Psychology or philosophy & Ethics?
Hey guys, I want to get into a career in law. My original choice for a levels was economics, maths, history and English lit (as going into business and finance was my backup). However now I'm dropping English Lit and taking either psychology or philosophyðics but I'm not sure which one to choose. Any recommendations? Including what to expect for the a level, what the exams are like and so forth. Thanks 
Original post by skullz01242
Hey guys, I want to get into a career in law. My original choice for a levels was economics, maths, history and English lit (as going into business and finance was my backup). However now I'm dropping English Lit and taking either psychology or philosophyðics but I'm not sure which one to choose. Any recommendations? Including what to expect for the a level, what the exams are like and so forth. Thanks
I think Philosophy is most fitting if you want to go into Law. It might spike your interest in the ethics of law-making and the judiciary. Which one are you leaning towards?
I also want to apply for Law - and what I've learned is that subjects do not matter; it is the grades you get in them.
Pick the subject you enjoy more and think you would do better in.
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Pick the subject you enjoy more and think you would do better in.
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Again as someone previous has said the subject choice does not matter for law it is the grades you get in them, however more traditional subjects show skills that are very useful for a law degree like history and english lit. I personally just finished my AS in philosophy and ethics and it is incredibly interesting and there is a lot of bits relating to medical law and ethical decision making which should be very useful.
Pros for Philosophy and ethics:
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
Original post by MeganOyinka
Pros for Philosophy and ethics:
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
Would you recommend psychology for getting better grades? I've done Phil&Ethics gcse and apparently the a level syllabus expands on the gcse syllabus.
Original post by skullz01242
Would you recommend psychology for getting better grades? I've done Phil&Ethics gcse and apparently the a level syllabus expands on the gcse syllabus.
I know they are changing the spec for philosophy and ethics but I would say the new psychology spec is probably easier to get good grades many people haven't done psychology at gcse so they go through it thoroughly and the text books are in quite good depth I don't think this would be the same for philosophy and ethics
Hi, I've applied to do a Law degree at Durham (fingers crossed for the grades on the 18th lmao) and I did Philo and Ethics at AS/A2. It was my favourite subject - I found it incredibly enriching, interesting, and it got me properly into philosophy which I now read in my spare time. The essay writing is a hugely valuable skill, which will come in handy in a law degree - your teacher should hopefully show you how to form a proper argument and evaluate the issues in much detail.
Original post by connieiscrazy
Hi, I've applied to do a Law degree at Durham (fingers crossed for the grades on the 18th lmao) and I did Philo and Ethics at AS/A2. It was my favourite subject - I found it incredibly enriching, interesting, and it got me properly into philosophy which I now read in my spare time. The essay writing is a hugely valuable skill, which will come in handy in a law degree - your teacher should hopefully show you how to form a proper argument and evaluate the issues in much detail.
I'm interested in applying to read Law at Durham. Can I ask what your GCSE grades were?
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Original post by francis_e_c
I'm interested in applying to read Law at Durham. Can I ask what your GCSE grades were?
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9A* 1A
Original post by skullz01242
Hey guys, I want to get into a career in law. My original choice for a levels was economics, maths, history and English lit (as going into business and finance was my backup). However now I'm dropping English Lit and taking either psychology or philosophyðics but I'm not sure which one to choose. Any recommendations? Including what to expect for the a level, what the exams are like and so forth. Thanks
Either will do.
They will teach your fundamental essay writing techniques as well as reading big amounts of writing.
Psychology will be useful to a Law degree just because Psychology deals with case studies which you'll obviously have to do throughout your Law degree. So that might be a reason for it it.
Philosophy/Ethics will be good cause it will teach you all about logic and reasoning. Which is incredibly important for Law as all I see is about arguing your case. Philo/Ethics teaches you how to argue in a logical form of way, making you more aware of implications in arguing which is a good skill when thinking about Law.
In terms of subject content-wise, Psychology is good if you wish to explore Criminal Law if you do abnormal or criminal psychology as a unit at A-level. Philo/Ethics has more economical units like in Ethics, you'll study Business Ethics, Medical Ethics and Environmental Ethics. So that will go well if you wish to go into that field of law.
Philosophy is all about the religion aspects of Philosophy, whereas, Ethics is all about the moral aspects of Philosophy - like what it means to be a person, what is the true definition of "evil", should their be limitations of women becoming pregnant at a certain age, etc.
I would say have a look at the specifications. Go for which sounds more interesting. If you like case studies and a lot more digesting evidence such as tables, data, percentages, etc then go for Psychology. If you prefer to question the world about religion and morality, then go for Philo/Ethics.
Good luck!
Original post by MeganOyinka
Pros for Philosophy and ethics:
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
- Allows you to develop critical thinking skills which would be great for a career in law
- It is one of the subjects that comes up in the Law National Admissions Test which universities like oxford and UCL
- You will really enjoy it if you are interested in current affairs and debates
- If you are good at essay writing you will NOT find the subject hard
- Depending on what board you will be examined with you may have flexibility to study topics you enjoy and have an interest in
Pros for psychology:
- If you are good a science and maths (which you probably are) the subject won't be too hard
- The grade boundaries are generally lower
- If you don't get your desired grades you could always take a degree in law and criminology
Both are very relevant to the subject of law personally I think that if you have good teachers and like a challenge then philosophy and ethics may be the best choice
I hope this helps I've done both subjects at AS level and continuing both on to A2 and also hoping to take a law degree (though I hadn't decided on this when I choose my subjects) If you are still unsure over the summer I would do some wider reading for each subject and see which one you enjoyed learning about the most, for Philosophy and ethics I would recommend God Delusion and for psychology the case study on Genie, I think ultimately choose the subject you enjoy most there is no point studying something you do not like, you won't be motivated to revise and your grades won't be as good. Getting good grades is really the key at the end of the day
Philosophy/Ethics is basically Religious Studies. It's not Philosophy where you study epistemology, metaethics or anything. It solely looking at certain types of religion and, fundamentally criticizing it. It also has nothing to do with current affairs. Being good at easy writing has nothing to do with the content. RS is mainly to do with the subject content which makes it difficult, not being bad at writing essays (although that clearly wouldn't help). And Philo/Ethics has only one exam board, which is OCR.
Also Psychology is notorious for having stupidly high grade boundaries, so I don't know where you got your information from saying it has low ones.
And you do not need an A-level in Psychology to study Criminology.
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