at. Some of DCs contemporaries were persuaded to do sciences and not that happy or successful.

Oxford didn’t interview DC, despite great UCAS and predicteds. He got 4 offers and chose London over Durham as access to all the stuff he loves - cinema etc. - was what he wanted. We did like Durham though and definitely really good courses.

Entrants to sociology or sociology and politics degree seem to have a wide range of A levels according to university degree pages like the Bristol one.
https://www.bristol.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/2025/politics-international-relations/bsc-politics-and-sociology/
There will be quite a lot of ‘wordy’ potentially tedious material to assimilate for any of the social sciences so she does need to be prepared for that.
I like the idea of somebody interested in sociology having some background knowledge in business. Not just because of its utility for implementation of policies but also as a counterpoint to idealism for understanding different viewpoints. If she can cope with also doing core maths, even better.

They're absolutely fine. My DD did two of her three A levels in subjects she'd never done before - politics and economics. She did brilliantly and is now as a top RG doing the course she's wanted to do for the last 4 years. My son has gone down a similar route and is enjoying college much more than he ever enjoyed school. Lots of the GCSE curriculum is boring and there's limited scope to do what really interests you. This is where kids really benefit from going to an A level college. There's so much more choice and much better career/progression advice.

Annoyingly her preferred school doesn’t offer core maths as they start with 4 subjects/EPQ. The current school offers it but not sociology. A shame as core maths would be perfect addition.

A bit off topic but just to say Bristol and other places do a "Liberal Arts" degree which I thinks is really useful if you don't have a subject that you really want to focus on and why should you at 18?. It's a bit more like the American system where you don't chose a "major " for the first couple of years i guess. Early specialisation isn't right for all kids and I think at Bristol there is a year abroad too.

@Emyj15 What might matter for those unis is the other two subjects. No uni looks at 1 A level,

Humanities degree.

I think DD will do a humanities degree @Underlig. Out of interest I spent a lot of yesterday looking at RG universities (others available 🤣) & degrees like law, international relations, global development etc. and although high grades required, the majority don’t ask for particular subjects. In fact very very few ask for specific subjects. This discussion has been incredibly helpful. She’s plenty of time to decide but there’s no reason for me to listen to the mum & put her off her choices. Thank you everyone!

Ds did his A Levels this year - he did Sociology, Criminology (which is a mixture of Sociology/Law/Psychology) and Business. He's a deep thinker/philospher type who writes very well, so if you dd is the same I think she'd enjoy the subjects she's chosen.

His favourite subject was Sociology! He was a 6/7 achiever at GCSE (one 8), mainly due to incredibly slow processing (despite having extra time, he never completes exams). He got BBC in his A Levels, with the same issues. He loved History but didn't choose it because of the NEA (despite his issues with exams, he hates huge pieces of work and already had controlled assessments in Criminology).

In year 12 he was in trouble for something and had to sit in the head of year's Politics lessons and found them really interesting!

I think it's most important, especially for a 6/7 ability young person, to choose subjects they'll enjoy and so hopefully do well in.

Sorry @LatinSisters a little late to this thread but just wanted to say it absolutely is possible to make a career out of food/food/science/food tech if that is something your DD really enjoys. My goddaughter got interested at GCSE, did A level, did a degree, did a PhD. Now lives abroad and works for a well-known Scandinavian drinks company.

Re. English Lit, that looks like a really varied and interesting list, I think. Definitely worth considering. If you're within easy reach of London, a new version of The Duchess of Malfi opens this week starring Jodie Whittaker as the duchess. On until mid-December, I think.

Oooh, does it?

I love that play. Struggling to imagine Jodie W in the main role, though.

@Piggywaspushed It’s a contemporary adaptation. She’s very capable of that!

I’ve seen it advertised! It’s simply called ‘The Duchess’ so I hadn’t linked the two at all. Thank you for highlighting this.

I don’t think she’d enjoy food much beyond what’s she doing for GCSE but working at a Scandinavian drinks company sounds very different! Good luck to her!

Have you seen it @TizerorFizz

I did history politics and sociology. They were a great combination and have a rewarding job in education after going to the 11th best university in the country. Unless she has a specific career in mind I would go for it!

My friends who did sociology degrees are now international buyers for Tesco, head of social services in the local area. So not a subject that would hinder professionalism.

@LatinSisters No. I think DD will. My own theatre critic!

@lovemetomybones The OP says Business, Politics and Sociology. No History. That is the debate. I think History should replace Business but DC isn’t very high achieving so History was jettisoned. History keeps more doors open as you found. Sociology from a low tariff uni can be limiting in today’s grad market, although not necessarily as ambition and work skills can count for a lot.

Sociology is a great option! And opens doors to many options as I said earlier I know very successful people who did sociology degrees.