A Levels, Sciences and Language?

[PetiteMarseillaise]

I've started fretting thinking early as DD has been discussing this. She's only yr 10 so we have a bit of time, but I'm a planner!

DD is a very strong student, school will let them all start 4 A levels, possibly drop one later on if they can't manage. Most finish 4 A levels I believe.

She loves loves loves German and is doing the GCSE (along with French), taking triple science, loves maths as well. Has NO IDEA what she wants to do at uni (so I don't even know what kind of courses to point her towards, to look at course requirements.)

Would it be silly to do Maths, German and 2 sciences? She doesn't know which ones.

I kind of think a language would be interesting (year abroad? But does that happen with science degrees?) and useful maybe?

Would it keep her options open or should she stick with Maths and all 3 sciences? (I'm following the other A level thread with interest too - Maths, FM, 2 x sciences.)

Yes, it can be available for science degrees. My DD's friend did Mechanical Engineering MEng with a year abroad in France. His French had to be assessed as good enough to go, and he only had GCSE in the first instance, but took extra classes at University. He was placed in a Grande Ecole in France which was very prestigious. It replaced the third year in the UK.

I think two sciences and maths keeps options open and if she likes German, there is no need to drop it. Some science degrees are perfectly Ok with Maths, Further Maths, and one Science. This could also leave the door open for German. I would have a look round and see what is available at universities. Engineering is a particularly good career with a language.

Have you got any 6th forms near you that offer the IB? Ideal for polymaths :-)
They do 6 subjects plus a Core. They all do home language, 2nd language, maths, a science, a 'humanity' then either an art or another language/science/humanity. Any 3 are Higher level, the other 3 Standard.

It's almost like doing 3 A levels, 3 AS levels, the EPQ and DofE (without the walking)!

Maths, German and two sciences sounds like a great combination and offers plenty of choices further down the line. The choice of the sciences is usually between Physics and Biology with Chemistry being common to both so she'd need to pick either Phys or Bio. (Phys AND bio could also be chosen but tends to be for more niche courses.)

No, sixth form IB not an option.

Thanks for the input, will try to encourage her to look at some engineering courses.

Trouble is, at this age DD and many of her friends don't know with certainty "what they want to do in life" - absolutely normal I think! But then there are schoolmates who say they want to be X Y or Z which have corresponding uni courses, so DD feels simultaneously lost and pressured to know

As someone who did 3 sciences and maths in the days when 3 a'levels was typical, I'd say do it if she has the aptitude. German, maths, chemistry + one more science sounds excellent. I've spent far too long trying to read french/german/italian/spanish/belgian menus while traveling with work!

I think that doing all sciences and maths does shut out options. But, many people enter higher paid jobs just because they have the ability very to speak another language. If she's doing well, I don't think that this would be a bad idea!

You never know, she might have more of an idea in a years time!

Work backwards if you can. Can you order her some different uni prospectuses and let her read through them and see if something appeals? There’s so much stuff at uni apart from the main school subjects that they don’t know half the stuff exists.

My DH did maths, physics and French. He went on to study maths at uni and work in finance, but he's still fluent in French.

DD and I found this useful, and indicates good suggestions to keep things open

russellgroup.ac.uk/for-students/school-and-college-in-the-uk/subject-choices-at-school-and-college/

DD did drop her language after the first year, when she's was sure she wanted to do science and didn't want to have 4 target grades from the universities!

German is an excellent combination with sciences plenty of science research jobs in Switzerland and Germany and with horizon 2020 funding and other eu streams and collaborations threatened with Brexit I think your dd would be making a very wise decision.

That's an excellent combination. Languages are increasingly rare. I did something very similar for my A Levels and it's served me well.

Thanks for the link @midgebabe, and also @MrsJoshDun for Uni prospectus suggestion - I'm filling in forms as we speak.

I know I'm being somewhat pre-emptive, but it's my method of handling change and stress. I know DD has another year to mull this over, and even then presumably she'll only really confirm her A level choices once she has her GCSE results.

She'll choose subjects that she enjoys (even though she had issues with her language teacher, I'm hoping that won't put her off).

A family member did this. He did Electronic engineering at a top science uni and now has a senior position in automotive - uses his German quite a lot as well and travels there on business.
He did find the degree maths content quite tough without further maths at A level but I don't think he would change what he did as he too loves the language.

Not RTFT so apologies if somebody has posted this already

university.which.co.uk/a-level-explorer

you can plug your a level subjects in here and see what degrees are possible with it.

German is massively helpful for STEM subjects for so many reasons. After English the most math and science related studies and papers etc are in published in German. The German economy is huge, bigger than all the Spanish speaking nations combined. They are world leaders in sophisticated manufacturing, chemical engineering and many other sciences. More people in Europe speak German as their first language than English. To attend university in Germany from BA to Ph d. etc is free, and many are taught in English. ETH Zurich is the top technology/science uni in mainland Europe, equivalent to MIT and Imperial except it is FREE.

I could go on...

That Which? search facility seems a bit peculiar. I just plugged in DD1's subject choices (Maths, Further Maths, Physics and German). It's top suggestion is Chemistry and neither Maths nor Physics make their recommended top eight .

Anyway - as you can see, we've decided that sciences plus a language is perfectly ok, particularly if the student loves both.

My younger daughter did Maths, Physics, French and Music (dropping Music after AS). She had always been set on doing pure Physics at university, and these subjects were no obstacle to that (apart from not having Further Maths, which would have been an advantage for her in Year 1 at uni). She was able to extend her French at uni by taking a module in French for two of the three years, and spending the summer in France prior to starting her MSc.

However, if your daughter is not yet certain, I'd suggest that Maths, Physics, Chemistry and German would give her an excellent range of options at degree level.

My DS is doing Maths, Further Maths, plus two MFLs. I think it's an excellent choice.