Help! A-levels!?

My current choices are:
Biology
Chemistry
Art
Math (Maybe?)

I really like my science but, working in an enviroment of hospitals and labs just does not sound pleasing to me (I've had various work experiences and I just dislike it). My ideal work place is in a city.. And according to my research, alot of science based jobs are either in a hospital or a lab.. so just in case, I'm thinking of putting down Mathematics as a fourth subject option as it opens up alot of careers and courses (such as economics) to take at University

But that means I would need to take four A-levels and if I dislike Maths too much I'd have to drop it and that would be a year wasted on a subject instead of improving my other three..

I'm stressing out so much, I don't know what to do. I'm scared I'll end up not accomplishing anything worthy and I'll die a sad life because of my wrong choices. Give me advice.. anything. Please.

Reply 1

Vapormax

If you want to do economics, you don't need maths, but it all depends on what you're good at.

The only actual subject you specified you're interested in doing at uni is econ, where maths helps, so if you feel confident with it and are willing to put the time in you should do that!!

Reply 2

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

It's worth bearing in mind many, if not most, Economics courses require A-level or AS level Maths. There are some that don't of course, but this will considerably limit your options. Additionally, Maths is probably the most valuable subject for any STEM subject at university, including biosciences and chemistry. It would be advisable to take this even if you were intending to pursue these subjects with full enthusiasm.

In any case, STEM roles vary considerably depending on exactly what area you go into. Most engineering positions are office based, for example, including (Bio)Chemical Engineering, Bio(medical) Engineering, or Materials Science. The combination of Maths/Chem/Bio would be suitable for a number of these courses, although inevitably they will involve some lab work to gather the data you need to analyse.

Additionally I don't know where you think labs are located - they don't put them in the middle of the fens (technically I suppose you could argue all of Cambridge falls into this category, and it is a major hub for biotech and computing firms, but it is a city nonetheless) and lone islands in the North Sea (sure oil rigs are out there, but Oil & Gas Engineers aren't going to work on a rig full time - they may occasionally do a site visit but they will largely be based in an office on the mainland. Engineer =/= mechanic/technician). Most major universities and industrial research labs are located in and around cities - some may be in smaller cities (such as Cambridge) as part of a university campus on the outside of the city due to the space requirements, but you aren't in the wilderness. There are of course major universities in even busy metropolitan cities like London - Imperial, UCL, KCL etc all have major research undertakings in various STEM areas.

Moreover, "lab work" in the sense of what a professional, appropriately qualified scientist does is nothing like labs as you will have experienced them. You are not simply performing meaningless procedures that a trained monkey could do, you are actively designing and planning experimental inquiry, then documenting and as applicable publishing this. It's completely different - again, working as a scientist in a lab is not the same as being a lab technician/assistant. Additionally you will spend varying amounts of time out of a formal lab in any case - depending on exactly the nature of your work. At a university as an academic, you will inevitably have some teaching responsibilities unless you are fortunate enough to get a major fellowship allowing you to cease such activity. Both in industry and in academia you will spend at least some time out of the lab and in offices, writing papers/reports/similar, having meetings with management etc, and analysing the results of the lab work.

Reply 3

Zoe Lea

Art A level takes up so much of your time, I do Bio and it is so content heavy that it requires sooooo much work and revision. My advice is to 1000% not to do Art, it won't open a lot of doors which you said you would like just in case you change your mind.

Reply 4

N...

I do maths, biology, art and philosophy.
Doing four is going to be extremely difficult and most people drop one of them in the first few months because they disliked the subject. Maths a level is similar to gcse maths so if you enjoy it and is good at it it should be easy. Art is really enjoyable but it does take up most of your time.
Biology is a bit annoying as you have to learn a lot but get examined on a small portion of it and the questions are very complex and you have to get used to answering those types of questions but overall I do enjoy all of my options.
Hope that helped xx

Reply 5

Amanzhol

Is there a particular reason you want to do Art? Does a creative career interest you enough to take Art to A-Level? If a creative career is something you're unsure about/only mildly interested in, I'd advise you stick to the other three and then do an Art Foundation year after sixth form (if you decide to go down the creative route).

I'm only doing 3 A-levels and still struggle to balance them because of the time taken up by Art (admittedly I'm a slow worker in Art, but doing 4 A-levels with one of them as Art would be incredibly difficult).