Art A-level: does it hard uni applications for humanities?

[AnonymouseQuestion]

My child is choosing A-levels and wants to do History, RE and Art. Those are their favourite subjects and they are predicted strong GCSE grades in all 3. They likely want to do History or RE or Classics at uni. Will the Art A-level weaken their application to do History etc at a top uni? Would they be better doing English as the third A-level? They love English too but they really love Art.

Yes I agree with @ThatllBeTheDay that while you may gain time in the summer when art is finished, you will massively lose it earlier in year 13 when you are so so busy with the art work.

Art GCSE is IME a fairly commonly taken subject by students who love their art. But at A level it is (again IM[limited]E) really much more often taken by students who want to take art further. If that's not the case here it might be worth a reconsider. Can any staff take a stab at PGs for her proposed subjects? I know it's ludicrously early.

I still think Astar in art trumps B in Eng lit (I mean no one is disputing that!) but if Eng lit would also be Astar and Cambridge is the aim, it's worth thinking about. No one can say what will happen and all we can do is give examples from our own experience. I don't personally know any YP who took art A level who didn't at least plan to take it further post 18 (tho tbf some did end up going a different way). But that most certainly does not prove your DD cannot apply to and get into Cambridge with those A level choices. She could always contact the Cambs admissions team? They might be directly helpful.

(edited for typos)

OP just to add that DD also got offers from her other four UCAS choices which included Durham and St Andrews (she didn't apply to Edinburgh). So they were clearly ok with the combo too.

And agree with everyone else that Art can be an enormous amount of work. For my DD it took far more time and stress than her other subjects, and was the main reason she didn't continue with her 4th A-level in Maths, rather than the Maths A-level itself being hard (she picked up an A at AS Maths with minimal effort).

Art is a rigorous and well-respected A Level, involving research, essays and incredibly time consuming projects/final pieces.

I think your DD might be underestimating the time commitment of Art A level. Don’t forget that if she is aiming for Oxbridge (without a gap year), she will need to prepare for interview and admissions tests in the first term of year 13 while she is still in the midst of preparing her portfolio.

Something else I would consider is that English Lit, History and RE use similar skill sets. That makes life easier. I would also suggest that if she loves English Lit and is talented at History, there is good chance she will do well at English Lit. English Lit is recommended as an A level for humanities degrees because it develops skills that are relevant to the degree. As disappointing as it would be to not make the grade in English Lit, if your DD didn’t make her offer, perhaps she would struggle with the degree at Oxford. Her artistic and creative talents (ignoring the academic part of Art A level) have no relevance to doing well in a history degree. If she dropped a grade in Art and didn’t make her offer, would that feel worse to her than if she didn’t make the grade in a relevant subject IYSWIM?

I agree with clary that asking her teachers for advice on potential grades is a good idea and taking the subjects most likely to get her top grades.

Do you mean a stab at predicted GCSE grades? At parents evening they said she was on track for an 8 or 9 for all GCSE subjects but they didn’t commit between those numbers. Definitely her English, Art, History and Classics teachers were the most enthusiastic about her but that didn’t help her narrow down her choices much.

No sorry I meant a stab at A level grades. Bit ridiculous really, yes. But you could ask the art teacher if they thought she was capable of an A/A-star in art. I’m no art teacher but in my subject (MFL) I would be happy to give an indication at this stage of year 11 (with caveats around hard work and no guarantees) – if it helped the student.

My D1 graduated last year from Oxford, she did a History joint degree. Friends of hers at Oxford had Art as one of their A levels. Oxford's standard humanities offer is AAA, with History A level "highly recommended"

Art A level will be fine, but you have to be aware of the workload (my D2 is currently doing a BA in Illustration and did Art A level, it took most of her time) and be sure of getting an A as minimum.

She should consider a liberal arts degree - usually sits in arts departments and in some liberal arts degrees she could do English, art and history subjects if she wants to. Start by looking at liberal arts at Nottingham.