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ICT A-level

I've dropped Computer Science and I wanted to pick up Government & Politics but my college will not let me, so I've now resorted to ICT. I'm doing History & Geography alongside it and am so worried the ICT will look bad on UCAS applications even though I expect I'll get a good grade in it. Because I'm doing 2 facilitating will the ICT really effect me that badly? (I'm really unsure what I want to do at uni, all I know is that I want to go to a Russell group)

Any replies help thank you!!

edit: i’m not interested in a computer science degree and never really have been, sorry if anything sounded confusing

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 1

emoanimelover1

Original post by joe_wills

For computer science it doesnt matter if thats what your applying for just remember if you have maths at an a* u can get into any russel group ofcourse with luck they dont care about your other subjects if its a good subject or not

Reply 2

username5383500

Original post by emoanimelover1

Original post by joe_wills

What caused you to drop CompSci? If you're unsure what you want to study at uni, there's only limited advice we can give. I'd also strongly recommend not just thinking "I want to go to a Russell Group uni", especially without a clear idea of why you're going to uni in the first place.

University is a huge committment of time and energy. It's not something to enter on a whim. Realistically the Russell Group is just a name given to a group of self selected unis that focus on research. That's not to say they're bad, but it's not by itself a reason to choose them over other unis. Choose a uni that's right for you, not "because it's in the Russell Group". But only choose a uni when you know that university is the best path for you.

Reply 3

emoanimelover1

Original post by AcseI

This is neither helpful nor correct. OP isn't even studying Maths, nor is it correct to say "as long as you get an A* in Maths nothing else matters". You still need to meet the other requirements. They've also not mentioned that they're applying to CompSci, and said they don't know what they want to do. Please don't spread misinformation.

What caused you to drop CompSci? If you're unsure what you want to study at uni, there's only limited advice we can give. I'd also strongly recommend not just thinking "I want to go to a Russell Group uni", especially without a clear idea of why you're going to uni in the first place.

University is a huge committment of time and energy. It's not something to enter on a whim. Realistically the Russell Group is just a name given to a group of self selected unis that focus on research. That's not to say they're bad, but it's not by itself a reason to choose them over other unis. Choose a uni that's right for you, not "because it's in the Russell Group". But only choose a uni when you know that university is the best path for you.

He didnt say anything baout what else he studies and the reason i said this is because alot of a level colleges dont even teach computer science thus universities dont need it all requirements i have seen for computer science anywhere in the world us,uk,japan, etc etc even germany dont need a level computer science as first year is just a level computer science i think if he wants to get into a russel group focus on what he has and get best possible grades as computer science isnt even taught in everyother uni as long as he gets the needed grades in his subject he will get in unis dont care about subjects you do as long as you get the needed ones

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 4

username5383500

Original post by emoanimelover1

He didnt say anything baout what else he studies

OP literally says they're studying Geography and History, then dropped CompSci for ICT.

Again, the rest of your post is irrelevant. Yes, very few unis request a CompSci A Level if you want to study CompSci at degree level. But OP says they're totally unsure what they want to study.

Reply 5

emoanimelover1

Original post by AcseI

ye i kept thinking of him studying compsci my bad but like everyother uni where the a and a* are needed in a certain subject if he wants to study x at uni and he has the grades in that subject he will still/has a chance to get in ik people who got into oxford with a* in maths and a in german and history for computer science they dont really care about your other subject as long as they think you can keep up to the content and context of a course

Reply 6

username5383500

Original post by emoanimelover1

I'm not really sure what your point is. Obviously if you get the grades then you've got a chance. But it's not like they don't care at all. You still need to get the required grades in the required subjects. An A* in Maths doesn't just magically open all the doors regardless of your other grades and subjects, which is what your first post implied.

This is all totally pointless until OP tells us what they want to study.

Reply 7

joe_wills

Original post by AcseI

I dropped comp sci because I really wasn’t enjoying it and a lot of people told me it was probably best to drop it when i had the option, and by russell group really all I mean is I want to go to a good uni (for my course of course) and the majority of people associate the Russell group with good

Reply 8

joe_wills

Original post by AcseI

Honestly I wish I knew what I wanted to do, i’m somewhat interested in Law & History at degree level but I really have no idea what I want to do right now, which is why I’ve picked 2 facilitating subjects to try to keep as many doors open to me as possible.

Reply 9

username5383500

Original post by joe_wills

So you're not interested in CompSci at all? That's totally fine, and if you weren't enjoying it then dropping it isn't an issue.

As far as Russell Group goes, the previous point stands. Don't just aim for Russell Group, when you've got a clear idea of what you want to do aim for a good uni then (which may or may not be RG).

Original post by joe_wills

This is also absolutely fine. I didn't know what I wanted to do after college. I ended up going back and studying additional A Levels, then took a gap year before I applied to uni (and even then I applied to a course that wasn't right for me at first). There's no rush, so rather than worrying about unis start by looking at what you might want to do. There's tons of threads on TSR already with people in similar situations, so it may be worth exploring those and having a read of what other people say. Might also want to post a more generic thread in another subforum if you want advice or help deciding what you may want to do in the future.

To answer the original question, no ICT isn't going to "look bad" per se. It's not the strongest subject you could take, but it's not the weakest either. And admissions are about far more than what subject you took. There's no real point in worrying about the impact it could have on an application without knowing what you'd be applying for.