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A Levels for Law/Medicine

hi all,
I would like to go into Either law or medicine at uni, I am in Y11 and are predicted 7-9 for everything inc maths and English. I am still unsure on which pathway I will go for so therefore I want to pick subjects that will be beneficial to both pathways law and medicine so when I do make my choice I would hopefully get into a Russell group to study either of those pathways.
I don't mind doing:
Biology
Chemistry
Maths
English Literature
Psychology
Economics
But I can only Pick 4

I would really be grateful If I can have some advice

Thanks
For medicine you must have two sciences/maths. One must be chemistry and most uni's require biology too. Then if you're looking at oxbridge they tend to want 3 sciences, although it's not compulsory.
I don't know the requiements for law, but the above is medicine
Not an expert, but for most medicine courses you need Chemistry and one other science (sometimes 2)
So I’d recommend doing chemistry and biology (most do) but biology is up to you
Law doesn’t have any requirements but unis love facilitating subjects (traditional, hard subjects) and an essay subject is heavily recommended

From your list, I think English lit, maths and maybe economics are a good bet
So I would have
Chemistry
Biology
Eng lit
Maths or economics
That’s my opinion but it isn’t definite
Reply 3
Chemistry and Biology will be a must if you want to do medicine.(Arguably you only need chemistry but some medical schools will ask for both or at least Chemistry with another science) English literature will be good for law, it is a traditional subject highly regarded for law along with history (Which is not on your list). 2 sciences and 2 arts will probably be perfect for either route but you'll have to get that balance right and remember that doing 4 a levels is going to be difficult! :smile:
Reply 4
Original post by flo_123
Chemistry and Biology will be a must if you want to do medicine.(Arguably you only need chemistry but some medical schools will ask for both or at least Chemistry with another science) English literature will be good for law, it is a traditional subject highly regarded for law along with history (Which is not on your list). 2 sciences and 2 arts will probably be perfect for either route but you'll have to get that balance right and remember that doing 4 a levels is going to be difficult! :smile:


Hi Thanks all of you for your advice, I have heard English lit is quite hard? Any opinions or experience
Just a comment - if you are not super committed to law or medicine then it's extremely difficult throughout the application process. Both require you to do large amounts of background/extended reading. Medicine in particular requires you to undertake work experience, voluntary work and generally be fully immersed into wanting to do the course.

To keep your options open doing biology chemistry + at least 1 essay subject will work. However, trying to do 2 essay subjects plus difficult science subjects such as chemistry is quite challenging. Have a think over the summer about what you actually want to do (get some work experience, speak to students etc.) to make sure it's really what you want to do.
Original post by dylan158
hi all,
I would like to go into Either law or medicine at uni, I am in Y11 and are predicted 7-9 for everything inc maths and English. I am still unsure on which pathway I will go for so therefore I want to pick subjects that will be beneficial to both pathways law and medicine so when I do make my choice I would hopefully get into a Russell group to study either of those pathways.
I don't mind doing:
Biology
Chemistry
Maths
English Literature
Psychology
Economics
But I can only Pick 4

I would really be grateful If I can have some advice

Thanks


As said above - Medicine has strict subject requirements (Chem is a must, as is one other maths/science, usually Biology) and Law are far more concerned with grades than subject choice - But you can never go wrong with English Lit / History.

So, I’d recommend

Chemistry
Biology (or Maths)
English Lit (or Psychology)

If you have a preference for the subjects in the brackets, chose those instead of the ones before them. Your grades and ability to study for longer will help you if you take subjects you enjoy.
Hi!

Not too sure about Law (I'm guessing essay based subjects are useful), but for medicine I would take 3 out of Chem, Bio, Physics and Maths.

It depends where you want to apply though, for some unis you only need 2 of these, but for Oxbridge you need 3. I'd check the specific requirements of the unis you're thinking of applying to, but chemistry is a must for a lot of them.

Don't feel like you have to do 4, most universities won't even care about the fourth. The only advantage my fourth has been is that my second choice have offered me A*AA or AAAB, but most unis don't take it into account.
"Our standard entry requirements are:
A-levels: A*AA in three A-levels (excluding Critical Thinking and General Studies) taken in one academic year. Candidates are required to achieve at least grade A in both Chemistry and at least one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics."

- Taken from Oxford. You DON'T need three science/maths A levels - but you'll find some universities prefer it. I'd also advise if you're only going to take two science/maths, to let your option be Biology (chemistry is a must) because some medical schools require both Chem and Bio:

E.g. Imperial

"Our minumum entry standard for 2019 entry is AAA overall, to include:

A in Biology

A in Chemistry

A in a third subject"



Law has no specific requirements, though sometimes an essay subject is reccomended.
Chem,Bio, Maths and English lit would work superbly - or even just Chem, Bio and English lit would be fine; you don't need four subjects necessarily.

