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Law or Medicine- A level advice HELP!

Hi , i'm currently in year 11 and i'm not sure whether to go into law or medicine . Like I'm good at english , history, maths and the sciences so i don't know what to pick for A-level. Please help , I'm very confused!

Reply 1

The Empire Odyssey

Original post by the pro

First thing to establish is why those careers appeal to you in the first place? Do you know what kind of medicine you want to go in: Psychiatry, Pediatrics, or maybe Oncology?
The same needs to be considered for Law. Do you want to go into Public, Business, Criminal or Contract Law?

It's not uncommon to not know, however, I think most medics know which medical discipline they want to go into at a very early age.
But you don't have to decide now of course. But it does help though.

If you want to do Medicine then the A-levels you're most likely to do will be Biology, Chemistry and either Maths or Physics. If your college or sixth form allows you to do just 3 A-levels, then that's your 3 A-levels done which leaves no room for any essay subjects that will be good for Law.

If you wish to study Law, then humanity subjects are best. Subjects like English Literature, History or Economics are good subjects for Law.

So if you're unsure, you definitely need to pick Biology and Chemistry and then something like History and Psychology or whatever.

You don't need any particular subjects for Law but you need some humanities because that helps you with learning to read vast amounts of information and of coursework, essay writing.

Another thing you need to consider it's not about whether you're good at a subject, but whether you ENJOY the subject. Being good and enjoying something are completely different things especially when it comes to A-level. Yes, I'm good at History but I HATED it at AS level. I So you need to make sure you can pick A-levels that you either enjoy at the moment, or you think you'll enjoy by the course descriptions.

Good luck!

Reply 2

Gold-Confetti

If I were you, I would first check over how you're doing because tbh if you aren't getting As and above for law, and pretty much straight A*s for medicine because it's crazy competitive- you might need to rethink as you've picked 2 REALLY competitive subjects.

Obviously work experience is really hard to get, but I believe it would really benefit you in helping to choose.

If you're best at humanities I would be inclined to go down the law route because that's the skill set it will use.
If you're best at sciences go down the medicine route.
If you aren't sure what you want to do Id go for:

Biology and chemistry because then you'll cover your bases for medicine.

Then an essay subject like history or English lit (if recommend history, I take both, lit is hell)

And one really versatile subject like maths or a language. Maths is good for both because of the logical thinking and such. If you aren't inclined to take one of those, I'd go for another essay subject because then your bases are covered for law.

Don't worry about taking essay subjects for law though, plenty people go to do law with all science A Levels. Plus you could do a medicine degree then a law conversion if you wanted to- but that would hellish expensive.

Good luck!

Reply 3

stratagems

Original post by the pro

I was in a similar boat.
First of all, don't think just about what you're good at (although, with maths, I think you definitely need some natural talent unlike with the sciences). It's so, so important to think about what you enjoy. Lessons can and will kill a passion in a subject, so you have to enjoy classes/lessons too and not just the subject overall!

Deciding on law is a little bit easier in some ways, as you can research and get a grasp of what a law degree entails. For what it's worth, if you're doing a qualifying law degree (aka LLB), you'll have some compulsory units, but also some optional ones. The optional ones vary A LOT depending on the university, so it's worth checking out the course structure on the websites of the unis you're interested in.
Law combines topics like philosophy, politics, and sociology. You have to enjoy thinking theoretically, reading a lot of boring material, and be adept at succinctly summaries your deductions.

Also, think about what you want to do after studying law, if you choose to.

Medicine, on the other hand, is a bit of a strange one because yes, everyone knows what a doctor does, but knowing the day-in/day-outs and understanding the course content before you study is a lot more complex.

Reply 4

username2324315

Do a mixture of A Levels - History, English Literature, Biology and Chemistry would be good. You wouldn't even necessarily have to do History and English Lit for Law anyway - there are no preferred subjects for Law courses (apart from the fact that they should be facilitating A Levels).

Reply 5

the pro

Original post by george_c00per

What if in the future instead of a lawyer i would like to be a doctor, should i pick maths, biology, chemistry and english literature?

Reply 6

the pro

Thanks for all the advice guys! But I'm still a bit confused, because i like sciences and am good at them , and I like history and english and i'm also good at them , and I'm also good at maths! So, i really don't know what to do, i want to be a lawyer but am still having some doubts. I've chosen my A levels which are English Lit, maths, psychology and history but now i'm reconsidering, what should i do?

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

the pro

Original post by Gold-Confetti

Thanks! So do you recommend picking biology, chemistry , maths and english lit?

Reply 8

the pro

Original post by stratagems

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pick for A levels?

Reply 9

username2324315

Original post by the pro

What if in the future instead of a lawyer i would like to be a doctor, should i pick maths, biology, chemistry and english literature?

Sounds like a good combination to me :smile:

Reply 10

the pro

Original post by george_c00per

Sounds like a good combination to me :smile:

Thanks for your help! :smile:

Reply 11

Gold-Confetti

Original post by the pro

Thanks! So do you recommend picking biology, chemistry , maths and english lit?

Yeah I think that's a decent combination. I would swap out lit for history, but that's because I think literature is hell ahah. History helps you build a more substantial argument I think but it's up to you. Good luck!

Reply 12

stratagems

Original post by the pro

If you don't mind me asking, what did you pick for A levels?

Hi, sorry for the delay (exams).

I'm an older student so my path has diverged from hours. However, when I was your age, I picked biology, chemistry, physics, critical thinking and English Literature. DON'T DO 5 SUBJECTS AT AS.

If you don't have to do four subjects at AS, don't. The more time you have to focus and hone in on your minimal subjects, the better.

Check med school and law school requirements. Law only requires three A Levels, but UCL for instance likes a 4th AS. For medicine, UCL likes 3 A-Levels and a 4th AS including three sciences & a language/humanities subject.
Other unis like three sciences and maths, whilst some like two sciences plus a third or maths.

I think, if you want to keep your options open, do bio, chem, and either maths/physics OR history (or Eng Lit if you absolutely love it... If not, go for history) for your third A-Level. You MIGHT need a 4th AS, in which case maths/history could be it. The good thing is, you can decide whether to drop maths or history after you've done your AS but before you go into your A2.

Hope that makes sense and isn't too unclear!

Reply 13

the pro

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Ive decided that I'm going to be doing law instead after taking some quizzes and thinking about it. Im going to picking psychology, history, english lit and maths - would you say thats a good combo and would get me into uni?