[JayPlays]

Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

EDIT:
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm not really a big fan of biology, so maybe pursuing psychiatry isn't right for me. I've decided I'm going to sway towards politics and possibly consider doing anthropology Thanks for all your input!

[Pandora.]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

Personally, I would replace Sociology and Law with two more academic subjects (English Lit, Maths, History, Bio, Chem, Physics etc). Saying that, I don't know much about the course and career you're interested in, so I might not be of much help.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but to become a psychiatrist don't you have to complete a Medicine degree and specialise in psychiatry? Like I said, I'm no expert so I might be wrong.

Good luck!

[melo341]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

I would recommend perhaps biology instead of sociology and something like history or english literature rather than law. Naturally, politics and psychology are ideal.

[Newbie123]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

I think you should have done a science - just my opinion.

[Pride]

I am pretty sure psychiatrists are medical doctors trained in the speciality of psychiatry. Have a look here: https://nationalcareersservice.direc...taldoctor.aspx

You would need to study medicine at uni, so you would need chem, bio at least.

Perhaps you're thinking about clinical psychology?

[JayPlays]

I spoke to a careers advisor about this and she said that studying clinical psychology to doctorate level will qualify you to be a psychiatrist. But, now I am starting to question how reliable her advise actually was! It appears I will have to do some research into this

[Newbie123]

(Original post by JayPlays)
I spoke to a careers advisor about this and she said that studying clinical psychology to doctorate level will qualify you to be a psychiatrist. But, now I am starting to question how reliable her advise actually was! It appears I will have to do some research into this

Psychiatrist are doctors - jsyk

[Tahooper]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

Those subjects are pretty good, although if I were you I'd swap sociology for philosophy

For A2 I would drop law as it isn't as important as the other choices and wouldn't help you much if you wanted to study politics.

[JayPlays]

I've just looked into this. You guys are correct, to be a psychiatrist you have to study medicine and specialise is psychiatry. It seems that I might have to rethink my original plan! I've never really enjoyed biology that much, so I might sway a bit more towards my politics.

[Dalek1099]

My sister will be studying Psychology for her degree and She took Biology,Chemistry,Psychology and Maths and dropped Maths.

[Miracle Day]

As I'm now in the process of looking through University prospectuses in preparation for applying next year, I'd go with the above advice.

Three of those subjects are considered 'B band' subjects, Politics being in the 'A band'. I know choosing a Science will help you a lot, and you'd get lower offers if you have them so you'd be more likely to get an offer and more likely to get an easier offer.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by JayPlays)
I've just looked into this. You guys are correct, to be a psychiatrist you have to study medicine and specialise is psychiatry. It seems that I might have to rethink my original plan! I've never really enjoyed biology that much, so I might sway a bit more towards my politics.

For Medicine you'd need Chemistry too, as most medical schools require Chemistry and Biology. (I'm not saying ALL medical schools require this, I was just generalising)

So it's a good job you found out early on!
Other than that your A level choices are good! Make sure you pick something you enjoy doing, not just because it will look good.

Put into example, an A* in media studies is better than a D in Maths.

I hope you choose the path that you enjoy best, good luck with your studies

[Newbie123]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
My sister will be studying Psychology for her degree and She took Biology,Chemistry,Psychology and Maths and dropped Maths.

Psychology has nothing to do with psychiatry.

[JayPlays]

(Original post by lsaul95)
I hope you choose the path that you enjoy best, good luck with your studies

Thanks man

[Happy-Turtle]

Sociology can be referred to as a 'soft subject' at many top universities, so I would recommend that you do either Biology or Chemistry instead. Also, look at the websites of the universities that appeal to you and find out what A-Levels are required to study the Clinical Psychology/Politics course at each one.

[lsaul95]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Thanks man

You're welcome

[FranticMind]

(Original post by JayPlays)
Hey everyone.

I've just finalised my A-Level choices for college. I chose psychology, sociology, law and politics. After I have finished college, I would like to study clinical psychology and politics at university. My eventual career aspiration is to be a psychiatrist.

Have I chosen appropriate A-Levels or could me choices have been better?

Well you need to study medicine at university to be a psychiatrist. So you need biology and chemistry A levels.

"A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders."

So you need to qualify as a doctor, then specialise and gain a ton of experience.

But if you perhaps meant a psychologist? Then you would be fine with the university course choice, I would be tempted to recommend biology.

[najinaji]

For psychiatry and psychology, I'd recommend:
-Chemistry
-Biology
-Maths?
-Free choice

[lil-mazie]

My dream job is to become a dentist so my A-level choices are
Biology, Chemistry, Religious Studies and French.
these aren't my guarantee choices because I heard that to do medicine i must do maths but i really don't want to do that, my predicted grades for GCSEs are pretty average so I’m kind of worried, and i also love French even though I’m a C grade student. I feel that my GCSEs don't reflect my potential so i'm really confused

[JayPlays]

(Original post by lil-mazie)
My dream job is to become a dentist so my A-level choices are
Biology, Chemistry, Religious Studies and French.
these aren't my guarantee choices because I heard that to do medicine i must do maths but i really don't want to do that, my predicted grades for GCSEs are pretty average so I’m kind of worried, and i also love French even though I’m a C grade student. I feel that my GCSEs don't reflect my potential so i'm really confused

Hey if I was you man, I would go for options that you enjoy and then see where you end up, that's better than taking choices you don't want to do and then dropping out!