A level choices for Oxford

[Hercules12]

Hi. Need some advice from experienced people about A level choices for Oxford. Dd is predicted all 9s for GCSE and at a recent parents evening we were told she should get A*s in A levels.
This is out of our experience and dd is struggling to see herself as worthy of somewhere like Oxford.
She would like to take Psychology, Philosophy and French at A level. She's thinking about Law as a degree of Psychology then conversion.
My question isn't so much about law requirements but more about whether these A levels choice are the wisest especially as she could do more academic ones but still do well.
Her school says it doesn't matter what the subjects are but how she does. Is this true?
Thanks!

I think (have no expertise so my opinion probably doesn’t count for anything) that most Oxbridge applicants will be able to demonstrate stellar gcse grades and a level predicted grades and therefore to have these A* predictions in less academic subjects (philosophy) would perhaps put her at a disadvantage to those who had the same prediction in a subject like history or English lit

If she's thinking about a Psychology degree she really should do Maths A level. That's not just for Oxbridge - but Psychology at most RG places is really competitive, and there's a fair amount of Maths in the subject.

She shouldn't take the word of the school - lots of subject do have very specific A level subject requirement. Check uni websites for the definitive answer.

All psychology degrees want at least one science at A level. Psychology and maths count as sciences.

For law probably French History English would work well. I don't think Psychology would necessarily be best one. It's apparently very scientific.

She needs at least 1 science or maths. As pp have said psychology counts as a science.

For Law it can be any subject but should include an essay subject. Oxford do a course with a year in Europe for which a language is needed.

Not to dampen things , but isn't it a bit odd school is predicting both GCSEs AND A’levels at the same time? What’s the rush? She hasn’t even sat her GCSES yet. Why not wait for them to at least start A’levels before predicting her final results?

Is it a state school? Apply for the schemes at oxford like summer school after GCSE. She can then talk directly with oxford
www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/increasing-access/programmes-for-students?wssl=1

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/increasing-access#

www.pathways.ox.ac.uk

That advise from the school is terrible and unfortunately far too common among those not used to further education. Link below to one of the Oxford Psychology degrees, you'll see it stipulates a science/maths (including psychology) as a required subject. A friend of mine did a degree in psychology and there is a lot of statistics. Maths would be a recommendation from me. Second link is for a law degree (they want as essay subject). If your child wants to study a particular subject at uni, they should do their homework and find out which subjects are being required at a-level at their choice of universities.

As an aside, don't believe school target/predicted grades. It is educated guess work at best and utter drivel at worst. If your child has a subject/university in mind then a perusal of their website will give an idea of what she needs.

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/psychology-experimental

www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/courses-listing/law-jurisprudence

My DD's friend received an offer from Oxford this week for psychology with A levels in maths, biology and psychology. Another friend has offers from Durham, Exeter and Warwick with A levels in psychology, maths and Spanish. If she is seriously considering law, make sure she includes an essay based subject such as philosophy as well as maths and pyschology. Straight grade 9s and A*s are no guarantee of success as the application process is brutal. Two friends were unsuccessful with 10 x grade 9s and top grades predicted for their A levels, one before interview and another after.

I did psychology degree with A levels in English, French and history. I just found a course that offered BA as well as BSC in psychology. There is nowhere near enough maths that you can't manage without maths A level. A bit of statistics is all.

Is Oxford the best place for psychology though? Wasn't anywhere near top in my day.

Incidentally the BA course was identical to the BSc at my uni (Manchester). Literally identical. Only difference was the retake protocol which favoured BSc candidates as they got 2 retake opportunities whereas BA only got one.

Doing a language for law at Oxford is certainly not compulsory. I did one up to the equivalent of AS level but didn't for A level. If she did want to do the law with law studies in Europe course, she could apply for either the French option or the one taught through English in the Netherlands - but the vast, vast majority do a three year law course with no year abroad and no language requirement. I know people who did sciences for A level and went on to do law, so it's actually much more flexible than you might expect in terms of prior subject choices.

I agree that if she wants to do Psychology then she should do maths. At Oxford, there's both Experimental Psychology and PPL, where you take two of Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics. I think Philosophy, French and Maths would be a good combination for either law or psychology at university.

If she's from a school without a strong track record of sending pupils to Oxbridge then subjects matter less than her performance, as it will all be looked at contextually. If that's the case, she should also definitely look at UNIQ and the Sutton Trust. The Oxford SU also runs a programme called Target Schools where there is shadowing of an Oxford student for the day available. The Social Mobility Foundation does a personal statement checking/feedback service for the application stage too. She should also consider which colleges to apply to: St John's, Mansfield, Wadham, and Hertford have high % of state school pupils and a lot of financial support available. Not all of them offer psychology courses (or at least Hertford doesn't), though all do law.

I agree with her investigating the UNIQ programme in year 12. My DD applied and was forunate enough to get a place. It was a fantastic opportunity and it gave her so much insight into the application process.

@FainaSnowChild Oxford is top for psych.

www.thecompleteuniversityguide.co.uk/league-tables/rankings/psychology

Would she consider doing maths for Psychology? I would certainly take Biology if she can. Then a third essay subject.

Hi lordchipmunk
Yes I have taken a look at rankings. Not as many BA courses as imy day either. Shame, as I am an excellent psychologist

Don't know whether this is true everywhere but the BA psychology courses may not all come with BPS accreditation, so it would be worth checking that out.