Which A Levels should I choose?

These are my choices for two different colleges. Which one should I choose and which would be better for Law at Uni?

First college:
Law
Religious Studies
Ancient History

Second college:
History
Government and Politics
Philosophy

I actually prefer the first college in terms of where I want to go and I prefer the subjects. But what would look better and be more useful for Law at Uni?

Thank you.

Reply 1

squirrology

20

Original post by TaqbirC

These are my choices for two different colleges. Which one should I choose and which would be better for Law at Uni?

First college:
Law
Religious Studies
Ancient History

Second college:
History
Government and Politics
Philosophy

I actually prefer the first college in terms of where I want to go and I prefer the subjects. But what would look better and be more useful for Law at Uni?

Thank you.

There aren't any essential A-levels to take for Law, as long as you at least have one facilitating subject and an essay based subject. I would personally say the subjects in the Second college are substantially better than the first college.

History - Is classified as a strong and facilitating essay based subject which will be an advantage to have when applying for universities.

Gov & Politics and Philosophy: Both enable you to structure arguments/get into debates and Gov & Politics is an A-level subject which is mainly taken by Law students, additionally, you would be able to learn more about how the country is governed etc.

However, if you prefer the first college and think you would get better grades then I would definitely choose there as they are still good subjects to have:

Religious studies - It is not a facilitating subject but it will still give you a decent amount of preparation for university study.

Law - Very useful to have but it's not exactly essential

Hope this somewhat helped

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 2

chris2791

16

Original post by squirrology

There aren't any essential A-levels to take for Law, as long as you at least have one facilitating subject and an essay based subject. I would personally say the subjects in the Second college are substantially better than the first college.

History - Is classified as a strong and facilitating essay based subject which will be an advantage to have when applying for universities.

Gov & Politics and Philosophy: Both enable you to structure arguments/get into debates and Gov & Politics is an A-level subject which is mainly taken by Law students, additionally, you would be able to learn more about how the country is governed etc.

However, if you prefer the first college and think you would get better grades then I would definitely choose there as they are still good subjects to have:

Religious studies - It is not a facilitating subject but it will still give you a decent amount of preparation for university study.

Law - Very useful to have but it's not exactly essential

Hope this somewhat helped

I'm taking law my mum is a law teacher and she said law would be really good to take and all of her students whom took law at alevel are now at russel group unis so definitely go to college one im doing biology chemistry and law

Reply 3

TaqbirC

OP

7

Original post by squirrology

There aren't any essential A-levels to take for Law, as long as you at least have one facilitating subject and an essay based subject. I would personally say the subjects in the Second college are substantially better than the first college.

History - Is classified as a strong and facilitating essay based subject which will be an advantage to have when applying for universities.

Gov & Politics and Philosophy: Both enable you to structure arguments/get into debates and Gov & Politics is an A-level subject which is mainly taken by Law students, additionally, you would be able to learn more about how the country is governed etc.

However, if you prefer the first college and think you would get better grades then I would definitely choose there as they are still good subjects to have:

Religious studies - It is not a facilitating subject but it will still give you a decent amount of preparation for university study.

Law - Very useful to have but it's not exactly essential

Hope this somewhat helped

Is there any difference between Religious Studies and Philosophy? Also is Ancient History as strong as History??

Thank you for the reply.

Reply 4

username2692395

17

Thing with Law A Level is it is quite general. It lays down the basics of Law, but universities tend to prefer more core subjects, like History, Philosophy, RS, etc.

It doesn't really matter either way - I think the stronger subjects are in the second college option, but it is important that you enjoy your A levels otherwise you wont perform as well as you'd want to, so if you significantly prefer the first college then go there :smile:

Reply 5

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Both sets are suitable overall, although the first may limit your options slightly more than the second. Some universities may not consider all (or potentially, any) of those subjects as "hard" options, aka facilitating/preferred/whatever subjects. This shouldn't put you off as it's a very small number who would quibble over that combination too much (and there are enough elite universities which would accept those as well to make a balanced application - LSE for instance).

