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Law A-Level, will GCSEs come back to bite me and general help please?

Hello.

time has come to start worrying about A-Levels and can't decide. Subjects I want to do are:

Law
Classical Civ.
English Lit.
History (Early Modern)
Music
Psychology
Government & Politics

That's just subjects I'm interested in and would do for personal satisfaction. I'd probably be able to stick Maths/Further Maths too. I intend on taking 5.

I've got no idea what I want to do after that. I definitely want to go on and do a degree but don't know which degrees apply well to employment. If I, say, ended up with a degree in English Lit., History or Classics, would that be of any use when it came to the real world and getting a decent job?

I'm considering Law, which is a subject that really interests me. I've heard a lot of people saying how unis will not accept people will a Law a-level. Is it really a hindrance? Will it be useful for other subjects? Assuming I totally skip Law at A-Level, what subjects am I best off taking to get in at Uni level?

What am I best off picking to leave my options open?

I'm in the process of preparing for mocks, but should my GCSE results not be a string of As and A*s, will this have any effect on employment/getting onto a course post A-Level? I'm estimated between Bs and As with potential to get A*s in some of my subjects. Is C-B considered a 'good' pass? Would it exclude me from any routes?

Thanks,
Rob
Reply 1
RobJonesxx
That's just subjects I'm interested in and would do for personal satisfaction. I'd probably be able to stick Maths/Further Maths too. I intend on taking 5

It is a good idea to take subjects you actively enjoy

RobJonesxx
I've got no idea what I want to do after that. I definitely want to go on and do a degree but don't know which degrees apply well to employment. If I, say, ended up with a degree in English Lit., History or Classics, would that be of any use when it came to the real world and getting a decent job?

Both English and History are noted by employers particulary for the Finance world for History, as both degrees teaches the student vital research skills which these are transferable. After which you may apply for a conversion course to study Law for a year and pass it is a lot of hardwork but it is regonised by Law firms.

RobJonesxx
I'm considering Law, which is a subject that really interests me. I've heard a lot of people saying how unis will not accept people will a Law a-level. Is it really a hindrance? Will it be useful for other subjects? Assuming I totally skip Law at A-Level, what subjects am I best off taking to get in at Uni level?What am I best off picking to leave my options open?

First off Uni's don't like A Level Law as it creates a general snobby attitudes towards the lectuers.Plus it is better to taught from the beginning. But if you do decide to pursure Law then Eng Lit and History would be in my opinion the top 2, then Maths/Chemistry/Physics, your option eg, Music,etc ,so if you want 5 pick an language you enjoy (the unusal the better)



RobJonesxx
I'm in the process of preparing for mocks, but should my GCSE results not be a string of As and A*s, will this have any effect on employment/getting onto a course post A-Level? I'm estimated between Bs and As with potential to get A*s in some of my subjects. Is C-B considered a 'good' pass? Would it exclude me from any routes?

If you want to aim for the top 10 Uni's (for Law) you need to bring a whole of A*/A in theroy but what they are looking at is your commitment to the subject eg take part in outside actives. However if your an "Oxbridge" candiate then A*-A too many B's and you get struck the list unless you apply through SCAS??? As my mate thinks that he will get to "Oxbridge" with B-C's Other than that 9 A*-C's with the expected number to carry on with A levels.

As I am getting peed off with the amount of wannabe "lawers" so won't be posting on threads which such topics! Hope it helps.
RobJonesxx
I definitely want to go on and do a degree but don't know which degrees apply well to employment. If I, say, ended up with a degree in English Lit., History or Classics, would that be of any use when it came to the real world and getting a decent job?


Something like 60% of graduate jobs don't require a specific subject. As long as you have a respectable degree, ie not Surf Studies or David Beckham Studies :rolleyes: your chances of getting a good job will increase. If you're not sure what you want to do in the future, just take a subject you know you'll enjoy and be good at.

RobJonesxx
I'm considering Law, which is a subject that really interests me. I've heard a lot of people saying how unis will not accept people will a Law a-level. Is it really a hindrance? Will it be useful for other subjects? Assuming I totally skip Law at A-Level, what subjects am I best off taking to get in at Uni level?


Unis will accept people with A-level law, but they prefer it if they don't have it so they can teach them from scratch in their own way. The A-level is a lot more simplistic than the degree, so they don't want people thinking they know everything because they've done A-level when really it's very different. From the subjects you listed, I'd go with English lit, history, politics and 2 others from classical civ, music and psychology, but bear in mind that 5 subjects will be a lot of work and you only need 4.

RobJonesxx
I'm in the process of preparing for mocks, but should my GCSE results not be a string of As and A*s, will this have any effect on employment/getting onto a course post A-Level? I'm estimated between Bs and As with potential to get A*s in some of my subjects. Is C-B considered a 'good' pass? Would it exclude me from any routes?


Your GCSEs won't matter for employment if you go on to do A-levels and a degree. Anything up to a C is considered a good pass, but obviously it depends where you apply to uni and for what course. Law (and English lit and history, for that matter) are very competitive, so if you're aiming for a top 10 uni, lots of A*s and As would be very helpful. Beyond that, As, Bs and Cs would be fine.
Reply 3
Thanks for the help. After a long hard think I'm going to take English Lit., History, Politics, Psychology and Classical Civ. Possibly one of those switched for maths. Hoping to keep my options open to study any of those a-levels or law at uni.

I'm aware of the workload.

I'm also going to go back to all my teachers and essentially spend the time between now (mocks in just over a week) and my exams working day and night to get up to A*s. I'm A*s to Bs, top of school anyway but I don't want to regret being lazy now in 5 years.

Definitely want to go for the Oxbridge education, and if not definitely a top 10 uni. Looks like it's time for me to get cracking then.
Reply 4
A2, I did Law, Maths, Lit and Politics. The Law didn't hurt me, put it that way.
Reply 5
I dont know much about classical civilisation but wouldnt it basically be History? I dunno, i would swap Classical Civilisation for maths.

English Lit, History, politics are all very good, you can do a Law, History, or English degree with these 3 a-levels.
Apart from these, it might be useful to show unis that you are capable in different types of disciplines (i heard oxbridge etc. like science/arts mixes) since a law degree does involve a certain amount of logical reasoning. Doing maths would also keep your options open.
Reply 6
nayiseda
I dont know much about classical civilisation but wouldnt it basically be History? I dunno, i would swap Classical Civilisation for maths.

English Lit, History, politics are all very good, you can do a Law, History, or English degree with these 3 a-levels.
Apart from these, it might be useful to show unis that you are capable in different types of disciplines (i heard oxbridge etc. like science/arts mixes) since a law degree does involve a certain amount of logical reasoning. Doing maths would also keep your options open.


From what I've read classical civ is classical greek and roman art, literature and history. It's a subject I am very interested in.

What would be defined as 'arts'? Something like english lit or something more obvious like music/performing arts?
Reply 7
English Lit/History/Politics, basically anything which is majority essay based is an arts subject.

Science subjects : Maths/Bio/Chem/Physics
Reply 8
From what I've read classical civ is classical greek and roman art, literature and history. It's a subject I am very interested in.


Me too, but my school dosen't offer it.

Bastards.
Reply 9
If you have the ability to do so, I say take maths.

You can't go wrong with maths. Ever.
Reply 10
I took Law A level and didn't stop me! Unis don't really care about Law (bar oxbridge and LSE), as long as you're not applying to do a law degree. So yeah, probably best not to do it as you're aiming for both! I think it's silly though, I found Law really useful, academically and in real life.

English Lit will always be helpful, whatever career you want to do.

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