Politics A level for International Relations

Hi,

I’m just wondering whether taking politics at a level is a good choice or not.

I’m taking English lit and philosophy and have already taken economics. I’m unsure whether or not I should swap politics with one of the ones I am currently studying.

Can someone shed some light on this, if someone has taken politics for a level and is now studying IR at uni. I’m flapping a bit because I’ve heard it is very useful, but I’m having my doubts because so many people are saying how useful philosophy is.

I don’t mind taking either of them, both subjects internet me a lot.

best A levels for IR: a foreign language or two, econ and history. you can swap phil for politics if you want... english is at least a traditional a level

thank you for your response. I think I'll swap politics for English Lit, as I want to take A-Levels that will set me up best for uni and ones I have an interest in. All the ones I've mentioned are ones I have an interest in. I am surprised you say history or even economics is better than Politics. What is your background if you don't mind me asking?

well i didn't do IR but it is the 'flagship' degree at my uni (St Andrews)... it's very highly regarded and popular with thousands of Americans who apply every year so i know a lot about IR despite never having studied it In Scotland you study 3 subjects in your first year or two and beginners Arabic, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish were the most popular choices with IR and understandably so!

If the uni I go to has an option for a year abroad I doubt I’d take it, which is a shame I know, but I have other commitments. Good luck at your uni

I’ve applied to uni this year to Durham (IR), UCL (politics and IR), Bristol (pol and ir), Cardiff (IR) and potentially LSE/ Exeter. If you want I’ll update you with how I get on!! I do history economics and English lit

Yeh please do update me. I’ve been looking at KCL myself. I’m a mature student so I don’t really have the luxury of asking teachers questions about A-Levels, but did they say anything about your subject combination or did anyone try and steer towards taking those ones? From what I’ve gathered so far I see politics, philosophy and economics being the best to set oneself up to study IR

They are good but personally I was told that for unis that are higher in the rankings you should definitely Have 1 or 2 “facilitating subjects”. I’d be careful with KCL as well as they are the only uni outside Oxbridge that ask for A*AA but they’re still not amazing on the rankings

yeh i have thought about that and wondered why KCL have such a high entry requirement...surely people can se for themselves that it's very high and might be put off. I had a friend who studied there and did economics and she said it was fine. KCL does have a very good war studies department and their IR offering interlinks with it's famous war studies department, so if I make the grade i would still attend.

May i ask, why did you choose to not do politics, because you've already got 2 facilitating subjects (history and lit)? I think I'm going to email some unis and find out from them what they say and I can let you know if you like? ... I'm so stuck as to which subjects to take! I'm taking them summer of 2020.

The only thing that has put me off UCL is the fact that it looks very boring (quantitative methods etc), so I have a feeling it would be too boring for me and may drag. I have a lot of friends that have taken BSc and have said this. However.... looking at the LSE IR modules list, it looks very interesting, especially in the third year - http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/calendar/programmeRegulations/undergraduate/2018/BScInternationalRelations.htm

I am also looking at QMUL as an outside option. London based and also Russell Group (just)...entry requirements are lower and less intimidating, however, this might be a telltale sign of the quality of the course. SOAS also looks intriguing and lower entry requirements than KCL and similar rankings in that field of study.

Hi,

I’m just wondering whether taking politics at a level is a good choice or not.

I’m taking English lit and philosophy and have already taken economics. I’m unsure whether or not I should swap politics with one of the ones I am currently studying.

Can someone shed some light on this, if someone has taken politics for a level and is now studying IR at uni. I’m flapping a bit because I’ve heard it is very useful, but I’m having my doubts because so many people are saying how useful philosophy is.

I don’t mind taking either of them, both subjects internet me a lot.

i don't understand how your friends have taken it as its a new course lol. i find economics super interesting and i think a lot of what we learn can link to politics and IR and as politics isn't a necessary subject for taking it at uni i figured i would try and broaden my horizons slightly so that when i (hopefully!) start uni im not just relearning information and i can see stuff from different perspectives a bit more

with regards to UCL i was originally put off at the thought of all those modules in the second year but i find the optional modules really interesting personally which is why i decided to apply.

Politics A-level isn't that important for a pure IR degree. To be honest, politics A-level isn't even anything likely politics at university, let alone IR.

I would say history or geography are better, because they're traditional subjects, relevant to IR, and the essay skills you learn from them are very transferrable.

(I currently study Politics at university, and didn't do Politics A-level. I have several friends doing IR, and most of them didn't do politics A-level either - they all did geography & history though)

I'd agree with LeapingLucy. I did IR at undergrad and didn't do Politics in sixth form. It didn't hinder me at all. I'd say history and geography are the best ones you can do, along with economics. Geography was honestly the most relevant subject I did in sixth form, as part of my geography course looked at globalisation, which is the foundation part of IR.

Politics A-level isn't that important for a pure IR degree. To be honest, politics A-level isn't even anything likely politics at university, let alone IR.

I would say history or geography are better, because they're traditional subjects, relevant to IR, and the essay skills you learn from them are very transferrable.

(I currently study Politics at university, and didn't do Politics A-level. I have several friends doing IR, and most of them didn't do politics A-level either - they all did geography & history though)

Hoping to apply for entry in 2021 and I did IB but my HLs were Spanish, Geography and Economics so glad to hear this!!