A Level Philosophy or A Level English Literature

Hi, so I'm in Year 11 and looking at several colleges to apply for. I am interested in studying Architecture at university one day, and as thus my first 3 option choices are Art & Design, Art History and Mathematics with pure mechanics. However, I'm having trouble choosing between Philosophy and English Literature as my 4th choice. I understand both are very much essay-based, I already have an A in English Literature, and I understand English Lit is looked at well by Russel Group universities. However, philosophy sounds like a really interesting topic to me, but I'm not so sure what it's like in classes, etc? Any help would be mucg appreciated!

Oh and I'm expected As & a couple of Bs from my Year 11 exams, I've already took 5 in year 10,those being Business Studies, English Literature, Citizenship, Statistics and Product Design, getting AAABB respectively, if that helps?

Reply 1

User1443542

I would say that your best option is go for which one you think would be more interesting, instead looking at which one unis prefer, as really, you are the one doing the course.

Reply 2

yaknow

My advice would be to go with English literature because it's a very broad subject so if you do change your mind on what you want to do English lit is likely to provide more options than philosophy. Philosophy is really interesting but you've got to be up got a debate nearly every lesson and a level English so really relaxing so id recommend it.
Anymore questions you have id be more than happy to answer

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Reply 3

FreshGarbage

Philosophy

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Reply 4

username1529215

Original post by ArchitectHopeful

I was indecisive when choosing a-levels too! It's just important to pick subjects that you enjoy, I cannot stress that enough.

I do Enlgish Literature, Philosophy, History and Government & Politics.

I was also someone who found english lit GCSE extremely easy and got A*s for almost all my work, but that was the only reason I wanted to take it on to a-level which has proven to be a bad choice. Try and imagine if you did exactly what you did english last year but instead were getting Ds and Cs - would you still have enjoyed english? If you genuinely think you would enjoy and be passionate about English despite not getting great grades in it then it might be for you. However, if like me you only 'enjoyed' it because you found it relatively easy then I wouldn't advise taking it on to a-level. I have gone from a straight A* English student at gcse to a D- to C grade student with only 2 B's out of maanyyyy marked essays. This is purely because I do not enjoy the subject which also becomes extremely obvious when you're surrounded by people so passionate about it!

Philosophy on the other hand is my favourite subject by far! I also find English and philosophy to be quite opposite in writing style requirements but that may just be me. I would say philosophy is for you if you have good analytical skills, and think very logically. Philosophy is mostly about being able to read and comprehend complex ideas thoroughly and, again, logically. It's all about logic really and it would definitely be a struggle if you're not into straightforward thinking. English is all about elaborating whereas philosophy is all about precision and concision.

Anyway I'm going on a bit too much now! Basically choose English if you have a genuine interest in it and don't mind writing about imaginative ideas that to me seem a little pointless and daydream-ish but each to their own! Choose philosophy if you like challenging your mind and have an interest in the deeper meanings of life and the way the world is (I promise it's more interesting than I'm making it sound).

As for the Russel Group - both of these subjects are great but English is preferred only slightly because it's more flexible and can be useful for various degrees, but it seems like you know what you want to do anyway. It would be good if you took English and did well in it as so many people do. But it would be amazing if you did philosophy and did well in it as it can be challenging to some but easy for others - doing well in philosophy really shows another level of intelligence.

Hope my ramble was useful haha, ask for any more help if you need it. And good luck! :smile:

A Level Philosophy or A Level English Literature

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