Please help! A couple of questions

Hi, wondering if anybody can help. I have my heart set on a career as a Solicitor and have done so for years now, a career which is politics-related is also interesting. At A-Level I'm looking to opt for: History (choice of modular/linear), Economics (linear), Law (modular), and Government & Politics (modular). Teachers at the college have said that all of the subjects link extremely well and contain loads of transferable skills.

However, I know that French (modular) is supposed to be a good subject in terms of employability since learning languages seem to be in decline (I want to make myself as employable as possible) so this is where my problem lies. Do I choose between Government & Politics or French? Again, I really enjoy politics however is French best for my futurem and do universities prefer French to Gov. & Politics?

Also, when I make my choice between the two which should I drop? I know it's advised to drop the one which I have the worst grade in AS; but I was wondering if I should just take an AS in History, or in terms of a Law degree universities prefer a whole A-Level? It's probably worthwhile to mention that I hate the idea of dropping Government & Politics because of the content studied in A2.

I know this a long post and cheers for reading but tl;dr: I enjoy politics and it links in with other options well, but french is good for employability - which course? Do I take a modular history course or not?

Neither Law or Government & Politics are seen as 'facilitating subjects' by the Russell Group (neither is Economics but it is largely respected well as far as I know). So in terms of boosting the respectability of your subject portfolio, replacing G&P (or Law) with a subject like French would be a good idea. On the other hand, the most important thing is that you enjoy your subjects. If you don't enjoy them, you won't do well - and grades are more important than subjects. If you vastly prefer G&P to French, go with G&P.

One last thing - you don't need A-Level Law to study Law at degree level. Law isn't regarded as a facilitating A-Level.

Thanks for the swift reply. I understand that Law isn't required but it'd be the subject I enjoy the most. I wasn't actually aware that Economics wasn't a facilitating subject so cheers for that. I don't mind French but if i'm honest I'd just be doing it for my 'portfolio'. I've still got to speak to my careers and admissions adviser yet which I'll do tomorrow.

So hypothetically if I came out with an A in AS G&P, compared to a B in AS French which do you feel universities would prefer to see?

If you enjoy Law then that's a perfectly good reason to take it at A Level. Economics technically isn't a facilitating subject but from what I've heard, virtually everyone treats it as one. And an A in G&P is better than a B in French!

Hi, wondering if anybody can help. I have my heart set on a career as a Solicitor and have done so for years now, a career which is politics-related is also interesting. At A-Level I'm looking to opt for: History (choice of modular/linear), Economics (linear), Law (modular), and Government & Politics (modular). Teachers at the college have said that all of the subjects link extremely well and contain loads of transferable skills.

However, I know that French (modular) is supposed to be a good subject in terms of employability since learning languages seem to be in decline (I want to make myself as employable as possible) so this is where my problem lies. Do I choose between Government & Politics or French? Again, I really enjoy politics however is French best for my futurem and do universities prefer French to Gov. & Politics?

Also, when I make my choice between the two which should I drop? I know it's advised to drop the one which I have the worst grade in AS; but I was wondering if I should just take an AS in History, or in terms of a Law degree universities prefer a whole A-Level? It's probably worthwhile to mention that I hate the idea of dropping Government & Politics because of the content studied in A2.

I know this a long post and cheers for reading but tl;dr: I enjoy politics and it links in with other options well, but french is good for employability - which course? Do I take a modular history course or not?

Hi there!

I find this rather incredible, that apart from wanting to be a Barrister, rather than a Solicitor, that is about all the differences. I'm doing AS levels at the moment - Law, Gov + Pol, and Economics (my College has a thing about doing 4 AS levels, then 3 A2 (I need all A*s and a few As at GCSE to do 4 AS (stupid, I know)). For the record, History would've been by 4th AS.
There's a girl, in the year above me, applying to a few London Unis and Oxford, and she's doing the same as me (honestly, we don't know each other, but she comes to some of my AS Politics classes as she's resitting) and, from what I hear, she's likely to get into the the better Unis.

As for what to drop - I would say don't worry about it yet. I'd say drop History - well, I would advise Law, Econ and Politics. I love them, and they're brilliant!
(Nearly there.)
French may be better than History, as if you want to study English Law and another jurisdiction, then it may be helpful to have a language under your belt, but there's also loads of other countries available where the teaching is in English. It's mainly for France/French Law.
Also, it depends which field of law you wish to work in - international law means a language is a must, commercial (or alike (such as Intellectual Property)) law may be helpful with dealings with foreign companies, however it's not a must.

Concluding, if you want all doors open for Unis and beyond, do at least 1 subject that you know you're able to get an A* in. Law is relatively easy to get an A* in, but there's a lot to learn. Politics you need a lot of wider political knowledge to do really well in - much more than the course teaches. Economics, as long as you've got relatively good maths skills, you'll be fine. French and History - either one. Whichever you prefer, do it; they're both very well respected (possibly even equally), so do the one you'll enjoy most.

P.S. Both my Law tutors (1 is a former criminal solicitor, the other a former civil law solicitor (specialised in lots of fields)) both did A Level law, and said it helped at Uni. The criminal solicitor's brother - a family barrister - didn't do A Level law and regretted it at Uni. He is also good friends with many Judges - one being Justice Mann of Chancery in the High Court - Mann J. even told him that A Level law is good to do. So ignore those who actively look down on you for doing A Level law!
(Sorry for the length, but do Econ, Politics and Law!!!)

Wow, I'm not sure what to say! That is strange! The fields of law i'm interested in wouldn't require me to have a language under my belt, so I'm quite convinced that I should go with what you've said (as well as taking History), I don't have to decide until enrollment day August/September 2015 whether to study AS History, or the full A-Level so I'll make my decision closer to the time. Much appreciated, thank-you!