[InBloom]

Hello,
I'm unsure as to how many of my subjects I should carry on to A2 so any help would be greatly appreciated (:
I want to study Medicine at Cambridge. At AS I took Spanish, Maths, Biology and Chemistry and I have been unsure as to whether I should keep all four subjects or to drop Spanish. To be honest, I would prefer to drop Spanish but as it is a good subject to have and would leave me with an extra qualification, I'm unsure what to do because I don't want to reduce my chances of getting into Cambridge. I know most people say that universities only ask for 3 A levels and it's only one aspect of the application process but I don't want to be at a disadvantage in any way to any one else based on this, so I was wondering how much of a difference it makes?

I don't have my AS level results yet and the my uni choices are:
Cambridge (not sure which college as of yet)
UCL
Imperial
Southampton
Leicester
Kings
(I know I can only apply to four places but I haven't narrowed down my list yet) (:
Thank you
xo

[Larry31]

(Original post by InBloom)
Hello,
I'm unsure as to how many of my subjects I should carry on to A2 so any help would be greatly appreciated (:
I want to study Medicine at Cambridge. At AS I took Spanish, Maths, Biology and Chemistry and I have been unsure as to whether I should keep all four subjects or to drop Spanish. To be honest, I would prefer to drop Spanish but as it is a good subject to have and would leave me with an extra qualification, I'm unsure what to do because I don't want to reduce my chances of getting into Cambridge. I know most people say that universities only ask for 3 A levels and it's only one aspect of the application process but I don't want to be at a disadvantage in any way to any one else based on this, so I was wondering how much of a difference it makes?

I don't have my AS level results yet and the my uni choices are:
Cambridge (not sure which college as of yet)
UCL
Imperial
Southampton
Leicester
Kings
(I know I can only apply to four places but I haven't narrowed down my list yet) (:
Thank you
xo

This is slightly bizarre because I took AS Spanish, Maths, Chemistry and Biology and also want to go to Cambridge to study Medicine! I personally dropped Spanish. They only ask for 3, and I'd rather concentrate on three to get 3A*s than stretch myself too thin to try and get four.

[InBloom]

Haha, twins! Thank you, so are at uni now or at A2?

[Beska]

For the vast majority of places it's a better idea to do the standard 3 instead of spreading yourself thin and doing 4. A*A*A* is better than A*ABB etc.

[myyrh]

The only place which having four A levels would give you an advantage is Barts and you don't seem to be considering them so I would drop Spanish and focus on your other three.

[i.want.it.now]

take all four. alevels are easy and if you're aiming for cmabridge you should easily handle all four.

why the negging loool people on the student room maannn. voicing an opinion is like a crime

[Nav_Mallhi]

I think its really good to have a langauge but Im a bit biased because i love my languages and Im doing German, latin and Punjabi next year for A levels

[InBloom]

Thank you all (:
That was my original plan but then it just seems like everyone applying to Oxbridge seems to be taking 4 A levels so I started worrying a bit that I would be at a disadvantage to them. I'm hardworking so I thought that if I put my mind to it, I could get 4 good grades but I didn't know how much of a difference it would make because it's a lot of extra work.

[Helloworld_95]

Barts likes them as iirc the cut off last year was something like A*AAA or 500 ucas points, and Imperial and I think Kings requires a C at A2 instead of a B at AS if you go for them

[rachbeanz]

Don't drop spanish it's good to have a language qualification


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Crystalclearmagic]

(Original post by InBloom)
Hello,
I'm unsure as to how many of my subjects I should carry on to A2 so any help would be greatly appreciated (:
I want to study Medicine at Cambridge. At AS I took Spanish, Maths, Biology and Chemistry and I have been unsure as to whether I should keep all four subjects or to drop Spanish. To be honest, I would prefer to drop Spanish but as it is a good subject to have and would leave me with an extra qualification, I'm unsure what to do because I don't want to reduce my chances of getting into Cambridge. I know most people say that universities only ask for 3 A levels and it's only one aspect of the application process but I don't want to be at a disadvantage in any way to any one else based on this, so I was wondering how much of a difference it makes?

I don't have my AS level results yet and the my uni choices are:
Cambridge (not sure which college as of yet)
UCL
Imperial
Southampton
Leicester
Kings
(I know I can only apply to four places but I haven't narrowed down my list yet) (:
Thank you
xo

If you just want to do Spanish because "you feel its good to have" and you would "prefer to drop it" - DROP IT! (sorry for the capital letters) but A2s are harder (of course) than ASs and if you don't enjoy the subject and in the back of your mind would rather drop it, then drop it! there's nothing worse than doing a subject for the sake of doing a subject!!

I take 4 A2s and 1AS - Chemistry, History, Physics, Maths and Further Maths AS

It's a heck of a lot of work, I cannot stress more - but I enjoy my subjects so I've lived with it. You get very jealous of other people over how many "frees" and free time they have and how little exams they have (I had 12 AS exams and 8 A2 ones....)

Pros - well you can "flunk" a subject to your liking - ie your offer is only going to be 3 A2s and so, you have 4 chances to get 3 of your e.g. A grades needed

If it's a subject like Spanish, then drop it and you can always pick it up again at University.
How?
Looking at your universities - KCL has an option to integrate a language into your course --> so look at details like that for other unis - I know York also does something similar.

Unis also don't really care how many subjects you do - Having one more A level isn't going to increase your chances HUGELY. It makes you stand out (?? I don't know) but it doesn't really matter - there are other things that make up your uni application that matter more! In fact, things like work experience are the things that really make your application shine - doing one more A level isn't (bare in mind there are quite a few other people who also will be doing 4 A levels and some will even have more)

So, I'll say from experience, focus on 3 and get 3 A*s

[PhysicsGirl]

It's up to you- there are advantages and disadvantages to taking four, and it's down to the individual what will suit them best. I personally think that because I do four, I was given a more generous offer by Cambridge, compared to some of the people I met at the open day who had stricter offers, so I wouldn't say that universities don't care at all, I'd just say that they don't disadvantage people who only have three A2s. If you find Spanish difficult and/or unpleasant, I'd really consider not taking it to A2; it'll become a chore, especially if it distracts from your other subjects. However if you like Spanish/ are really good at it, then it might be worth doing.

[The Polymath]

(Original post by InBloom)
Hello,
I'm unsure as to how many of my subjects I should carry on to A2 so any help would be greatly appreciated (:
I want to study Medicine at Cambridge. At AS I took Spanish, Maths, Biology and Chemistry and I have been unsure as to whether I should keep all four subjects or to drop Spanish. To be honest, I would prefer to drop Spanish but as it is a good subject to have and would leave me with an extra qualification, I'm unsure what to do because I don't want to reduce my chances of getting into Cambridge. I know most people say that universities only ask for 3 A levels and it's only one aspect of the application process but I don't want to be at a disadvantage in any way to any one else based on this, so I was wondering how much of a difference it makes?

I don't have my AS level results yet and the my uni choices are:
Cambridge (not sure which college as of yet)
UCL
Imperial
Southampton
Leicester
Kings
(I know I can only apply to four places but I haven't narrowed down my list yet) (:
Thank you
xo

I'm not going for Medicine, but I am going for Cambridge, and I'm not sure whether to drop anything either.

I'm doing Maths, Economics, German, Physics and F. Maths. I've done C3 and C4 so I'll only have M2 to do for Maths next year - the question is whether to do 3 or 4 others on top of that. I can even get away with doing 2 but not with Cambridge.

[InBloom]

(Original post by Nav_Mallhi)
I think its really good to have a langauge but Im a bit biased because i love my languages and Im doing German, latin and Punjabi next year for A levels

Awh wow! I did 3 foreign languages at GCSE but decided to focus on Spanish for A level and I also thought it would be good for medicine. I do really want to be fluent in it but unless it carry on with it at uni somehow, I thought I would probably forget it regardless of whether I keep it for an extra year or not. Hence why I'm not sure what to do

[PhysicsGirl]

(Original post by Crystalclearmagic)
If you just want to do Spanish because "you feel its good to have" and you would "prefer to drop it" - DROP IT! (sorry for the capital letters) but A2s are harder (of course) than ASs and if you don't enjoy the subject and in the back of your mind would rather drop it, then drop it! there's nothing worse than doing a subject for the sake of doing a subject!!

I take 4 A2s and 1AS - Chemistry, History, Physics, Maths and Further Maths AS

It's a heck of a lot of work, I cannot stress more - but I enjoy my subjects so I've lived with it. You get very jealous of other people over how many "frees" and free time they have and how little exams they have (I had 12 AS exams and 8 A2 ones....)

Pros - well you can "flunk" a subject to your liking - ie your offer is only going to be 3 A2s and so, you have 4 chances to get 3 of your e.g. A grades needed

If it's a subject like Spanish, then drop it and you can always pick it up again at University.
How?
Looking at your universities - KCL has an option to integrate a language into your course --> so look at details like that for other unis - I know York also does something similar.

