Physics or French

[Greenpatch]

The decision may already have been made by now but DD who has just started Y12 announced last night she was thinking about switching from Physics to French, her other subjects are Maths, Further Maths, History and Latin(AS only, we said that it was up to her, but DH tried to dissuade her, I was more positive.

Thoughts anyone?

What does she want to do ? And why does she want to swap - is physics seeming too hard?

I'd say physics is a better A level to have than french as a general thing, but not if she isn't liking it

It depends on what she wants to do with it. Unless she needs physics to get a university place/job, I would have thought a language would be more useful. I am biased of course as I have A level French, and have had several occasions where being able to understand/speak some French has been very useful.

Doesn't like Physics, misses French. Thinks she may do Maths at Uni.

for Maths at uni, she needs to pick whichever subject she's going ot get the best grade in (as well as Maths and FM) as the good courses are now A*AA, or AAA plus STEP if you're lucky. I always thought Maths, FM and Physics was a pretty standard combination, but not these days it seems. Universities won't be fussed which other A levels she has as well as the Maths, they just want the grades.
HTH

(that's other A levels out of your list, btw, I suspect they might not be too impressed with a Media Studies A level in a Matsh application )

I'd say physics was the better course for her - she can always do french at nightschool if she misses it, and I'm sure physics a level can be a shock if she did combined sciences. Certainly all the sciences are a leap up

No point doing a subject if she dislikes it. Best to do what you're strongest at. My DS has started AS Physics this year and he's sticking with it but says its the hardest of his subjects - he's doing 3 sciences and maths.

I'd say it really depends what she likes and what she's good at. I did physics and French A levels, also Maths and Further Maths. The French and Maths have been the most useful, both in terms of university choices and in using in life since school.

Physics, hm, I was doing it to keep my options open rather than from a deep love of the subject, but if dd already knows she doesn't want to do Physics or Medicine or Engineering, it's not that vital.

If she's certain that she won't need physics for her degree choice then I would swap now before it's too late. I still regret not insisting on swapping when my school said to wait and see (and then telling me it was too late). French is a good academic subject which universities will like.

As I see it dropping physics rules out a degree in physical science or engineering but would still be OK for a maths degree. A language is always a good thing to have and I think compliments her non-maths subjects well too, so I'd say if she's sure she won't want to do physics/engineering then go for it.

Shrinkingviolet: Top univerities now looking for AAA and 2 in STEP (or A*AA and 1) for maths according to ds. (That's Warwick's standard offer for 2011 - but all the universities seem to have upped their grade requirements for maths to quite scary levels this year)

Another thought - it's quite early days to be set on maths... There's such a difference between GCSE maths and f. maths A level and degree level maths that she may well change her mind. I do know several children who've dropped out of f. maths after a couple of terms or so. Don't really know how that impacts things, but if it means she might change her mind to wanting to do something more physics/engineeringy instead then she should keep physics, but if she decides to do something more language/history based then swap!

Universities and employers will rate language skills over physics unless she is picking a course/job with a specific physics requirement. More importantly A levels are hard enough when you enjoy the courses and are interested in them so I would encourage her to go for French if that is what she would prefer unless there are strong educational/career reasons against it.

If there is not good reason not to - and there doesn't seem to be - then I'd let her choose French.

Those A level subjects are very good for the social sciences, philosophy, linguistics, psychology. All those subjects like a mix of science, humanities, maths.

Well what good, interesting and informative answers! Unfortunately the decision was taken from her because she had been told that French and Physics shared a column (so timetable wise it would be OK to switch) this turns out not to be the case, so she is stuck with Physics.

Got a good report back from her Physics teacher on Friday, not sure if it was a ploy to keep her or to keep her happy, but either way can't be a bad thing.

She had a real struggle choosing A levels as she is very much an 'across the board person' this isn't such a good thing in terms of A levels or University, although surely a good thing generally?

I was like that Greenpatch, with the same subjects too, I found it very hard to choose just 3 or 4 at A level. And I didn't really enjoy or settle into A levels at all. I think the Baccalaureate would have suited me, a much broader course, our local 6th form college offers this. But that's probably not an option for your dd now.

But as I said in my last post, there are broader subjects at university level which are a mixture of arts/sciences/languages, definitely worth your dd looking at these for university if she's "across the board" rather than got one obvious area of strength.

I think being an 'across the board ' person will be very helpful in her life. A true Renaissance person! She might find that as she goes through the year and next summer, her greatest interests crystallise, so that uni choices become a bit clearer.

Sandripples - let's hope so, she is very confused at the moment and has been for some time.

Fennel - which courses are a mixture?

Baccalaureate is done by a local school but she would have to attend on a Saturday when she does Drama, so ruled that out, also have a feeling it is quite coursework dependant so not good for her!

Being an across the board type of person is great for real-life jobs rather than (or as well as, if she does develop a passion for something specific) narrowly focused academic type pursuits. She might do well in business or management?

Courses which mix science and maths skills with humanities and arts or languages - the ones I put in my post below - psychology, philosophy, linguistics etc (those are all my subjects), also business and management as someone has posted. Also economics. Degrees in things such as Law and French.

Guess what? I did a degree in Social Sciences which was chiefly Psychology and Communication Studies (involved some Linguistics) all my teachers wanted me to do Business Studies which really didn't appeal. I really can't see her as the Business Studies type either, I would love her to do Law but realise that is because I always fancied being a barrister - the fact I would probably have been rubbish is neither here nor there...

Oh well, the only A level she has in common with me is History, so let's see!