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A-levels for International Relations

I'm planning on doing Economics and English Literature but I can't decide on the third subject. I could either do History or Government & Politics. I'm leaning towards Government & Politics because the workload may be too much if I did History alongside my first two subjects. However, if I were to do Economics, English Literature and Government & Politics, I would be doing two non-facilitating subjects. Would this matter if I'm applying for International Relations at the following universities?

King's
Durham
St Andrews
Bath
Cambridge (via HSPS)

Reply 1

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Lifal12

If you prefer politics then you should take it.

The only reason history is on the 'facilitating subjects' list and politics isn't is because history is required if you want to do a degree in history, whereas you can do a degree in politics (or economics, for that matter) without having studied it before. LSE and UCL both have politics and economics on their preferred A level subject lists, and even Cambridge acknowledges that politics is useful for certain degrees (such as HSPS, see below):

"If you'd like to study an arts or social sciences course at university but you're not sure which one, then English Literature, History, languages and Mathematics are good 'keystone' subjects: choosing one or more of these can provide a good foundation for your subject combination.

Other good choices to combine these subjects with include: an additional language, Ancient History, Classical Civilisation, Economics, Further Mathematics, Geography, Philosophy, Religious Studies and sciences (Biology, Chemistry or Physics).

Other possible subject choices - for instance Archaeology, English Language, Environmental Science, Government and Politics, History of Art, Law, Music, Psychology or Sociology - can be useful preparation for some of our arts and social sciences courses."

At the end of the day, A*AA (in Economics, English Literature and Government & Politics) is better than AAA (Economics, English Literature and History), especially if you want to apply to Cambridge.

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