Do universities look down upon World Development???

Hi,

I am going into sixth form next year and hope to study Maths(Mechanics), Chemistry, Physics and World Development as my fourth subject.

I enjoy them all but was wondering if WD is looked down upon as some people have said...I just want a 4th subject i can easily drop for the next year and i don't mind doing WD because i find it interesting but not sure if its the best option??

Thanks

Reply 1

HobbiTom

1

It obviously differs between different unis, but I think most of them value it as a full qualification. It's not as big an issue as General Studies is, where nearly all universities ignore this.
P.S. Watch out for Chemistry: it's an interesting course (certainly mine was with AQA) but it's tough.

Reply 2

JhusJane

OP

1

Yeah thanks ive heard chemistry is tough but tough as in what??? difficult concepts? a lot of work?? I probably will know once i start i guess...so should i start ahead in the summer perhaps??

Reply 3

HobbiTom

1

Tough as in remembering everything! I personally have a photographic memory but that didn't help me with chemistry. An extent of it builds on what you learnt in GCSE obviously, such as alkanes and alkenes, but most of it is new. So in that sense there's not much preparation you can do over the summer, other than literally reading the specification and researching stuff on that

Reply 4

JhusJane

OP

1

Ahh right okay thank you very much!

Reply 5

cathyhelen

Hello,

Do you know which university that you would like to go to? :smile:

I have not heard of World Development before. I would be very cautious in taking this subject unless you are 100% sure that the university that you would like to go to accepts this subject. I have heard about a few people that have taken the wrong subject and then regretted it.

Do you like Biology?

It could be a different possibility. :smile:

Reply 6

HobbiTom

1

No problem! Good luck :smile:

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 7

ParetoOptimum

11

World Development?! Wow they're getting more creative with these A-levels...

On a more serious note, it'd be preferable to do a more traditional subject that covers development. Economics and geography are the best fit in that respect. Any decent university's admissions tutor will probably look at "World development" with a quizzical expression... and it's these small things and impressions that can matter a lot I'm afraid

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 8

cdude

18

World development is a very interesting topic. You cover it in Geography, but yeah development was the best side of the A2 course.

Reply 9

JhusJane

OP

1

Yeah i just wanted something to separate the sciences and maths which was a bit different because i only intend to do World Development for the first year anyway but since its a relatively new topic i thought unis not consider it to be a 'good' enough subject....do they still take the 4th subject that gets dropped after the first year into a lot of consideration though or just the 3 full a levels?

And thankyou all so much!!!!

Reply 10

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by JhusJane

Yeah i just wanted something to separate the sciences and maths which was a bit different because i only intend to do World Development for the first year anyway but since its a relatively new topic i thought unis not consider it to be a 'good' enough subject....do they still take the 4th subject that gets dropped after the first year into a lot of consideration though or just the 3 full a levels?

And thankyou all so much!!!!

Be wary of being the guinea pig in a new subject. I know somebody has to be, but I'd suggest it shouldn't be you! I've been teaching for 30 years and I haven't heard of World Development either, and I'm willing to bet that will go for quite a few admissions tutors as well. If you are wanting to play it safe, do geography. The fourth AS doesn't usually carry much weight, but even so, it can be the clincher between two equally qualified candidates and I wouldn't give them any excuse to choose the other one.

Reply 11

JhusJane

OP

1

Yeah thank you very much,

its also just that i've heard a lot from several others that my combination of maths(m), physics and chemistry is very hard and i am certainly prepared to work hard in them as i do really enjoy them...but since i need 4 AS i thought one like WD could tone it down...geography might be a lot of work too i dunno???

Reply 12

Carnationlilyrose

18

Original post by JhusJane

Yeah thank you very much,

its also just that i've heard a lot from several others that my combination of maths(m), physics and chemistry is very hard and i am certainly prepared to work hard in them as i do really enjoy them...but since i need 4 AS i thought one like WD could tone it down...geography might be a lot of work too i dunno???

All AS subjects are hard work.

Reply 13

Toriar

14

If I were you I'd probably pick a subject that's more widely recognised but I don't reckon you'll be at a huge disadvantage taking World Development if you're going to drop it in the 2nd year anyway.

Reply 14

NikolaT

15

The only place I've ever heard of World Development is on the Accepted A-level list for Sheffield University. (click) This list also incorporates 'Accounting' and 'Law' though, so I wouldn't assume this is mainstream practice.

Best to play it safe with Geography, Economics or Politics. :smile:

Reply 15

JhusJane

OP

1

Ahhh okay thank you very much guys!

Do universities look down upon World Development???

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