A level choices

[dairydairy]

Ds is doing his options now, so far the list is

Physics, Biology, Geography and PE (double award, it's a Cambridge or BTEC I think)

He has to choose four and can then stop one at the end of year 12. The school also offer the EPQ which he's not keen on.

He's not sure yet what he wants to do at university. Do these look like a good mix ?

Just read more of the thread. DS wanted to do music tech originally, but this A level was withdrawn at his school. He took physics, maths and computer science at A level to widen his options. He is currently in his third year of an MEng in Computer Science, and continues to be a electronic dance music composer/producer in his spare time.

Not sure you can do physics without maths, unless he's wanting a career in sports science I would caution against pe, it's actually quite academic but outsiders won't appreciate that

@movingonup20

Not sure you can do physics without maths, unless he's wanting a career in sports science I would caution against pe, it's actually quite academic but outsiders won't appreciate that

He's now decided to look into a medical degree so he's changed his plans to be Biology and Chemistry and two others.

@MadKittenWoman

Lol, I know it’s a very odd combination of subjects but they are the subjects he enjoys the most so his logic was that he’d get the best grades in them. The issue is he has 3 potential careers he is interested in so he’s trying to cover all bases to avoid pigeon holing himself into a particular career. I can see why he’s doing it but it’s making it rather tricky so in order to work backward we’d have to do it from 3 different careers. The A Levels loosely follow the careers, so Physics for pilot, Media for Sports Journalism and PE for a PE teacher or Sports Science.

@movingonup20

They’ve said Physics at Y12 would be ok without maths but he’d struggle in Y13. He’s academically able to do maths but he really doesn’t want to do it. He won’t change his mind about PE, he’d rather change both other ones. I know it’s not considered a great option but quite honestly given the rubbish 2 years they have had I want him to at least be able to do subjects that he will enjoy.

Unfortunately for DC, one A level doesn’t lead to a career in anything. Maths covers lots of bases. Media for Sports Journalism being an obvious error. Just Physics ditto.

I think he might need to really look at these careers without rose tinted specs on. It’s very difficult to be a pilot and a sports journalist as discussed. Is he in the Air Cadets? Look at what he can do to complement academic learning. Is he doing any sports blogging or writing up sports matches for his school?

No I realise that. But like I said he really has no clue what he wants to do and quite honestly the last year hasn’t exactly helped hence he was keeping his options open. The plan was always to be a pilot. Due to DH’s job this was more than a distant possibility and something he had always intended to do. ATC is the same night at Football and seeing as it’s being Commercial Pilot rather than RAF he’d be interested in we felt it more important to keep up sport (which is his next biggest passion). Unless they have a definite career progression (such as medicine, law etc) I think it’s quite difficult to pick specific A levels especially with little guidance from school. Obviously he wouldn’t do history and other humanities to do a maths degree but I would have expected some degree of cross over in most other subjects.

I think in a couple of years he’ll actually end up going down the sports science/ PE teacher route but right now he is just totally confused and stressed with trying to make a decision not knowing what’s happening with exams etc.
I’m sure it can’t be this hard in normal years as they’d get loads of guidance from school.

Get him to do maths.
www.salford.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/beng-aircraft-engineering-pilot-studies

Thank you that looks good but it seems to be a lot of aircraft engineering rather than pilot training. I will investigate further though.

I don’t see why the school cannot give guidance on choosing A levels. They could record a presentation and put out a detailed booklet. Why can’t they speak to DC who are struggling? Surely there should be advice?

ATC isn’t just for RAF entry. What about learning to fly a glider? I’m not sure how old young people have to be before they can have flying lessons? My neighbours DD is a commercial pilot but I’m not sure when she started flying. Her dad owned a private airfield and flew himself so it’s in the family!

Schools do offer guidance re A levels. It just tends to start around February time after UCAS applications have gone in.

So plenty of time to look at careers and A level combinations then. Assuming some schools are not asking for decisions very early.

Kids that want to be pilots do anything they can to be able to fly planes. What is he doing? Thinking about wanting to be a pilot doesn't hack it.

My niece got into flying through the ATC, with gliders, engineering projects and ultimately flying. 2 nights a week plus one day every weekend left no time for the likes of football at a competitive level etc. Depends on the strength of the dream.

I’m fully aware of that but unfortunately there is this little thing called Covid which has stopped most things. He had glider flights in the summer and as soon as he is 16 (next month)he was having private flying lessons which obviously can’t now happen. He won’t go to the ATC for many reasons but yes football is the main one because if he didn’t play football he wouldn’t pass his GCSE PE.
My DH is in the aviation industry so I’m fully aware of what it takes but DS is also very conscious of the fact that this is a huge dream which is very unlikely to happen due to the nature of the competition. Therefore we all feel it far more important to concentrate on school work then go to University to get a degree before pursuing any dreams of becoming a pilot just like many of DH’s colleagues have done.

@ihearttc He may want to look at this course at Leeds

courses.leeds.ac.uk/i692/aviation-technology-with-pilot-studies-and-management-beng

@SeasonFinale

Wow that looks amazing. Air Traffic Control was something else he was interested in, so that looks like it covers all bases. It does look like he’d need maths/physics so I think he’d need to give careful consideration to which direction he wants to go in. Thank you so much. It’s really useful to have specific courses to look at, there are so many and he doesn’t quite know where to start.

@PresentingPercy

I don’t see why the school cannot give guidance on choosing A levels. They could record a presentation and put out a detailed booklet. Why can’t they speak to DC who are struggling? Surely there should be advice?

ATC isn’t just for RAF entry. What about learning to fly a glider? I’m not sure how old young people have to be before they can have flying lessons? My neighbours DD is a commercial pilot but I’m not sure when she started flying. Her dad owned a private airfield and flew himself so it’s in the family!

He's old enough to learn to fly a glider, 14 year olds have gone solo. It used to be 17 to go solo but not any more (in England)

He did lots of glider flights in the summer, our friends have a glider so he went up with him to start with. He was supposed to be having proper flying lessons as soon as he was 16 (next month) but then Covid hit so he can’t do it yet.

Ihearttc I know it says AAA for that Leeds course but I had a student accepted with AAB

I have two friends who are senior air traffic controllers. Essential elements are absolute concentration, attention to detail and staying very calm. It’s not for everyone. A school friend did it commercially after a career in the RAF. It’s a brilliant career if you are up for it.