Best a level combination

[Thingsthatgo]

DS is predicted all 9s at GCSE. His current plan is history at Oxford, then a law conversion, and ultimately training to become a barrister. He is also very interested in politics. I suspect he might love university a lot, and just stay forever.
He isn’t taking a language at GCSE (which I was disappointed about, but here we are). He chose philosophy, history and drama. He is also taking 3 sciences and stats as well as English and maths.
His preference for A level would be history, politics and law. But, from research Law is not an a level that is well respected. It also feels like a selection without much breadth. Same for History, politics and philosophy. He loves English lit, so that is an option. I have also suggested economics.
He loves humanities, but maths and science come easily to him so could be an option too.
What would be the best combination for Uni applications?

Thank you all for your thoughts. He is passionate about acting, and has a fab teacher. His Spanish teacher was dire and so it felt better to let him do what he loves.
Those poster who say that we won’t need barristers in the future, could you recommend some other careers for him to explore? He loves research, performance, debating, helping people. So far he has come up with Barrister, politics, or lecturer.

Librarian or Knowledge Management if they like research. I have had an excellent career in law librarianship and earned more than many lawyers and with advent of AI it is also about teaching how to use responsibly. There are PG courses and qualifiers get snapped up.

Maths probably best as the third as it shows a breadth of ability.

Law isn’t a great A level. History and politics are fine. Economics or English lit also good options if he can’t manage maths.

I am a senior commercial barrister and we absolutely do earn “enough” despite @Parteepooper’s rather surprising suggestion to the contrary. We are not expecting robots to gets right of audience in court any time soon, so the job will certainly see me out. My junior colleagues in Chambers are also busy and thriving.

OP, I wouldn’t recommend Law at A Level. There is plenty of law to be done later on if that is what he wants. But history & politics combined with pretty much anything else from what you suggest would set him up well. I did Maths, German, History and Economics at A Level followed by a PPE degree.

Best of luck to him. He should be aware that competition for pupillage is very intense indeed.

I think his suggestion of History, Politics and Law sounds absolutely fine.

I know he's planning on studying History at university, but you may find it useful to look at Law requirements too, if only to reassure yourself that Law is a perfectly respectable A-level subject...

Cambridge advise an essay subject like English or History, but do also list Law among other possible good choices:

https://www.ba.law.cam.ac.uk/applying/your-qualifications

They also list Law here (under 'Entry Requirements') as one of the subjects often studied at A-level before a Cambridge Law degree:

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/courses/law-ba-hons

If he loves Drama he should stick with it. Then he could add in subjects that work together - Politics, Classical Studies (or whatever it's called now), History, Economics for example all feed into each other conceptually and learning in one will support understanding in another. Taking 4 initially, to then drop one seems like a good idea.

Even better, can he do an international baccalaureate? Keeps options open and is academically rigourous across arts, sciences and humanities? Maybe this isn't an option without an MFL, so apologies if so.

My dd1 is doing Maths, History and Politics A Levels. In Year 11 she was thinking of doing a Maths degree. Then in Year 12 it became Law. Now in Year 13 she has decided on Politics. They are a very interesting subject combination IMHO.

This is the webpage where Cambs says what A levels to take for degrees that include law. Not sure that Oxford has similar? but it may be of interest anyway:

https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac.uk/apply/before/choosing-high-school-subjects

For subjects inc law and history, Cambs recommends two out of history, Eng lit, MFL and maths.

My DS took drama, maths and further maths A levels. An utterly crackers combination but it got him into the uni of his choice for the course of his choice. We joke that he’s probably the only person ever to take that combo.

Yes. It is getting better all the time and already gets more right than many junior associates.

This is definitely a dilemma.

We’ll need to train up some people to be the senior bods having human conversations, managing clients and bringing their particular experience. Hard to train them when the clients will expect us to use AI though. It will probably be an artificial, loss-making exercise as we will bolt them onto cases so that they they learn, and then write off the cost if clients don’t want to pay for it.

We certainly won’t need a hundred new people a year though.

My DS is currently applying for History at Cambridge.
he’s doing history, physics maths & further maths.

Your username is appropriate!!

Math, History, (poltiics or philosophy)

You might like to know that 50 18 year olds sat that combination of A levels in June 2026; so not common but a definite combo 😀

Maths, history and English lit give a well rounded combination. Politics or drama would be a good 4th if he can have one based on what he enjoys

Oh that’s interesting! Thanks for looking! 😄 It was the best A level combination for him (and 49 others!).

FWIW, yes, an IBDP would be possible in the OP’s son’s situation. He could do Spanish B or any other language that is offered ab initio by the school, depending on the school’s requirements.

History, Politics and Maths is a great combination. English Lit is also a good alternative to Maths but will be extremely heavy on the essay writing. Politics is well regarded.

Some universities like historians to have a language (still bitter 25 years later at being rejected by Warwick for my lack of MFL A level, despite being bilingual…).

Do you mean a language at Alevel or GCSE?

I am absolutely the biggest advocate for studying MFL but there honestly is no university that requires either A level or GCSE MFL for a history degree. Some (a lot) don’t even need history.

Yes MFL is on the Cambs list but so are maths and English lit. I’m sorry Warwick rejected you but it wouldn’t be an issue today. Unis would never fill spaces. In DD’s sixth form two out of 100+ students took an MFL.