A-level sociology advice

I'm currently fast tracking a level sociology and I'm finding it easy in comparison to my other subjects but it is still reasonably difficult.

The biggest warning I have is that some of the prestigious universities don't see sociology as a legitimate qualification so it can affect uni applications.

Also I've heard that the a level course is similar to the GCSE so you shouldn't find it too hard

Reply 2

username3731912

Original post by caitlinhayes

I'm currently fast tracking a level sociology and I'm finding it easy in comparison to my other subjects but it is still reasonably difficult.

The biggest warning I have is that some of the prestigious universities don't see sociology as a legitimate qualification so it can affect uni applications.

Also I've heard that the a level course is similar to the GCSE so you shouldn't find it too hard

OP ignore this. Universities accept sociology as a qualification because it is one. If it weren’t legitimate it wouldn’t be an A-Level. Not that hard to understand. It’s all dependent on the course you wanna apply for. You wanna apply for engineering? Obviously sociology wouldn’t be accepted.

Reply 3

harrysbar

Original post by anonymous1231231

OP ignore this. Universities accept sociology as a qualification because it is one. If it weren’t legitimate it wouldn’t be an A-Level. Not that hard to understand. It’s all dependent on the course you wanna apply for. You wanna apply for engineering? Obviously sociology wouldn’t be accepted.

Agreed - sociology is a perfectly legitimate A level

Reply 4

Original post by anonymous1231231

OP ignore this. Universities accept sociology as a qualification because it is one. If it weren’t legitimate it wouldn’t be an A-Level. Not that hard to understand. It’s all dependent on the course you wanna apply for. You wanna apply for engineering? Obviously sociology wouldn’t be accepted.

I applied for history and the reason I got rejected was because I was studying a sociology a level lol but go off

Reply 5

harrysbar

Original post by caitlinhayes

I applied for history and the reason I got rejected was because I was studying a sociology a level lol but go off

That's strange when even Oxbridge accept Sociology A level

Reply 6

Original post by harrysbar

That's strange when even Oxbridge accept Sociology A level

Yeah they accept it but they don’t prioritise it above students with 3 facilitating subjects, I can be a downfall in the application depending on the applicants of that year

Reply 7

Harry Hutley

1

Original post by Zabidoo

In September I'm going to be taking sociology as an a-level
(Ive done it as a gcse too and am predicted a grade 7, but aiming for an 8 or 9)

Is there anything u wish u knew before u took it as an a-level that wudve helped u in the long run? Any regrets?

Just looking for any advice that wud be useful as I'm a bit of a control freak 😅

It is extremely different to the gcse, there are I would say 3/4 times the amount of knowledge to cover and sociologists to remember!

Reply 8

Zabidoo

OP

15

Original post by caitlinhayes

I applied for history and the reason I got rejected was because I was studying a sociology a level lol but go off

R u sure it was becuz u were studying sociology and not another reason? My sociology teachers said that universities can't do that (unless as said before it isn't relevent in the course u want to take)

Reply 9

username3731912

Original post by caitlinhayes

I applied for history and the reason I got rejected was because I was studying a sociology a level lol but go off

Did they actually tell you that? Which university was this and did you meet the minimum requirements? I have a really difficult time believing they rejected you because they didn’t accept sociology.

Reply 10

Original post by Zabidoo

R u sure it was becuz u were studying sociology and not another reason? My sociology teachers said that universities can't do that (unless as said before it isn't relevent in the course u want to take)

The uni put preference on facilitating subjects and with sociology not being one it didn't help. It's not the fact that its sociology it's the fact that it isn't facilitating if that makes sense?

It was the fact that compared to other applicants a levels it wasn't beneficial, so they were doing English Lit, History and French, sociology is necessarily a bad a level but in comparison it was.

But also it really depends on the uni this is Oxford I'm talking about so obviously this is extreme and it's the reason they gave me so it might be a cover for another reason but idk it's what I've been told

As well as that, when I applied my college told me it was less likely I'd get in because statistically it's not helpful

But I have still gotten offers from really good unis (thankfully) so again, it really depends

Reply 11

Original post by anonymous1231231

Did they actually tell you that? Which university was this and did you meet the minimum requirements? I have a really difficult time believing they rejected you because they didn’t accept sociology.

I didn't say they didn't accept sociology, it's just not seen as beneficial in an application compared to someone with 3 facilitating subjects which is why I got rejected.

It was Oxford, the requirements were AAA and I'm predicted A*A*A

My college advise against taking it due to it's undesirable nature (but that's just my college and what we've been told) and we only really do it here if we haven't got great GCSE's or if we need to fast track a subject

Although, I can admit that my college definitely hyperbolise the negativeness surrounding sociology as personally I do think it's a very beneficial qualification to have due to the deeper understanding it brings, I'm just speaking from personal experience

Reply 12

username3731912

Original post by caitlinhayes

I didn't say they didn't accept sociology, it's just not seen as beneficial in an application compared to someone with 3 facilitating subjects which is why I got rejected.

It was Oxford, the requirements were AAA and I'm predicted A*A*A

My college advise against taking it due to it's undesirable nature (but that's just my college and what we've been told) and we only really do it here if we haven't got great GCSE's or if we need to fast track a subject

Although, I can admit that my college definitely hyperbolise the negativeness surrounding sociology as personally I do think it's a very beneficial qualification to have due to the deeper understanding it brings, I'm just speaking from personal experience

You didn’t answer my question. Did Oxford reject you because of sociology?
You don’t understand the meaning of facilitating.

Reply 13

Maimuna_May

9

Original post by caitlinhayes

I didn't say they didn't accept sociology, it's just not seen as beneficial in an application compared to someone with 3 facilitating subjects which is why I got rejected.

It was Oxford, the requirements were AAA and I'm predicted A*A*A

My college advise against taking it due to it's undesirable nature (but that's just my college and what we've been told) and we only really do it here if we haven't got great GCSE's or if we need to fast track a subject

Although, I can admit that my college definitely hyperbolise the negativeness surrounding sociology as personally I do think it's a very beneficial qualification to have due to the deeper understanding it brings, I'm just speaking from personal experience

I've never heard of Sociology being an undesirable subject in general. Yes, it's not a facilitating subject, but it's not classed as a non-traditional subject and therefore it's generally not undesirable.

I took Sociology as an A Level and I was offered places at 3 Russel Group unis nevertheless. I even talked with one of the admissions tutor at Newnham College in Cambridge University, and she said that Sociology is an acceptable A Level.

The only exception that I would make to my statement is where you applied for a course that requires two or more subjects at A Level e.g. Medicine (which requires Chemistry and Biology) and Physical Sciences (which requires Maths, Physics, and possibly another Science).

Sociology would be suitable for courses that have no subject requirements (e.g. Law) or only requires one subject (History, English, Art). If anything, having Sociology as an A Level makes good preparation for essay-based courses that require critical thinking. My advice is unless a university explicitly states that Sociology isn't desired, then keep it by all means.

Reply 14

dddinot

2

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I agree

I only took A-level Sociology because A-level Psychology clashed with my other choices, but it ended up being my favourite A-level and now I'm applying to study it at university.

I found it really interesting as it gave me the opportunity to tie in my own experiences of being in a family and being involved with the education system to either empathise or disagree with theories about their functions. In a nutshell, there was a lot of 'questioning the system' (especially in the education module) and that gave me a certain sense of empowerment.

But as mentioned above, there is a lot of content to cover and learn, such as: statistics, sociologists' theories and their dates, basic concepts etc. but if it that is what you're interested in and believe you can do well, I see no reason why you shouldn't continue with it. On the flipside, if you're not interested in it then I would strongly advise not taking it; you wouldn't be motivated to learn the vast amount of content involved.
There is also a lot of essay-writing and evaluation involved, which will work in your favour if you think you want to study a degree that itself involves a lot of essay-writing.

I've never heard of Sociology being universally 'undesirable', technically any subject can be 'undesirable' if you've taken subjects that are irrelevant to your chosen university course. Yes, Sociology will be undesirable if you want to study Maths at university, but Maths would also be undesirable if you want to study Sociology at university. In my opinion, it works both ways.

Reply 17

harryisalegend