Honest opinions on GCSE options - drama or DT

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It's that time of year when GCSE options are looming. DD will be submitting her GCSE choices soon (she will do the sciences, maths, humanities, music etc) but is not sure about which subject to drop between DT and drama. She enjoys boys and seems to get roughly the same (good) grades in both.

She's probably going to opt for maths, chemistry, biology, English at A-level and so I wondered which would be the more useful if she were to continue down the science route, or do the GCSEs don't actually make that much difference, given she will not continue DT or drama to A-level?

Thanks in advance.

She enjoys boys

Not an option at DS' school, but a glorious autocorrect!

Whichever they most enjoy

'On A levels, no reason for her to continue English. She can get into oxbridge with Double Maths, Chemistry and Biology, or RG with just Maths, Chemistry and Biology'

Or maybe she would like to study English at a higher level?! It by no means uncommon and is in fact educationally valuable, to combine Arts and Sciences.

Yes it is. That has to be weighed up against doing FM if Stem degrees are in her sights though. It’s not vital but it’s very useful if you can do it. Biology snd Chemistry aren’t great for most engineering or technology degrees either. However i’m assuming DC is more medically minded.

Pfft. If a liberal arts college in the US is your goal, then yes,
But if medicine or bioengineering is your goal, English is useless.
Besides, taking a 4th A level will only drag down the grades in the other 3 A levels resulting in the student settling for a lower tier Uni and actually less chance of even studying medicine as it’s very competitive. There’s no earthly reason to take a 4th A level except for FM.

Just to reiterate that it is important that when working in a group that everyone pulls their weight

DD struggled with GCSE Citizenship and only achieved a D for her coursework because she was the only one who did any work. Fortunately the teacher was aware and did what he could to help her. Luckily she aced her exam and ended up with an overall B.

ArseInTheCoOpWindow, you've misunderstood my post. It's not that the marking itself is more lenient, but rather that the thresholds for the raw scores needed to achieve a particular 1-9 grade tend to be lower for written work that practical coursework in GCSE drama. Therefore a student who has good written expression skills can find it easier to achieve a higher grade for the written exam, boosting their overall grade for the subject.

I’ll pass that on to my English A level student from last year now thriving studying Medicine! We’ve seen time and time again that Medical applications, in particular, which have English, History, French - Drama even - shock horror - alongside Biology and Chemistry are looked upon favourably. Of course the real discriminators are the UCAT and BMAT scores but the last thing an Arts or Humanities A level is is useless! We also have a small number of students who successfully manage 4 A levels, for what it’s worth. Anyway, this is besides the point of the post. Taking Drama at this stage is only a good thing.

But if medicine or bioengineering is your goal, English is useless

I taught an A level art student who went to Edinburgh to do medicine. They took her because of her ‘breadth of study’

I suppose you think Art is useless for medicine too? It’s actually very helpful for dentistry. In fact Textiles is the most helpful for dentistry as it shows the ability to manipulate small items.

Speaking as a medic, humanities subjects are incredibly useful for medicine. Essay-based subjects such as English or History teach analytical skills and the ability to string together a coherent written argument. The ability to write well is invaluable for producing good clinical letters and reports and also for publishing research papers and articles.

Drama is also a great supporting subject for medicine. Doctors spend a lot of time presenting information to others in a clinical or research setting (at clinical meeetings, conferences, etc), so being a confident speaker is very useful.

Drama
It actually teaches some great skills - speaking - presenting etc

Dd started DT and dropped it as she hated the emphasis on the "book" rather than actually making things. There seemed to be a lot of coursework style work as well.

English Lit, Drama and History are popular A levels aming the medics at dds school - they get lots of offers!

Also Drama and English are very good for Law.

I know this has probably already been said but there is a lot to be said for doing something you enjoy too rather than academics.
My parents wanted me to do media studies over food tech and I wish I had ignored them as I really enjoyed food tech. Still annoyed about it nearly 30 years later.