soft a levels

[ijustwanttobeme]

hi,

DD (16) has career leanings towards teaching (secondary & PE), the police service, some form of physiotherapy or child psycholgist

The A levels she is drawn towards are: PE, Biolgy, Pschology and Sociology.

She was happy with these, but now is worried that unis will consider them too soft (except biology of course).

Is she right, or given the direction she hopes to go, do they go well together iykwim?

All advice welcome.

psychologist..and biology...and psychology

obv English GCSE should have been my option!!

It really depends on where she would want to go to University.

PE (I assume it is Pe and not Sports Science), Psychology and Sociology can be considered as soft options.

This is what we use to advise students aiming for Russell Group unis or very competitive courses.

Has she had a look to see what the entry requirement to university would be for those things? Especially regarding whether psychology degrees like people to have psychology A level - some places don't.

I've had to give quite a lot of A level choices advice recently and would say that she could do with swapping one of them for a more solid A level. Biology and PE are the two best out of her choices, so she might want to swap one of the others.

Also, she might want to have a look at what it takes to become a psychologist - it's a serious slog. My best friend has just done a four year degree and a masters in psychology. She now has to get a huge amount of work experience to be able to apply for a place on a clinical course. It takes a good 7 years post A level. It's worth being prepared in advance, as I've met plenty of students who've applied for a psychology degree assuming that that was all that was necessary.

HTH

I can second that about the slog involved in becoming a psychologist. I work in a university and am involved with admissions for a postgraduate course in psychology. Getting onto a clinical psychology doctorate is not much easier than winning the lottery! Can't speak for educational, sports or health psycholology but qualifying as a forensic psychologist is a nightmare.

Oh, should have added that judging by the applications I see you can get onto a psychology degree in the UK with a very wide range of A level subjects. Psychology A level not essential. Check a few websites to see what individual departments say, though - the students I'm seeing started their degrees several years ago now.

As far as I know, educational psychology is as difficult to get into as clinical psychology.

As with others, I'd say that she needs to choose her A-levels based on what will best help her to get into the degree/career path she's chosen.

If in doubt, I'd suggest going for more 'traditional' a-levels (as per the trinity college A list subjects) over anything else. For example, someone applying for law will probably find that universities would rather see English lit, foreign languages, history, etc, rather than a-level law.

Similarly, psychology courses might prefer candidates with maths a-level (as stats make up a significant portion of the course) over a-level psychology.

There was a lot of coverage back in August of a supposed "banned" list of A levels, and it may be this is something your daughter has heard. Cambridge and LSE both have a list of A levels they'd prefer students not to have more than one from - PE is indeed one of these. I don't think either Sociology or Psychology is mentioned, but it is a sad truth that some do regard these as softer options - unjustly IMO - and it might not be a great idea to do more than one if she is aiming high. By contrast Biology is, I recently heard from someone who works at UCAS, the most frequently specified A level for HE courses (beating both Chemistry and Maths, to my surprise). I would second the advice that she look at the requirements of universities before she chooses. If she wants to be a teacher, she needs at least one National Curriculum subject at A level.

Usually sciences are best done in pairs, so I'd suggest Biology together with Chemistry as the two will complement each other. Then, one other. Maths would probably be a good option, if her Maths skills are up to it, otherwise something traditional from the Languages or Humanities.

As I understand it, law courses actually prefer that students don't take A level law; similarly with psychology.

I would think biology and sociology are more heavyweight A levels. Sociology is a good base for studying social sciences later (unlike Politics) and is quite strenuously essay-based.

Biology is one of the high status 'difficult' courses for all unis. Psychology and Sociology are middling - Cambridge describes them as 'of more limited suitability', whilst PE is only suitable 'as a fourth A level' according to Cambridge!
So, it will depend which university and which course she is aiming for.
The top Russell Group universities seem to have similar points of view about the subjects.

However, PE might be OK for Physiotherapy. This is what Nottingham University says:
PHYSIOTHERAPY BScHons
Required subjects: four subjects at AS level, three continuing on to A2 level, to include a biological science or physical education (not general studies); a minimum of six GCSEs at A/B grade, taken at one sitting, to include maths, English language, and biology/ double science.

They do expect a minimum of ABB grades though at A level.

If she is interested in teaching she must study a subject she loves.

I am not sure that it matters at all for the police force, she would just need to be very fit and able to cope emotionally and physically with the job to get through the selection process.

It is important to do research about future uni course or career requirements before choosing A level options.