A level choices

[Veronica25]

DD1 will have to choose A levels next year and I was wondering which subjects are important, employees and universities look at?

She still does't know what she would like to do at Uni/for work. Her favorite subjects which she is doing for GCSEs are Digital Engineering and Geography; but she does well in Maths, languages too too. She initially thought the third will be Biology but then thought why won't do biology as she doesn't like Medicine, Vet or anything like that.

Thank you

Different course look for different subjects, so your question is how long is a piece of string.

Primarily she should do subjects that she is good at and enjoys.
Picking subjects that link well together is helpful as they support each other.

I have no idea what digital engineering is - is it Computer aided design?

Geography is kind of part science, part humanity so works well with lots of things.
Maths is great but only if she is good enough. Better an A or B in something different than a C in maths.

She'll have more idea in 6 months.

Thanks a lot. They call it Design Engineering in her school now but it was called Design and Technology. Hopefully she will have more idea in a years time when she has to choose.

Agree with Teen, she should do subjects she enjoys and does well at. Unis are interested in enthusiasm and passion, good grades and the ability to do well. They would rather see an A in art or DT or drama than an E in maths.

Georgraphy, DT, maths, biology all go well together (geog and maths are classed as sciences so support biology degree application, for example or vice versa). MFL also a good A level choice if she is good at it (I would say that as it's my subject).

Should clarify, nothing wrong or second class or anything about DT or art or drama, before anyone thinks I was saying that.

I suspect that maths would work well as a third with those two, but you need to find out from her maths teacher whether she has good A-level potential - you need to be stronger in maths than in some other subjects to be able to cope well with the A-level syllabus.

Look at the courses abd the suggested subjects. It sounds like she has a good breadth and is t taking anything non academic.

Any sort of engineering usually also requires maths for university. So I’d definitely do engineering and maths at A level. Then I’d consider doing an easy a level as her 3rd one so she can do further maths at a level as well. But I agree, she needs to be strong in maths to do it at a level. As in a 7 or above GCSE maths grade.

My DD has just started a levels. She is doing chemistry, biology and geography. She is also doing Core Maths which is a years course similar to an AS that is designed to support subjects that have a high maths content. So practical maths rather than academic maths if that makes sense. She did foundation level maths and as such "only" got a grade 5. My point being you don't have to be a maths whizz and in fact the course is aimed at students who do well at maths but don't necessarily find it easy. It does give UCAS points but is designed as an extra rather than main subject.

DD enjoys it and has found it helpful, albeit very early days.

I hate A levels, restricting their choices to three (usually). My daughter, who is thinking of a career in the creative arts, really resented having to give up her sciences. She is doing art, history and psychology, but was doing biology until the last moment, and her physics teacher really wanted her to pursue that (she got 8s in all those subjects except psychology which is a new subject for her). She would have liked to do the three she is plus biology and physics, but didn't want
to do math (she got a 6, but has no problem with the math in physics).
But she also thinks what if she changes her mind about art? Her second big interest is sociology/anthropology, hence the psychology.
Your child should pick what they are most interested in, as they are far more likely to do well. But many subjects don't require specific A levels (science and engineering excepted), so a subject that demonstrates writing ability might be a sensible choice, as well as the more practical DT, and a foreign language is a good third.
The uni guide website lets you input a levels and suggest what subject you could study. I also did it the other way - choose your subject then there's a website that tells you what most of those students took at A level.

If she is likely to be interested in either engineering or computer science, then maths is a very desirable subject to have.