What should I do for my A-levels?

You may think that you already know which degree you want to do but you may change your mind once you get to A-Levels. When choosing a degree you need to think a lot of about future job prospects, employability and salaries and the like and then you need to compare it to other degrees you are interested in. It is way too early in Y11 to start thinking about all this.

Don’t make the mistake of tailoring all your subjects to one specific degree and then regretting it when you change your mind later. Right now it may seem like there’s no way because you really want to do Earth and Planetary Science but I’m just saying to think about the fact that you could change your mind down the line.

I did Maths, Biology and Chemistry. Chemistry does have aspects of maths in physical chemistry and physics definitely has a lot of math related content too (I haven’t done it but I think it’s harder than normal maths based on friend’s opinions). It is hard to escape maths, it’s everywhere. If the degree you want has maths as a requirement, it means they want people who know at least A-Level standard Maths before they start. Maths in your degree could be much harder than even at A-Level so you need to think of that too.

You should choose your A-Level subjects based on what general career path you want to go to and what you enjoy. Or if you have no idea about which general career path, choose subjects that you don’t mind doing/like but also have a wide range of degree options that stem from them.

I personally chose my subjects because I knew that I wanted to work in something science related and that I couldn’t see myself doing any other subjects - I also knew that my 3 subjects would open up a lot of different science related degrees. I changed my mind many times when choosing a degree option after looking at salaries/type of work/employability/general career pathway.

I hope this helps in some way

Right so currently I'm in Year 11 and I'm predicted 8s and 9s in all my GCSE subjects so I pretty much free to choose whatever path I want. I was completely set on what I wanted to do until about a month ago when I had a slight existential crisis and now I'm just confused.

I have narrowed it down to 4 A-level subjects: geography, chemistry, German and physics. I would love to do these subjects but most colleges/sixth forms require A-level Maths and I can't explain just how much I abhor maths .

However, I have recently discovered a degree that is perfect for me: Earth and Planetary Science. It combines chemistry, physics and geography and focuses on planets, moons, asteroids, and comets, along with geological and geophysical processes in the Solar System, which is everything I have ever dreamt of learning about. The only downside being that it requires a A-level Maths and at least one Science A-level.

So now I don't know what to do. Should I just suffer another 2 years of maths to achieve my dream degree or choose another combination? My heart is set on doing geography, chemistry and German but maybe I should change that. I really don't know anymore. Any advice would be appreciated.