Dropping an A-Level
I’m currently taking History, Maths, Sociology and Gov&Pol & should be predicted 4 A* in these subjects for my UCAS application.
I’m aiming to apply for History at Cambridge and His&Econ elsewhere, and was wondering that, realistically, how much my chances will be reduced by dropping sociology.
Whilst universities should only consider 3, I still feel like applying with 4 is undeniably advantageous and I feel like I could still be successful with the 4 I’ve chosen.
I’m aiming to apply for History at Cambridge and His&Econ elsewhere, and was wondering that, realistically, how much my chances will be reduced by dropping sociology.
Whilst universities should only consider 3, I still feel like applying with 4 is undeniably advantageous and I feel like I could still be successful with the 4 I’ve chosen.
if you dont need maths drop it, if you need maths drop the harder one out of sociology or gov and pol, there is no benefit to 4 a levels.
Original post by SuttonOG
if you dont need maths drop it, if you need maths drop the harder one out of sociology or gov and pol, there is no benefit to 4 a levels.
Whilst pedantic, surely a university would be inclined to take the student with 3 A-Levels rather than 4, especially as dropping one now will not affect my application for them merely just provide me extra time in Y13 and to help ensure I get good grades with the 3 subjects.
Moreso, sociology is certainly my poorest subject (mainly as our teachers provide minimal effort and we are 1-2 topics behind where we should be) but I believe its still viewed as a fairly soft subject and viewed slightly less as i.e. history/math, so it might not be negative at all for my application to not have sociology as my 4th? (Not dissing the subject itself, just how it is viewed by universities).
Having extra A-levels is not advantageous and universities including Cambridge have been pretty clear that taking additional A-levels does not score "bonus points" in admissions.
This is for various reasons, but for Cambridge (and Oxford) probably one of the ones they're most sensitive to is that not all students will have the opportunity to take 4 A-levels, as some (including many from groups underrepresented in HE) will be going to schools that due to their funding limitations and other issues are unable to provide a timetable that allows a student to take 4 A-levels. If they privileged those taking 4 A-levels they would necessarily be discriminating against those who are unable to take 4 A-levels even if they wanted to.
So just drop the 4th A-level. That said, if you're applying to history and economics everywhere else is there a reason you aren't applying to history and economics at Oxford instead?
This is for various reasons, but for Cambridge (and Oxford) probably one of the ones they're most sensitive to is that not all students will have the opportunity to take 4 A-levels, as some (including many from groups underrepresented in HE) will be going to schools that due to their funding limitations and other issues are unable to provide a timetable that allows a student to take 4 A-levels. If they privileged those taking 4 A-levels they would necessarily be discriminating against those who are unable to take 4 A-levels even if they wanted to.
So just drop the 4th A-level. That said, if you're applying to history and economics everywhere else is there a reason you aren't applying to history and economics at Oxford instead?
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by artful_lounger
Having extra A-levels is not advantageous and universities including Cambridge have been pretty clear that taking additional A-levels does not score "bonus points" in admissions.
This is for various reasons, but for Cambridge (and Oxford) probably one of the ones they're most sensitive to is that not all students will have the opportunity to take 4 A-levels, as some (including many from groups underrepresented in HE) will be going to schools that due to their funding limitations and other issues are unable to provide a timetable that allows a student to take 4 A-levels. If they privileged those taking 4 A-levels they would necessarily be discriminating against those who are unable to take 4 A-levels even if they wanted to.
So just drop the 4th A-level. That said, if you're applying to history and economics everywhere else is there a reason you aren't applying to history and economics at Oxford instead?
This is for various reasons, but for Cambridge (and Oxford) probably one of the ones they're most sensitive to is that not all students will have the opportunity to take 4 A-levels, as some (including many from groups underrepresented in HE) will be going to schools that due to their funding limitations and other issues are unable to provide a timetable that allows a student to take 4 A-levels. If they privileged those taking 4 A-levels they would necessarily be discriminating against those who are unable to take 4 A-levels even if they wanted to.
So just drop the 4th A-level. That said, if you're applying to history and economics everywhere else is there a reason you aren't applying to history and economics at Oxford instead?
So it should realistically be of no loss dropping the sociology at all? I get the universities reasoning for this but still remain skeptical as of my competitiveness without the extra course - especially as my PS will be largely around history, not history and econ (for my application to other, competitive universities).
The truth is that I was originally planning on doing economics, decided to do history (and in January, with limited choice switched physics and further maths, which I heavily regret now as I was doing well in those subjects lol - to sociology and politics), however, my indecisiveness has led me to not be be certain that I would want to commit to a degree purely on history (hence the economics and history), but a lot of my preparation has been focusing on History so that is why I'm applying for it at cambridge (i.e. certain programmes like Sutton Trust and the Robson History Prize). Mainly that I just had not considered joint honours as an option and was too late to decide to commit to Oxford's economics and history programme (along with the fact that my GCSEs are not enough for them, as I only did 8 bc of my school that had just turned into an academy
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