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Do I need a Maths A Level?

Hi all,

I am currently in Year 12 and am taking A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Business Studies and Maths.

I wish to become a midwife. There are no required A Levels for this subject however the preferred ones are Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology, of which I am taking two. (This information is from Kings College London.)

I am taking 4 A Levels which is very stressful so I would like to drop one and need to decide by Christmas (the deadline that my school has given).

I took Business because I enjoy it and am good at it. Originally I planned to drop Maths however my parents and some teachers have said that Business Studies is a 'soft' subject and is not as good an A-Level as Maths is. I can't change any of my subjects, I can only drop one and this would be Business Studies or Maths.

Does anyone have any advice or went through a similar situation?

Thanks in advance.
Original post by flappertard
Hi all,

I am currently in Year 12 and am taking A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Business Studies and Maths.

I wish to become a midwife. There are no required A Levels for this subject however the preferred ones are Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology, of which I am taking two. (This information is from Kings College London.)

I am taking 4 A Levels which is very stressful so I would like to drop one and need to decide by Christmas (the deadline that my school has given).

I took Business because I enjoy it and am good at it. Originally I planned to drop Maths however my parents and some teachers have said that Business Studies is a 'soft' subject and is not as good an A-Level as Maths is. I can't change any of my subjects, I can only drop one and this would be Business Studies or Maths.

Does anyone have any advice or went through a similar situation?

Thanks in advance.

Its up to you really. If you are strong in your wish to do midwifery, then you can easily drop maths. Make sure you check the requirements for some unis, and if you only need biology, then you only need biology. Theres no point in dragging maths along if you dont want or need it. Good luck :smile:
And be very realistic about applying for Midwifery. Its one of the most competitive courses out there.
You will be up against adult applicants who already work in healthcare roles and/or have had their own children.

You need to show that you can cope with the realities of the career, not just the course.. And you need to have real evidence of this not just 'I am certain I can cope' - what examples do you have of coping with personal care - of dealing with blood and vomit, and life/death situations? Do you have the emotional and physical stamina to do 12 hour shifts, and to keep going when you are exhausted at 3am and dealing with difficult people? What examples do you have that shows this? You also need to make sure that you tie your PS to the essentials of NHS care - read all of this very carefully : https://www.hee.nhs.uk/about/our-values/nhs-constitutional-values-hub-0 - and make sure that you undersand the structure of NHS Midwife care, the different branches, and how Midwifery interacts/connects with other areas like GPs, Health Visitors etc. Useful videos here : https://www.maternityandmidwifery.co.uk/category/videos/
Original post by McGinger
And be very realistic about applying for Midwifery. Its one of the most competitive courses out there.
You will be up against adult applicants who already work in healthcare roles and/or have had their own children.

You need to show that you can cope with the realities of the career, not just the course.. And you need to have real evidence of this not just 'I am certain I can cope' - what examples do you have of coping with personal care - of dealing with blood and vomit, and life/death situations? Do you have the emotional and physical stamina to do 12 hour shifts, and to keep going when you are exhausted at 3am and dealing with difficult people? What examples do you have that shows this? You also need to make sure that you tie your PS to the essentials of NHS care - read all of this very carefully : https://www.hee.nhs.uk/about/our-values/nhs-constitutional-values-hub-0 - and make sure that you undersand the structure of NHS Midwife care, the different branches, and how Midwifery interacts/connects with other areas like GPs, Health Visitors etc. Useful videos here : https://www.maternityandmidwifery.co.uk/category/videos/

Hi
Thanks for the advice - would there be adult applicants in the undergraduate midwifery course, or would they only be there in 3rd year?
As it is a competitive course, would maths A-Level give me any kind of advantage against other applicants?

I am not squirmish with blood, vomit etc at all and with the 12 hr shifts, I think Duke of Edinburgh is a good example of stamina.
Original post by flappertard
Hi all,

I am currently in Year 12 and am taking A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Business Studies and Maths.

I wish to become a midwife. There are no required A Levels for this subject however the preferred ones are Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Psychology, of which I am taking two. (This information is from Kings College London.)

I am taking 4 A Levels which is very stressful so I would like to drop one and need to decide by Christmas (the deadline that my school has given).

I took Business because I enjoy it and am good at it. Originally I planned to drop Maths however my parents and some teachers have said that Business Studies is a 'soft' subject and is not as good an A-Level as Maths is. I can't change any of my subjects, I can only drop one and this would be Business Studies or Maths.

Does anyone have any advice or went through a similar situation?

Thanks in advance.

Hello!

I'm a Year 13 student applying to Medicine. Back in Year 12 I dropped Maths for Art (I also do Bio and Chem) for a few reasons, one being that it wasn't required to apply to most universities. Another reason was that I got advice from an university student studying medicine, and she also said it wasn't necessary if I felt like I wouldn't get the best grade in it - she said what's most important is the grade I get in A-Level which will add up to UCAS points.

Basically, if you feel like you are not going to get the best grades because Maths is weighing you down and it is not required for your course, then it might be best to swap the subject.

For example, I know that I will get a much higher grade in Art than I would ever in Maths - plus I'm not as stressed as I have been managing my subjects much better, and so I'm doing good in all three of my subjects. I feel that if I still took Maths, I would be stressing over it, which would also affect my grades in my other subjects. So in the long run, I would be getting higher grades for all three of my subjects, which means more UCAS points.

I'll just also put out there that Maths does open many doors, but I dropped it as I knew that I wouldn't do as well in it.

Also do take on board on what McGinger said, you need to stand out from all of the other applicants. It's just not about the grades, especially when it comes to competitive courses as imagine they have many applicants which hit the entry requirements, how do they then choose who to pick for interviews? Your school should be firing you with potential opportunities (but I don't know as of now due to the COVID situation) that you can take part in, which will look good on your personal statement. Also read on things related to Midwifery; maybe hop onto FutureLearn and see if there's any courses which interest you to read on. The universities don't just want to know what skills you have, but also your current knowledge around Midwifery (do you know what the course involves? are you that interested that you'll actually read further into topics relating to it - to learn something new and even evaluate on it?). Doing this now makes life much easier when you're applying through UCAS (as I have realised), as 70-80% of your personal statement should be around your knowledge and interest around Midwifery, and what you have learnt/ what key skills have you gained?

It's good that you've asked now though, so then you can start now to make yourself a stronger applicant! I wish you the very best and I hope this helped a bit :smile:

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