Unis also don't really care how many subjects you do - Having one more A level isn't going to increase your chances HUGELY. It makes you stand out (?? I don't know) but it doesn't really matter - there are other things that make up your uni application that matter more! In fact, things like work experience are the things that really make your application shine - doing one more A level isn't (bare in mind there are quite a few other people who also will be doing 4 A levels and some will even have more)

So, I'll say from experience, focus on 3 and get 3 A*s

Completely agree with the jealous thing! Taking four does usually mean that you often feel like hitting people who complain about how little free time they have whilst they're playing pool in the canteen because they have 3A2s and two days off a fortnight, when you've got two coursework deadlines and three assignments due

[hprmc]

I had the exact same dilemma as you cos i wanted to do medicine at oxford and i was taking bio,chem,maths and french... the reason i carried on 4 was because in every oxbridge conference thing the majority of people i talked to had 4, and many even had 5. medicine is a very very very competative course and i completely underestimated how hard it was to get in. carry on four because for the sorts of places your applying to, you need as many things as possible.
also, UCL give priority to people who do a second language.
what sort of grades and work experience do you have?

[InBloom]

(Original post by Crystalclearmagic)
If you just want to do Spanish because "you feel its good to have" and you would "prefer to drop it" - DROP IT! (sorry for the capital letters) but A2s are harder (of course) than ASs and if you don't enjoy the subject and in the back of your mind would rather drop it, then drop it! there's nothing worse than doing a subject for the sake of doing a subject!!

I take 4 A2s and 1AS - Chemistry, History, Physics, Maths and Further Maths AS

It's a heck of a lot of work, I cannot stress more - but I enjoy my subjects so I've lived with it. You get very jealous of other people over how many "frees" and free time they have and how little exams they have (I had 12 AS exams and 8 A2 ones....)

Pros - well you can "flunk" a subject to your liking - ie your offer is only going to be 3 A2s and so, you have 4 chances to get 3 of your e.g. A grades needed

If it's a subject like Spanish, then drop it and you can always pick it up again at University.
How?
Looking at your universities - KCL has an option to integrate a language into your course --> so look at details like that for other unis - I know York also does something similar.

Unis also don't really care how many subjects you do - Having one more A level isn't going to increase your chances HUGELY. It makes you stand out (?? I don't know) but it doesn't really matter - there are other things that make up your uni application that matter more! In fact, things like work experience are the things that really make your application shine - doing one more A level isn't (bare in mind there are quite a few other people who also will be doing 4 A levels and some will even have more)

So, I'll say from experience, focus on 3 and get 3 A*s

Thank you for your advice. I do enjoy Spanish - I guess from the way I worded my first post that wasn't clear! It's because I wanted to see how much of a difference it would make purely from a uni point of view. The gap between GCSE spanish and AS Spanish was very big, so whilst I found GCSE Spanish easy, I was surprised at how much harder AS Spanish was because GCSE basically just relied on your ability to memorise stuff :L I guess now that I've done it and I know what's coming at A2 I'm more prepared and I do want to become fluent. But thank you for your advice, what made you choose to do 4 A2s and an extra AS?

[Natalie21]

I'm applying for Medicine at Cambridge and I'm carrying on with 4 A2s

[bambi_eyes]

(Original post by InBloom)
Thank you all (:
That was my original plan but then it just seems like everyone applying to Oxbridge seems to be taking 4 A levels so I started worrying a bit that I would be at a disadvantage to them. I'm hardworking so I thought that if I put my mind to it, I could get 4 good grades but I didn't know how much of a difference it would make because it's a lot of extra work.

I'm in the same boat as you I want to carry on with English Lit, Maths, Bio and Chem and I want to apply to Cambridge. But the main reason I want to carry on with English Lit is because I love it soooooooooo much

[InBloom]

(Original post by PhysicsGirl)
It's up to you- there are advantages and disadvantages to taking four, and it's down to the individual what will suit them best. I personally think that because I do four, I was given a more generous offer by Cambridge, compared to some of the people I met at the open day who had stricter offers, so I wouldn't say that universities don't care at all, I'd just say that they don't disadvantage people who only have three A2s. If you find Spanish difficult and/or unpleasant, I'd really consider not taking it to A2; it'll become a chore, especially if it distracts from your other subjects. However if you like Spanish/ are really good at it, then it might be worth doing.

Do you mind me asking you what offer you got from Cambridge?
Thanks!