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Politics and International Relations

Hi,

I am currently in year 12 and thinking about uni courses. I would be interested in politics and IR but I do not take politics as an A level. I take:
History
English
Philosophy

Would I be at a disadvantage having not studied Politics at A level or do have other students studying Politics and IR not studied politics previously?

Thanks!
No, you will not be at a disadvantage. Lots of politics/IR students did not study politics at A level.
Reply 2
Pretty much the entire first year of politics/IR courses at university are going over A-Level politics as it's not a required subject. Therefore a lot of students will be in a similar position to yourself having never studied politics before.
Original post by katiej678
Hi,

I am currently in year 12 and thinking about uni courses. I would be interested in politics and IR but I do not take politics as an A level. I take:
History
English
Philosophy

Would I be at a disadvantage having not studied Politics at A level or do have other students studying Politics and IR not studied politics previously?

Thanks!


Not all schools & colleges offer Politics A-Level so there will always be some studying Politics for the first time at university. I did IR at university and the best preparation for me for was the 4,000 word essay I wrote for my History coursework- it was far more like the essays I had to write at uni than the short answer questions I did for Politics A-Level as I had to properly analyse and reference. I don't know what A-Levels are like now (I took mine 2010) but if you've done any extended writing (1,500 words or more) for History or English then you'll be prepared. The content itself in Politics is generally easy enough to pick up.
Reply 4
Original post by katiej678
Hi,

I am currently in year 12 and thinking about uni courses. I would be interested in politics and IR but I do not take politics as an A level. I take:
History
English
Philosophy

Would I be at a disadvantage having not studied Politics at A level or do have other students studying Politics and IR not studied politics previously?

Thanks!


Hi! I'm a first year straight IR student at the LSE. You 100% do not politics? You don't even really need "social sciences" per se, I've met a number of people on my course who did a sciences. Although obviously social sciences and humanities help.

I did the IB and my higher level subjects were History Philosophy and English and I got into LSE

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