A very few unis strongly encourage three maths/science subjects...

(Cambridge) "Please note that in the past three admissions rounds, 98 per cent of applicants for Medicine (A100) offered three or more science/mathematics A Levels and, of these, 31 per cent were successful in obtaining a place. Of the 2 per cent of applicants who offered only two science/mathematics A Levels, 8% were successful in gaining a place."

...but most unis don't require it.
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by SephyRose
"Our standard entry requirements are:
A-levels: A*AA in three A-levels (excluding Critical Thinking and General Studies) taken in one academic year. Candidates are required to achieve at least grade A in both Chemistry and at least one of Biology, Physics or Mathematics."

- Taken from Oxford. You DON'T need three science/maths A levels - but you'll find some universities prefer it. I'd also advise if you're only going to take two science/maths, to let your option be Biology (chemistry is a must) because some medical schools require both Chem and Bio:

E.g. Imperial

"Our minumum entry standard for 2019 entry is AAA overall, to include:

A in Biology

A in Chemistry

A in a third subject"



Law has no specific requirements, though sometimes an essay subject is reccomended.
Chem,Bio, Maths and English lit would work superbly - or even just Chem, Bio and English lit would be fine; you don't need four subjects necessarily.

A very few unis strongly encourage three maths/science subjects...

(Cambridge) "Please note that in the past three admissions rounds, 98 per cent of applicants for Medicine (A100) offered three or more science/mathematics A Levels and, of these, 31 per cent were successful in obtaining a place. Of the 2 per cent of applicants who offered only two science/mathematics A Levels, 8% were successful in gaining a place."

...but most unis don't require it.


Thanks a lot, do you do English Lit how is it or anybody here do it?
Original post by dylan158
Thanks a lot, do you do English Lit how is it or anybody here do it?


Not yet - taking it next academic year.
(You're welcome)
(edited 6 years ago)
For law you should be looking at doing history. It’s the most favoured A level and is rather useful.
At least one essay based A level in general is a must as a law degree involves just that. Even though it’s not a requirement, you don’t want to be going into such degree with no experience and practice of extensive essay writing.

If you want a variety purely based on your list then as others have said, picking chemistry, biology and English lit would be the most appropriate.
expeare
Original post by dylan158
Hi Thanks all of you for your advice, I have heard English lit is quite hard? Any opinions or experience


I wouldnt say its hard but its personal preference. For me, its a lot easier than the sciences (Biology and chemistry) but I have always been more academically inclined towards the arts and english. What grade are you looking at for GCSE? If you're working at A/A* level I think you'll be okay! As someone else has said, its better for you to decide on a career path between law and medicine. They are quite different disciplines, and if you're going for medicine, you're going to have to start getting the relevant work experience in year 12 for definite.
Reply 13
Original post by flo_123
expeare

I wouldnt say its hard but its personal preference. For me, its a lot easier than the sciences (Biology and chemistry) but I have always been more academically inclined towards the arts and english. What grade are you looking at for GCSE? If you're working at A/A* level I think you'll be okay! As someone else has said, its better for you to decide on a career path between law and medicine. They are quite different disciplines, and if you're going for medicine, you're going to have to start getting the relevant work experience in year 12 for definite.


For English in my mocks I Was two marks away from a 9 (A**) and for science and maths I have been getting around 70-85% on my papers.
Is that good enough for a level?
Original post by dylan158
For English in my mocks I Was two marks away from a 9 (A**) and for science and maths I have been getting around 70-85% on my papers.
Is that good enough for a level?


A few things:

A 9 isn't A**. It's merely a mid range A* grade. At this time, no uni have stated that they will formally consider giving advantage to people with 9 grades as opposed to 8.

Yes, that should be good, although just be prepared that the work load will increase a lot for biology in particular.
Reply 15
Original post by Kyber Ninja
A few things:

A 9 isn't A**. It's merely a mid range A* grade. At this time, no uni have stated that they will formally consider giving advantage to people with 9 grades as opposed to 8.

Yes, that should be good, although just be prepared that the work load will increase a lot for biology in particular.


Thanks a lot for clarifying that, I guess certain teachers still don't understand the grades.
Original post by dylan158
Thanks a lot for clarifying that, I guess certain teachers still don't understand the grades.


Also, a fair few med schools don't give a preference to applicants with AAA or A*A*A* prediction.

Yep, a lot of them think you need A Level maths for medicine too

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