A-level choices limiting chances at uni?

When I chose what I wanted to do as my a-levels I picked subjects that interested in me rather than those which are facilitating subjects. I ended up choosing biology, psychology, business and law and I know some of those universities don't really like since they're seen as 'soft' options.

Considering the fact I want to go to a RG university, is this going to (potentially) limit me, or would they prefer for me to do subjects I enjoy (and so am more motivated to do well in) despite being less traditional?

Reply 1

BekahMay

If you meet the criteria they wont mind, they only normally have an issue with things like critical thinking. :smile:

@kirstybecs

Reply 2

LenniesRabbit

What are you planning to do in Uni may I ask?

I have picked Psychology, Sociology, English Lit and Politics because i know for a fact i will do well in them. I wish to study Psychology and then MSc in Social Psychology in the future, and so there is no real recommended subjects to take for that route. But obviously i found that Unis favoured Bio and Maths along with Psych which I knew for a fact i would not do well in and simply couldn't risk taking them. At the same time, however, I saw that many Unis didn't state their preferences and just gave desired grades with no specific topic mentioned so I guess it depends on what you're planning to do in university. I always say to pick subjects that you love and will guarantee you an AAA than subjects forced onto you that will get you a BBB, but i do also understand the fact that some of these options would be limiting and may not be very attractive to some universities.

Reply 3

kirstybecs

Original post by LenniesRabbit

What are you planning to do in Uni may I ask?

Ideally law with politics however I'd be satisfied doing just law

Reply 4

LenniesRabbit

Original post by kirstybecs

Ideally law with politics however I'd be satisfied doing just law

Hmm, with that then I would have to say that Law Alevel may not be the best idea if you were to study Law in University. It's said to be soft because Universities prefer to teach you law themselves and the things taught in alevel are very...basic and may not be the right choice. I say do a bit more research around Law Alevel and how its viewed especially on this website because there are some very distinct reasons that many have pointed out in opposition to the subject.

Hope this has helped?

Reply 5

kirstybecs

Original post by LenniesRabbit

Yeah I know loads of them don't really like it, it was just to find out if I actually liked the subject before going on to do a three/four year degree (but I suppose I could have got rid of this uncertainty by reading around the subject)

It has, thank you!

Reply 6

AmyPilot

Original post by kirstybecs

Ideally law with politics however I'd be satisfied doing just law

Best to check the uni websites that interest you - they usually list "preferred subjects" - just quickly checked U of Manchester and you would be fine their for law with politics.

Reply 7

swanseajack1

This might help UCL list of preferred subjects

Preferred A levels A Ancient History
Anthropology
Arabic
Archaeology
Art and Design
Art and Design: 3D Design
Art and Design: Critical and Contextual Studies
Art and Design: Fine Art
Art and Design: Graphic Design
Art and Design: Photography
Art and Design: TextilesB Bengali
Biblical Hebrew
Biology
Biology (Salters-Nuffield)
Biology (Human)
Biology B
BusinessC Chemistry
Chemistry (Nuffield)
Chemistry (Salters)
Chinese
Classical Civilisation
Classical Greek
Computer ScienceD Drama (WJEC specification)
Drama and Theatre Studies
DutchE Economics
Economics B
Economics and Business
Economics and Business Studies (Nuffield)
English Language
English Language and Literature
English Literature (specifications A or B where applicable)
Environmental Science
Environmental StudiesF Film Studies
FrenchG Geography A
Geography B
Geology
German
Government and Politics
GujaratiH History
History of Art
History of Art and DesignI Information and Communication Technology
Irish
ItalianJ JapaneseL Latin
LawM Mathematics
Mathematics (MEI)
Further Mathematics
Pure Mathematics
Modern Greek
Modern Hebrew
MusicP Panjabi
Persian
Philosophy
Physics
Physics (Advancing Physics)
Physics (Salters-Horners)
Polish
Portuguese
Psychology
Psychology A
Psychology BR Religious Studies
RussianS Sociology Spanish
StatisticsT TurkishU Urdu W Welsh
Welsh (Second Language)