Film studies or geography?

So I'm starting Y12 soon and I'm planning to do biology and chemistry since I'm considering vet med and human med, possibly even Biochemistry as a uni course. My 3rd option was geography since it was the only other topic I liked and I was good at it but recently my school has added film studies as an a level option. I'm really interested in this but I'm not sure if this could affect my chances at receiving offers from certain universities. If anyone could tell me their experience of film studies I would appreciate it. But what option to you think I should pick?

Reply 1

angusgmoncrieff

11

Original post by Dinosaur Jess

So I'm starting Y12 soon and I'm planning to do biology and chemistry since I'm considering vet med and human med, possibly even Biochemistry as a uni course. My 3rd option was geography since it was the only other topic I liked and I was good at it but recently my school has added film studies as an a level option. I'm really interested in this but I'm not sure if this could affect my chances at receiving offers from certain universities. If anyone could tell me their experience of film studies I would appreciate it. But what option to you think I should pick?

I would choose geography, solely because many of the top universities do not recognise Film studies as a 'preferred subject.'

Reply 2

username5291742

1

I would personally go with 'Film Studies'. :yes:

Reply 3

angusgmoncrieff

11

Original post by username5291742

I would personally go with 'Film Studies'. :yes:

Why? You didn't give a reason...

Reply 4

devushka

5

film studies is way more interesting and enjoyable

i think most unis know that the amount of effort and skill that goes into film analysis is comparable to doing english lit, the technical side is also impressive - so you should be fine

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 5

becausethenight

19

You can check with the universities to be sure if they accept Film. Typically, even for med, they accept anything other than General Studies and Critical Thinking (excepting Cambridge)
Pick what you'll enjoy most! Maybe ask your school if they can give you more info about Film, or some example study to do to see if you enjoy it more than Geography. You might also want to check how easily you could swap if you started Film and didn't like it.
My only potential qualm would be that if your college is offering Film for the first time, the teaching quality may not be certain.

Reply 6

skent6

14

Deffo choose geography. In particular for vet med they’ll want an academic subject for your third subject not film studies sadly.... just saying if you’re thinking of vet med and that’s what you want to do commit to it now! You’ll need to get work experience in over the summer (depends on the corona situation) to fulfill the universities requirements. This will give you a head start instead of cramming it all in in year 12

Reply 7

angusgmoncrieff

11

Original post by devushka

film studies is way more interesting and enjoyable

i think most unis know that the amount of effort and skill that goes into film analysis is comparable to doing english lit, the technical side is also impressive - so you should be fine

I agree with you about it being interesting but what's to say geography isn't. Also, I really don't think that universities regard Film Studies (FS) as being on the same level as English Literature as many do not list FS as a "preferred subject", e.g. LSE who actually list it as a "non-preferred" subject, whereas they list English Literature as the opposite.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 8

username3944114

10

I wouldn't do Film Studies simply because it is seen as a subject people choose because they don't know what else to do. Contrary to above comments, it is not seen as particularly difficult. Not that this is necessarily true, just that you should be aware of this when it comes to applying for uni. If you are good at Geography and you like it then that is a very good option. However, if you are good at Maths/Physics I would advise you to do one of these as your third subject considering you are looking at medicine/vet science

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 9

Quick-use

20

Original post by angusgmoncrieff

I agree with you about it being interesting but what's to say geography isn't. Also, I really don't think that universities regard Film Studies (FS) as being on the same level as English Literature as many top universities do not list FS as a "preferred subject", e.g. LSE who actually list it as a "non-proffered" subject, whereas they list English Literature as the opposite.

LSE have a list but what are all these other top universities that don't list FS as a 'preferred subject'. Could you link us to all these lists? I believe certain universities even mention that as long as you have 2 'preferred' subjects, the third can be 'non-preferred'.

@Dinosaur Jess Practically every single university, apart from LSE, has scrapped the notion of 'facilitating' or 'preferred' subject list. As long as you have Chemistry and Biology, FS will be a perfectly fine subject to study. If you're genuinely anxious about this, feel free to email the admission tutors of universities you're interested in. Ask elite universities like Oxbridge, Durham, UCL, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Warwick etc if you want. They'll tell you for certain whether FS will have an adverse impact on your application (which I highly doubt it will).

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 10

Quick-use

20

Original post by jpink2001

However, if you are good at Maths/Physics I would advise you to do one of these as your third subject considering you are looking at medicine/vet science

You don't need Maths or Physics to do Medicine. I think it's literally like 1 university (Cambridge?) that prefers a third subject in a STEM subject. Otherwise, you're free to do whatever and it won't adversely affect your application. I believe might be able to chime in on this.

Reply 11

username5245084

19

Chen and Bio are two a levels that unis obviously like - film studies is one of those subjects where most top unis would put it under the “candidate should only be doing one of these subjects” if u get me. So say if you wanted to do drama, film studies and chemistry, that would be classed as too many “weak subjects”. I was sort of in your situation last year, I was stuck between film studies and English Literature. I chose English lit as I did really well at gcse and I did enjoy it, but I honestly really wish I went for film now as I’m pretty certain I would be having a better time rn😅 in the end go for what YOU want to do. You’re the one that’s gonna have to put the hard work in to get good grades. If you don’t enjoy the subject you’re doing, it’s gonna be so much harder to get those higher grades. An A* in film studies is gonna be much more preferred by unis than a B in geography imo....worth to keep that in mind.
Good luck, hope I made sense!

Reply 12

C_191919

6

Original post by Dinosaur Jess

So I'm starting Y12 soon and I'm planning to do biology and chemistry since I'm considering vet med and human med, possibly even Biochemistry as a uni course. My 3rd option was geography since it was the only other topic I liked and I was good at it but recently my school has added film studies as an a level option. I'm really interested in this but I'm not sure if this could affect my chances at receiving offers from certain universities. If anyone could tell me their experience of film studies I would appreciate it. But what option to you think I should pick?

I’m in year 12 doing film and I really enjoy it, it’s pretty easy to follow and I like the essays. I’d say do whatever you think you will enjoy more because you don’t want to be stuck doing an alevel you don’t enjoy👍

Film studies or geography?

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