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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

What A levels to choose?

25 replies

Totallyfloaty35 · 20/07/2010 19:48

DD is in a flap,she is torn between 2 loves Art and Science.
She has no idea what she wants to do at Uni and is worried about ruining her chances of getting into a good one.
She is thinking of doing Art,Maths,Chemistry and Physics.However she is worried that if she wants to do Art she should have more Arty subjects. I keep telling her as long as her portfolio is decent she does not need to do any others.
Im more worried about her deciding Science is what she wants to do at Uni and not being able to because she is doing Photography or Textiles instead of Maths, which she is considering as she not mad keen on Maths even though she Top set.
Any thoughts please?

OP posts:

Fennel · 20/07/2010 20:06

Art, Maths, Chem and Physics would keep her options wide open for lots of university courses.

When I was choosing A levels I dithered between arts, humanities and sciences and went for mostly science and maths, on the basis that you can generally catch up with other thinsg later on - you can develop an interest in History, or learn another language, or take up photography. But it's much harder to go back to physics or maths later on. (I would never go back to them now, but they were useful A levels to have).

Haliborange · 20/07/2010 20:10

Lucky girl, having such a wide lot of interests.

Art, maths, chem and phys sounds really sensible to me.
They are not lightweight options, meaning that universities will take her seriously. As well as obvious sciencey degrees she could get into degrees that are useful for business (management science etc), and I really doubt she would be excluded from an art degree. Tbh I don't think there is tht much point in doing textiles or photography at A-levels since aren't they sort of subsets of art, and are they not things you might have access to on an art degree anyway?

Fennel · 20/07/2010 20:19

She could also do the social sciences with that mixture- psychology (psychology admissions people appreciate the hard sciences and maths)or sociology, or philosophy.

(I read philosophy and psychology with 2 maths, physics and French, and the A levels were seen as a plus for those, that hasn't changed much).

SuzieHomemaker · 20/07/2010 21:39

I would definitely nail on maths, it's useful whatever the other choices and adds an air of gravitas. If she wants to do science at university then she will need to have maths plus whichever science. I guess my feel for a broad base would be: maths, a science, art and a humanities. If she wants to study maths at university she will need to do maths and further maths otherwise further maths isnt necessary.

I was chatting about this recently with my DB as he is a physicist and was giving advice for my DD1. His view was that for a science degree having something in addition to (though not instead of) the usual suspects of maths and a science would give something to talk about in interview!

mnistooaddictive · 20/07/2010 22:15

I taught someone who did Art, Maths, Physics and DT. He was amazing at art and gotinto a prestigious foundation course. They were interested in his portfolio not the fact he was doing sciences. He is also the best mathematician I have ever taught - and I have taught some good ones!
She should do what she enjoys as that way she is more likely to work hard and succeed.
It is varied enough for science degrees so she should be fine.

sue52 · 20/07/2010 22:30

Has she considered architecture she has the right mix of A levels.

thelastresort · 21/07/2010 08:47

Photography or Textiles A levels will not be as acceptable (if at all for some courses) to a good university as Maths, if she is thinking of studying a science course of some kind.

Obviously they would be perfectly acceptable if she is going to go down the Art college route.

Architecture would be a good course which combines art/science but she will prob need all As at A level.

lazymumofteenagesons · 21/07/2010 11:03

If she switches from maths to either photography or textiles she will narrow her choices later on. It sounds a good combination. Some humanities courses do like an essay writing subject at A2 level, but otherwise she could do almost anything with those.

Remotew · 21/07/2010 11:07

Sounds like very good choices to me. Was chatting to an ex language teacher recently who said that sciences are important subject to study as you can always learn languages etc later on.

minipie · 21/07/2010 11:18

Her choices sound great.

I am not sure that art colleges will care that much about photography or textiles A levels (assuming she would be applying for an art course rather than photography or textiles) - they will focus on her Art portfolio.

Also, photography and textiles are things she could do in her spare time, perhaps, if she wants to develop a broader portfolio. Lots of local colleges run evening/weekend courses in photography.

If she decides to take a science or huumanities subject at university, then maths, physics and chemistry will stand her in much better stead than photography or textiles (which don't demonstrate academic ability in the same way IYSWIM)

wigglybeezer · 21/07/2010 11:38

Her choices sound good to me. I was in a similar position as your daughter, good at science and art, in fact i took three sciences at O-Grade as I wanted to be a vet, realised that i was going to struggle to get straight A grades for Higher and so switched to Art. I had to do scratch Higher art having not done O-grade and didn't get a brilliant mark but managed to get into a difficult to get into art school because my portfolio (after a lot of angst and hard work) was good enough.

Incidentally my feeling is that the English system should change to a broader exam base (like an IB), this is a problem that is rare in Scotland because we do 5 or 6 subjects at Higher grade. Somehow we manage to get into good universities etc. without having A-levels at all.

I would advise against doing textiles or photography as she will be likely to do those during her foundation year anyway.

