GCSE Latin for Oxbridge

Looking to pick my GCSE subjects for the next 2 years and I am stuck by my school's limitation of maximum nine GCSE subject areas (it's a large well known boarding school in the South-East). I am undecided re course of study, but I can narrow it down a little bit to medicine, economics, PPE and CompSci.

So far I am decided on the below:
1- Maths + FMSQ
2- English language
3- Biology
4- Chemistry
5- French
6- Spanish

So have to drop one (can keep three) of the below four:
* Physics
* Latin
* History
* CompSci

I am thinking about dropping Latin... around 2/3 of students in my school take it, love the subject, but can see little benefit for future career other than for medicine on a tangent. But is it wise to drop any of the others to keep Latin? I'm not sure...

For the rest of the choices:

* History: around 1/2 of students in my school take it. I am hearing that it is recommended for PPE and Economics, but that English language or an MFL like French or Spanish would be equally valuable. Do I limit myself in my future choices / competitiveness if I don't include history in my GCSE choices? Can I even take history A-levels if I don't?

* Physics: nearly everyone on my school takes it. Almost embarrassing if you don't. Looks like it's kind of useful for medicine and economics, but it is not a strict requirement. Do I close any doors if I don't pick it?

* CompSci: around 1/3 of students in my school take it, mostly because it is reserved for only top maths sets, so nearly everyone who can does it. Do I limit my options if I don't take it, but others do? I am thinking in terms of internal competition, coming from the same secondary to Oxbridge, do I disadvantage myself if I offer say [ Maths + FM + Chemistry ] vs a peer who offers [ Maths + FM + CompSci ]?

What do you think? Can 'safely' drop Latin without jeopardising my outlook and potentially narrowing my options?

Reply 1

Scotland Yard

Clearing and Applications Advisor, Universities Forum Helper

20

Original post by SomeTacosBJ

Looking to pick my GCSE subjects for the next 2 years and I am stuck by my school's limitation of maximum nine GCSE subject areas (it's a large well known boarding school in the South-East). I am undecided re course of study, but I can narrow it down a little bit to medicine, economics, PPE and CompSci.

So far I am decided on the below:
1- Maths + FMSQ
2- English language
3- Biology
4- Chemistry
5- French
6- Spanish

So have to drop one (can keep three) of the below four:
* Physics
* Latin
* History
* CompSci

I am thinking about dropping Latin... around 2/3 of students in my school take it, love the subject, but can see little benefit for future career other than for medicine on a tangent. But is it wise to drop any of the others to keep Latin? I'm not sure...

For the rest of the choices:

* History: around 1/2 of students in my school take it. I am hearing that it is recommended for PPE and Economics, but that English language or an MFL like French or Spanish would be equally valuable. Do I limit myself in my future choices / competitiveness if I don't include history in my GCSE choices? Can I even take history A-levels if I don't?

* Physics: nearly everyone on my school takes it. Almost embarrassing if you don't. Looks like it's kind of useful for medicine and economics, but it is not a strict requirement. Do I close any doors if I don't pick it?

* CompSci: around 1/3 of students in my school take it, mostly because it is reserved for only top maths sets, so nearly everyone who can does it. Do I limit my options if I don't take it, but others do? I am thinking in terms of internal competition, coming from the same secondary to Oxbridge, do I disadvantage myself if I offer say [ Maths + FM + Chemistry ] vs a peer who offers [ Maths + FM + CompSci ]?

What do you think? Can 'safely' drop Latin without jeopardising my outlook and potentially narrowing my options?

You're seriously overthinking this. GCSEs aren't that important! You can take Latin if you want. You can drop any of those four subjects if you want, as long as your sixth form will allow you to take said A level without having done it at GCSE (shouldn't be too much of a problem) :smile:

Reply 2

melancollege

17

Latin is not a requirement for any of these courses. Also these courses are really different from each other, what are your motivations for studying them?

Reply 3

AF2Dr

12

I would agree with the above post that your potential university courses are quite different.

However, based on what you've said, dropping Latin probably makes the most sense.

Reply 4

Picnicl

15

The problem is your 4 potential fields of study are all related in some way to the subjects, or, in the case of Computer Science, actually is one of those 4 subjects.
Which potential field of study are you going to drop as anything but a hobby:
Medicine
Economics
PPE
Computer Science

It's such a broad range that it needs to be thought of so that you eventually choose a useful set of A Levels too. Because you're currently so split between arts and sciences that you might as well become an architect or a games designer.

I don't really want you to drop Latin because it's literally a 'classic' subject that confers a sense of serious, ancient, civilised, learning on anyone's CV or university application. It's also not taught at many schools in the state sector.

(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 5

lawofducks123

12

Original post by SomeTacosBJ

Looking to pick my GCSE subjects for the next 2 years and I am stuck by my school's limitation of maximum nine GCSE subject areas (it's a large well known boarding school in the South-East). I am undecided re course of study, but I can narrow it down a little bit to medicine, economics, PPE and CompSci.

So far I am decided on the below:
1- Maths + FMSQ
2- English language
3- Biology
4- Chemistry
5- French
6- Spanish

So have to drop one (can keep three) of the below four:
* Physics
* Latin
* History
* CompSci

I am thinking about dropping Latin... around 2/3 of students in my school take it, love the subject, but can see little benefit for future career other than for medicine on a tangent. But is it wise to drop any of the others to keep Latin? I'm not sure...

For the rest of the choices:

* History: around 1/2 of students in my school take it. I am hearing that it is recommended for PPE and Economics, but that English language or an MFL like French or Spanish would be equally valuable. Do I limit myself in my future choices / competitiveness if I don't include history in my GCSE choices? Can I even take history A-levels if I don't?

* Physics: nearly everyone on my school takes it. Almost embarrassing if you don't. Looks like it's kind of useful for medicine and economics, but it is not a strict requirement. Do I close any doors if I don't pick it?

* CompSci: around 1/3 of students in my school take it, mostly because it is reserved for only top maths sets, so nearly everyone who can does it. Do I limit my options if I don't take it, but others do? I am thinking in terms of internal competition, coming from the same secondary to Oxbridge, do I disadvantage myself if I offer say [ Maths + FM + Chemistry ] vs a peer who offers [ Maths + FM + CompSci ]?

What do you think? Can 'safely' drop Latin without jeopardising my outlook and potentially narrowing my options?

I could be wrong, but I would suggest keeping physics as I think it is often expected that people have GCSEs in all three sciences. Normally A-Levels matter more than GCSEs in terms of subject requirements for uni, so it might be worth looking at wherever you want to do your A-Levels and seeing what subject requirements they have for subjects you are interested in. (essentially, GCSEs subjects tend to only matter in terms of the A-Levels they enable you to do, and A-Levels matter subject-wise for uni)

GCSE Latin for Oxbridge

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