English literature or language a level?

I'm about to pick my a levels tonight and I'm still not very sure! Which a level is more suited for careers in journalism, marketing and law. I'm taking maths and another two sciences along with this keeping my options open. I think I might want to do english language but it seems like universities prefer english literature and due to high competitions to get into top uni's I'm not sure if it's worth taking english language. Anyone got any advice? Thank you x

Reply 1

anonanon123

I would personally do language, and it seems that you want to do it too, so go for it. Language seems to be more applicable to journalism and law etc.
However, I would seriously recommend dropping one of the science a levels, as you will be doing the new a levels (am i right in saying this?)

I think the best a level choices for you are:
maths, biology(as you said you want science), english language

and then i would not do the extra science on top -- a levels are A LOT more work than GCSEs, and universities will not look upon you any different for doing 4, no matter what other people say. they know that it is too much with the new a levels and all so they aren't expecting 4 from anybody.
this combo would allow you to go into basically everything :smile:

Reply 2

Steliata

Original post by dee08

Hi there

From what you said about wanting to do journalism, I'd recommend Language. I'm doing it now (on the new spec too) and you really learn to do proper analysis, which will be useful for journalism. You also have to do creative writing, which is purposely made (at least on the specimen paper) so that you have to talk about a complicated topic to an audience who wouldn't know about that subject. Since that's basically journalism, I'd say go for language :smile:

Also with regards to the uni situation, it's rubbish that language isn't considered as good as literature, but it is true that it unfortunately happens.
I'm aiming for top unis like you and I took language because I enjoy it more and they don't mind what subjects I do for my course, but I'm aware some courses require literature. So have a look at the kind of degree subjects you might be interested in and what subjects they need/recommend to be competitive. If they require literature and you want to do language, take both. You can always switch subjects if you change your mind later this year, and since you have an interest in English by the looks of things then I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Language should be called linguistics in my opinion, there's an awful lot of technical vocab and stuff from the start which you have to get to grips with to get good marks in analytical essays. It might be boring but since you seem to have an interest in how languages work, you might find it interesting like I do. You very quickly get to a level where you can take apart even the simplest sentence and say loads about it, which is pretty awesome! :smile:

Essentially it's a toss up between whether you like analysing fiction and stuff to do with stories or prefer to analyse real situations and take a more scientific approach. Good luck in your GCSEs, by the way :smile:

Reply 3

ellsy95

I did English Language and I quite enjoyed it - and I think it did help me with my journalism course. Over the course, I remember correctly, we learnt about the different types of writing and styles (commentary, sports writing, parliamentary language, child language acquistion etc) which was pretty interesting (as well as language over time) but you also learn about the different types of verbs, adjectives.. and a lot about grammar. But if you think you'll enjoy the course - go for it.

I didn't take literature, so I can't really comment on it but I would say that you should go for the course that you'd enjoy most. There's no point in picking a course (that you'll do for two years, or fast-tracking for one year) that you'll resent/dislike doing mid-way through. Also, I'm sure there's plenty of universities that will take you on with a Language course!

Reply 4

anonanon123

so have you decided then? :smile:

Reply 5

dee08

Original post by anonanon123

so have you decided then? :smile:

Still not sure :frown:

. My friends are all saying take literature and I do enjoy it but English language just seems so much more useful in life. I wish it was a 'facilitating' subject

Reply 6

anonanon123

Original post by dee08

Still not sure :frown:

. My friends are all saying take literature and I do enjoy it but English language just seems so much more useful in life. I wish it was a 'facilitating' subject

honestly, just to language. you do not need to worry about facilitating subjects as you will have 2 (or 3 if you take that extra a level) and 2 is the max they will ever want, apart from those really specific courses like engineering n stuff.

you will not do well in literature if you do not enjoy it so I 100% recommend language, it fits in much better with journalism and unis will know this.

do not worry about what your friends are saying. update me when you send your choices in haha

Reply 7

dee08

Original post by anonanon123

I chose biology, physics, maths and english lit. I hope it's alright but I can hopefully change if I really dont like it. Thank you for the help though :smile: