Really stressed about what A-Level subjects to pick

I feel like I have this pressure on me, especially considering the careers adviser told me to have my subjects picked out by results day otherwise I may not get a place on some courses. Though I still have no clue what I'm going to pick yet, instead I've possibly narrowed it down to these subjects so far:

Economics
English Lit
Geography
Biology
Chemistry
Psychology
Philosophy & Ethics

I feel like my parents are limiting me though and pressuring me into either doing Science (Chemistry and Biology) so I can go into those fields or doing other subjects that aren't science and possibly going into law. To them it seems like the only way I can be successful considering I'm not really great at maths and can't go into accountancy like my siblings.

I feel like I have left it really late but I have taken a few detours through the months and after GCSE's I've ruled out a few A-levels.
Anyone else feeling stressed about picking subjects? Or have any advice ..

Reply 1

username1207499

Choose subjects you're genuinely interested in and could spend the rest of your life doing

Reply 2

kakerlake

What do you want to do at university? (You, not your parents)

Reply 3

PLJohn

Original post by ukila

Economics
English Lit
Geography
Biology
Chemistry
Psychology
Philosophy & Ethics

Everyone says it, but pick what you enjoy the most, because they will be the subjects you have the easiest time with. But, if you want to look at it in the sense of usefulness, it depends on what you want to do at uni really. Psychology for example, you don't actually need Psychology A-Level to study it at uni, so that might be a reason to rule it out. But at the end of the day, make sure you pick ones you like, or maybe even two/three you like, then one/two of which seem 'useful' like Science.

Reply 4

999tigger

Look at what you enjoy and will get the best grades in.
Look to see what the degree requirements are for A levels.
Look at what areas you want to go into afterwards.

Enjoyment and grades are very important.

Reply 5

ukila

Original post by kakerlake

What do you want to do at university? (You, not your parents)

Honestly, a few months ago I was considering Law because of how much freedom it had A-level wise and would mean I get to do subjects I was interested in like Geography, Psychology and English. But then I realized that my attributes/personality were not the best suited to the career since I'm very anxious and not really comfortably around people and could never imagine myself being as assertive as lawyers should be. I also did work experience at a solicitors and this helped to confirm my anxiety of law not really being suited for me, as a person no matter how much I would be interested in it.

So from then on I became more open to pursuing science, which I have always liked and have basically had to since I did Triple Science for GCSE's. I guess I would still be okay with doing something like bio-medical science at Uni. However, seeing the amount of maths in the A-level Chemistry course has surprised me and made me anxious on how I would fare.

To sum it up I'm still at a dilemma on what I want to do at University.

Reply 6

kakerlake

Original post by ukila

I wouldn't be put off a career that you're passionate about because of anxiety. I'm actually very similar and I'm considering law - I think it's something you'd have to get over in most professions, and university and training would help you with that. If you did want to, you wouldn't need a degree in law anyway.

My advice would be to research careers and degrees that you are interested in so that you know what direction you're going in and can choose your a levels accordingly. If you still have no idea, pick options that you are good at and enjoy, while keeping in mind that you need subjects that are viewed highly and keep you future career/degree options open.

Reply 7

Fannibal

Original post by ukila

There is quite a lot of maths in chemistry, obviously it depends on the exam board but in general you'll encounter quite a lot of maths. However, it's usually the same kind of techniques used again and again. Biology has very little maths so if you want to do a science but don't enjoy maths then Biology is probably for you.

If you enjoy English then I would go for it, it's a very useful subject and looked at highly by most universities.

Biology and English is a good start for biomedical science but to be sure you have a lot of options you really need to take a second science subject, likely chemistry or maths. Geography is occasionally accepted as a science but only a few universities accept it.