Get her to draw every day in a sketch book though, there is no substitute for practice and it will enhance her portfolio.

slug · 21/07/2010 11:42

Stay with the maths. If nothing else, there was a bit of research done a few years ago that showed that people with A level maths earn't more than people without, irrespective of what career they were in.

Original poster

Totallyfloaty35 · 21/07/2010 12:02

Thanks everyone,after reading some of your answers she has decided to stick with the Math.
I do wish we had a broader exam base too Wiggly.She wanted to do French at A level as well but is not allowed as her subject choices are all very demanding according to her tutor.
I also think kids are pushed into choosing far too early, it seems like only yesterday that she was 8yrs old and wanted to be a Dolphin Trainer .
Now its Physics and Space studies , Costume and Theatre Design and a hundred other courses to research before she chooses the wrong A level to get in.

OP posts:

Haliborange · 21/07/2010 20:24

If she wants to do a broader mix is there any chance of her going somewhere that offers international baccalaureate? She'd be able to keep up maths, french and have more flexibility in her other subjects. Universities do take IB pretty serious these days.

Original poster

Totallyfloaty35 · 21/07/2010 21:24

I think its mostly offered in Private schools and we cant afford it,but she may spend a summer being an aupair in France which will do wonders for her and look quite good on her uni forms too?

OP posts:

Fennel · 21/07/2010 22:28

Our local 6th form college (state) offers the IB, it's very popular, a lot of the students do it.

circular · 22/07/2010 08:10

Sounds a bit like my DD1 . Except it's music vs science, and she is only in yr8.
It's a worry that two sciences or one science and maths may not be enough for a science degree choice. And Art/music without another supporting Arts/ humanities makes it harder to get into Art/music.

As she has started the dithering quite early on, she is taking the opportunity to go to a Saturday music school. That will hopefully either push her towards or put her off a music career before A level decisions need to be made. If it doesn't, we would seriously look at moving schools for the IB, as I can't see any other way of combining Chemistry, Music, Geography Maths and French.

I am also of the view though that in any A level mix, maths is one of the most versatile.

Again, a bit biased as I have maths A level, no degree and am a reasonably high earnier.

Musicteachingmum · 22/07/2010 09:21

Circular - music fits well with sciences!
That combination looks fine!
Music is a unique subject in that it involves elements of performance art, humanities and science!
With that combination she should be safe to get into music, where the audition is of much more importance anyway. I suppose the science would depend on what degree she wants to take - ie probably not enough science for a medical type degree, but others may be ok?

SuzieHomemaker · 22/07/2010 09:39

Music goes well with sciences especially Physics - Imperial offers a combined Physics & Music degree!

I agree that there is a lot of restriction at 16 - a maximum of 4 A levels does make it difficult to get a lot of breadth. The dificulty though is that to take maths/sciences to degree level then there needs to be depth as well.

Original poster

Totallyfloaty35 · 22/07/2010 10:09

Is there a degree that combines Art and Science? DD would be thrilled if we could find one.She loves chemistry so maybe she should study the Science of paint
DD2 will be having to choose options in a year so the panic and wailing will start all over again boo hoo.

OP posts:

titchy · 22/07/2010 10:30

Somethign around design construction - architecture-type courses. Would need to use both her creative side (is this building aesthetically attractive) and technical, maths and physics side (will it fall down in the wind).

wigglybeezer · 22/07/2010 11:29

There is quite a lot of work for illustrators who understand science concepts, DH used to earn his main income doing illustrations for American science magazines.
There is scope for chemistry in many applied arts, ceramics is an example, if you can come up with new glazes you are on to a winner.
Product design can be quite scientific, maths and science quals would definitely help on those courses.
My DH does computer animation now and uses his maths abilities all the time.
I think that a combination of art and science ability is going to be in increasing demand (hope so as my DS's look to be heading that way).
There are also textile innovation courses which are interesting (check out the Scottish School of Textiles and design, part of Heriot Watt University).

wigglybeezer · 22/07/2010 11:34

Also check out Glasgow school of art, it has a very well regarded design dept and has a product engineering course. My DB works at GSA promoting links between the design courses and industry, which helps with employment prospects for graduates.

hotspot · 22/07/2010 17:05

Many uni's want Maths for any science course and the more prestigious ones want Chemistry (it's the only science subject demanded for Medicine or Natural Sciences).

Art or DT are considered to be "traditional" and rigourous subjects by uni's but I am not so sure about photography or textiles. Be careful with those: some of the better uni's may not give them any weight and you may find they do not count. If Art is her chosen field, better to get work experience in an arty environment, aim for A in art and swap physics if necessary, for DT (which ties in with some science courses too).

At this stage,look at prospective uni's websites and check their admission criteria to see what courses need which A levels bearing in mind you have to enjoy studying those subjects not just for the next two years but the next five.

MrsJM · 22/07/2010 17:13

When it comes to appling to uni, they usually ask for something like:

For Art courses.
200 UCAS points
An A or B in Art A Level
and 3 other A Levels (Doesn't matter which ones)

For science courses.
200 UCAS points
An A or B in Chemistry, Biology or Physics
and 3 other A Levels (Doesn't matter which ones)

You can search what they looking for on the uni websites

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