I may suggest swapping one of the options from the first set for History (probably Religious Studies or Law over Ancient History) if you absolutely wanted to eliminate any possibility of limitation. However they're generally suitable and relevant, and if you have an interest in them and the dedication to focus on those and excel in the exams, that is much more important than trying to fulfill some arbitrary requirement imposed by a handful of universities.

Reply 6

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

21

Original post by TaqbirC

Is there any difference between Religious Studies and Philosophy? Also is Ancient History as strong as History??

Thank you for the reply.

Also a slightly more specific response to the above:

Ancient History is part of the "Classical Studies" brochure of courses broadly, which cover various elements of the time period. They're generally accepted as suitable preparation for university, although not always as "preferred" subjects. History is seen as very rigorous academic preparation for university and is highly valued by universities - it's usually considered a preferred or facilitating subject as a result. So, History is considered "stronger" than Ancient History, but both are good subjects to take.

Philosophy considers a broader range of "problems" and uses a wider range of approaches in analysing these than Religious Studies, on a general level. In terms of the A-levels, Philosophy curricula usually have about 25% on religious philosophy, and consider other areas besides that (some of which are also relevant in different ways, but religious philosophy, and also religious studies, will consider the broader issues looked at by philosophy through the specific lens of religion and Theology).

Religious Studies focuses on this perspective, and also has some more specific analysis of theologians and their work. There may be some scriptural work involved, although I believe it would be incidental, rather than the primary focus. RS at A-level curricula tend to focus on Christianity primarily as a close analysis, rather than the more comparative approach at GCSE, although this may vary somewhat between exam boars and providers.

As an aside, Philosophy is more commonly accepted as a suitable academic preparation A-level than Religious Studies, although both are accepted by various courses and institutions fairly widely. However if push came to shove, Philosophy would be accepted by more "top tier" universities unconditionally, rather than as a third/fourth A-level only for example. Also Ancient History would be broadly on par with Philosophy, or possibly pegged slightly ahead, in this sense, with History well ahead as every major university accepts History as a preferred subject that I am aware of.

It's worth noting however Cambridge considers Philosophy equally with Ancient History and Religious Studies (also Law) in general - specific colleges may have different views however. Any three of those could, in theory, be accepted for applying to Cambridge, although they may prefer to see something such as History or English Literature (and Language if the combined A-level is an option). But as you can see, these are generally acceptable by Cambridge and this should translate to most other institutions.

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 7

That'sGreat

21

Original post by TaqbirC

These are my choices for two different colleges. Which one should I choose and which would be better for Law at Uni?

First college:
Law
Religious Studies
Ancient History

Second college:
History
Government and Politics
Philosophy

I actually prefer the first college in terms of where I want to go and I prefer the subjects. But what would look better and be more useful for Law at Uni?

Thank you.

Second one in a heartbeat. Law is (no offence) kind of a crap a level in terms of helping you out for a good uni.

Where do you plan on studying at university?

Reply 8

Humaira_18

5

Original post by TaqbirC

These are my choices for two different colleges. Which one should I choose and which would be better for Law at Uni?

First college:
Law
Religious Studies
Ancient History

Second college:
History
Government and Politics
Philosophy

I actually prefer the first college in terms of where I want to go and I prefer the subjects. But what would look better and be more useful for Law at Uni?

Thank you.

Original post by squirrology

There aren't any essential A-levels to take for Law, as long as you at least have one facilitating subject and an essay based subject. I would personally say the subjects in the Second college are substantially better than the first college.

History - Is classified as a strong and facilitating essay based subject which will be an advantage to have when applying for universities.

Gov & Politics and Philosophy: Both enable you to structure arguments/get into debates and Gov & Politics is an A-level subject which is mainly taken by Law students, additionally, you would be able to learn more about how the country is governed etc.

However, if you prefer the first college and think you would get better grades then I would definitely choose there as they are still good subjects to have:

Religious studies - It is not a facilitating subject but it will still give you a decent amount of preparation for university study.

Law - Very useful to have but it's not exactly essential

Hope this somewhat helped

both options are good but philosophy requires you to think more outside the box, finding solutions to appease both sides which is definitely what universities are looking for

Which A Levels should I choose?

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