A-level choices - soft options vs hard options...

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DD is choosing her A-levels and is hoping to study law at university.

She’s thinking of English (language & lit), Geography and classical civilisations. Would these work well together and would the latter be too much of a ‘soft’ option? She doesn’t want to do sciences, maths or history....

Oooops wrong topic! Will get moved to education

Hi, we're moving this thread over to our Secondary Education topic for the OP.

Sound good to me! Some will say she'd be better doing straight Lit rather than Lang/Lit but I doubt it makes a difference.

Don't agree Classical Civ regarded as soft either.

I don’t believe there is such a thing as “soft” and “hard” options, they all have their own difficulties.
The main thing is;

1. Will your DD enjoy the subjects?
2. Will the subjects allow your DD to go onto what she wants to do?
3. Is she aware, and ok about, that combination of subjects will close the doors on certain university options?

Other than making sure those 3 things are a yes and nothing about it will bother her than it’s a good combination and I see nothing wrong with it.

There are no soft options at A Level! Your DC's options sound fine. Have you checked university entry criteria so see if any specify preferred subjects for Law?

This sounds sensible

www.allaboutlaw.co.uk/law-courses/llb/law-degree-entry-requirements

If classical civilisations is similar to the old classics I think it should be ok. But if going for the top courses you need to look at what subjects they actually require or offer on in practice.

Thanks all, I really appreciate the replies. Is classical civilisations regarded as a facilitating subject?

She enjoys and is good at the humanities, English and drama. I’d like her to take a language but she’s not keen.

There’s no such thing as a facilitating subject any more. They were got rid of last year.

Facilitating subjects was a description of which A levels are generally seen as more 'academic' (ie traditionally so) and which tend to keep your options open for many courses.

It's been formally abandoned, but the underlying principle hasn't gone away. As English and geography both counted as facilitating, then I don't think you need to worry about what the 3rd A level is. I'd Class Civ interests her more than history, go for it. There is a lot to be said for older teens studying what they want (providing it does not close off avenues towards what they want next), as their wellbeing matters

Grades matter for Law; AAA for the better regarded courses, A* s for Oxbridge. If she is able to get top flight grades in the traditional subjects English lit, maths, history, mfl then she should do so.

If, however, these are the subjects that the school historically teach well and they work to her strengths, giving her the most realistic chance of AAA and a place at Leeds, Manchester, Bristol etc then she should go for these subjects.

Facilitating subjects was a description of which A levels are generally seen as more 'academic' (ie traditionally so) and which tend to keep your options open for many courses.

No, that really isn't what they were at all, hence why the RG got rid of the idea.

They were simply ones that were needed to do certain degrees, eg to do a French degree you needed French A level, hence French was 'facilitating'. Whereas Economics, just as rigorous academically, isn't needed for an Economics degree, hence not in the facilitating list.

Cambridge university still list their preferred subjects. Kings College Cambridge list the subjects that keep options open. So the idea of listing subjects that give greater flexibility has not gone away. Few universities state any preferred subject for law, but an essay subject works well for many. I think English Literature is better than Language-Literature and only Literature is on the Kings list. So I would swap to that and the other two for best prep for this degree.

I forgot: as she’s not doing History which is very good for a law degree, I would definitely go with English Lit.

We found this link really helpful when DD was selecting her A levels (now in Yr12).
www.theuniguide.co.uk/a-level-explorer/classical-civilisation/english-language-and-literature/geography?o=201
You enter the subjects and it suggests courses you can do with those subjects. It's not fail proof, you still need to check the indivual unis website to check but it's a good start

That process would almost certainly come up with Law because Law rarely has any subject requirement. The best courses will be competitive though and Bristol requires AAA or AA*B because it’s one of the leading universities for Law in the country. AAA might not be enough for there. Bristol also requires LNAT. It’s a notch above Leeds and Manchester for Law.

Class Civ is a mixture of Literature and History. Has your DD looked at the spec? It's very heavy on the classic texts and plays and suits someone who is good at History and Eng Lit. DD is doing all three, and the workload and coursework is pretty intense.

Excellent prep for Law then!

Thanks so much everyone. That website is great, dd has been playing around with combinations! Funnily enough if you swap Lang & lit for just English literature then law comes up as a result.

Username I'm not surprised about that. As others have commented, English Literature is the most highly regarded of the three English A levels. (English teacher here). Lang/Lit is viewed as the worst.

Apparently a high proportion of Law undergrads took Drama A level.

Drama goes very well with English Lit. Lots of Law grads take History too. Having said that, lots of lawyers are History grads! English lit is a better choice than Lang/Lit for Law but I’m surprised the web site differentiates.

Regarding Classical Civilisation. It isn’t facilitating. (Yes-I know this has officially been dropped). This is because it’s rarely specified as being “useful”for any course, other than maybe Classical Civilisation. That doesn’t mean it’s not academic or worthwhile. It doesn’t mean it doesn’t complement other subjects. The subjects listed by Kings Cambridge are Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths, FM, English Lit, History, Geography and MFLs. There are lots of subjects not on this list and no one would say Economics, Politics, Psychology and Computer Science are not worthwhile and complement the subjects listed by Kings. So a combination is always better from the Kings list and other subjects based on what a DC is good at and the best subjects for the course they want and where they want to do it.

Classical civ is similar to Ancient History (but more interesting imo)

Thank you so much, so much great info and advice .

So DD has spent the day doing taster lessons and thinks she’d like to do English lit, politics and classical civilisations.... These are the subjects she’d get the best grades in for sure but she wants to drop geography which is a facilitating subject!!!

Apparently a high proportion of Law undergrads took Drama A level

As a lawyer I am astonished at this. Yes I agree that drama gives you skills that are useful for law since we have to be confident and we do a lot of public speaking, but law remains a conservative profession and one that wants candidates to show very strong academics. Us oldies (who are making recruitment decisions) would typically regard drama as a bit of a 'doss subject' and as the mother of a child in year 11 who is currently doing drama GCSE, I would never encourage a potential law student to take it since the key thing for law is immaculate academics and drama is dependent on the other pupils in your group also doing well. DS1 is finding it really stressful trying to aim for a 9 with people in his group who don't even turn up for lessons.

I think Classical Civ is fine as a choice (as others have said, its a mixture of literature and history) but I'd regard English lit as a better option than Lang/Lit. Personally I'd recommend looking at something that isn't quite as samey but is still directly useful to a career in law like Economics or Maths. Its shows more depth.

She got a 9 in her year 10 maths mock, her highest grade in any subject. She’s very reluctant to take it as an A-level though despite me telling her she should be doing either that or Spanish...