HL Subjects Combo of Biology Chemistry Economics has Good Career Options

Hi, Would really appreciate some advise for my son who wishes to do following subjects in his IB diploma program :h:

L - Biology Chemistry EcoSL - Maths English FrenchWhat kind of career choices does he stand chances for with above?Thanks for your helpful opinion in advance!

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Well IB/A-level choices do not, in themselves, determine career prospects.

Biology and Chemistry make most bioscience and many chemistry degrees a possibility. There may also be some earth/environmental science and related area courses which would be appropriate with that background. They are also the two core subjects for medicine/vet med/dentistry, however a significant number of competitive applicants to those courses will take three STEM A-levels/IB HL subjects. In this case, the only third option would be taking Maths HL. It's not required absolutely, but it would be beneficial if a possibility. Also worth noting, most "top" Economics and related degree courses require IB HL Maths.

The other options are all fairly generic and provide useful transferable skills, but are not core prerequisites for anything, except possibly some "...with French" degrees (although I suspect those would require French HL as normally French is only available from post A-level or equivalent at university). So in essence, beyond the above, any non-STEM degree except most History courses, some English Lit degrees, most modern languages courses, almost all visual/performing arts courses, and the most competitive Economics courses (which require Maths as a primary prerequisite).

However this is purely from a degree application perspective. After a degree, what career could be pursued (or indeed, ends up being pursued) is entirely up to the individual. There are a huge number of "generalist" roles which don't require a specific degree to enter (almost all business roles outside quantitative finance, to start with). Within the "specialist" regime, the only thing that is unlikely would be engineering/computer science roles, which usually require a related degree and those degrees all require HL Maths at a minimum (and usually Physics, although this varies depending on the course - it's not necessary for all Chemical Engineering or Materials Science courses, and it's not required or even hugely helpful for CS courses).

However as you can see, HL Maths would open up a number of options - CS, Mathematics, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, the most competitive Economics and medicine/vet med/dentistry courses - while also preserving all of the above. However, IB HL Maths is notoriously challenging, and while not quite as hard as it used to be, is still a bit more demanding than A-level Maths. If they loathe maths, then it's probably not a good option. Even if not, if it's not a particular strength or interest it would merit particular consideration as it would likely require more time being spent on it compared to other options (and in IB, time is quite a luxury to begin with :wink: