The Student Room Group

What degree can I do?

Hello, I’m a first year college student (year 12) studying law, psychology and film studies. I’m coming up on the trial exams that will give me my predicted grades very soon and plan to apply to university however I have no idea what degree to do. All I know is that I do want something that allows me to travel places or typically has a study abroad option.

Before you say “just don’t go if you don’t know”, I don’t have a choice because that’s just the household I was raised in and i think i want to go anyway.

My grades as of now are ABB.
At first i planned to do law or psychology as that’s just what i was interested but i don’t think i’ll have the grades considering everywhere i’ve looked asks for AAA or A*AA.

The other degrees I have looked into are fashion marketing (i really like the arts and this is the only artistic thing i can do without an art/media a level), nursing (lots of unis to choose and jobs), and economics/finance.

Please give me idea on what I can do, I’m open to literally anything.
Have you tried to search up jobs yourself regarding the travelling aspect? If you’re taking film studies would you like to enter the film industry since there’s many jobs that are involved and it would allow you to travel whilst working. Or you can look into curating, in some unis like Exeter there’s a study abroad course that allows you to go abroad on your 3rd year of uni.

If none of my suggestions are to your liking, you can always search up unis that do courses that offers a study abroad option. I know that Exeter, Bath and goldsmiths have one and I suggest going onto the UCAS website to have a look there.
Hi!!! I’m a second year student studying A level psychology, sociology and film studies as well. I’ve secured a conditional offer in 5 university’s- and they’ve all reduced the grade boundaries for me. I applied for Bcs Psychology and I had the same predicted grades as you:smile: honestly I say go for it and apply. If you live in a poorer area, you can get a reduced contextual offer which lowers your grades or you can do some preparing for uni programmes which also give alternative grade requirements! I had both of these which lowered my entry requirements! I did Realising opportunities programme, Sutton Trust, Manchester Access Programme, and the Nuffield research Placements. These all gave reductions in the grades. As well as this, they will be more lenient on you considering the whole pandemic so I suggest applying and seeing what you get!!
Let me know what you decide and if this was helpful :smile:
(edited 1 year ago)
How to Choose a Uni Subject - read it all - https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/university/courses/i-want-to-go-to-uni-but-i-dont-know-what-to-study

Then look down these list of degree subjects for Sussex Uni - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/ - read the degree descriptions for all the subjects that interest you, especially the ones outside your current subject areas. If you check the entry requirements, many of these subjects have no specific A level requirements, just grades. And many of these subjects can be taken as joint subject degrees - American Studies is offered with Law, with Film and includes a Year Abroad, or Marketing and Mangement with Psychology, or International Relations with Sociology. Etc, etc. Remember, you can usually do Study Abroad at most Unis even if it is not specifically included in your degree title - Sussex allows all students to do this as one - https://www.sussex.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/study-abroad

This should start you thinking about 'the sort of subject' you might want to do.
This coming term, and in the autumn, there will be Uni Open Days where you can listen to subject presentation talks and these are a good way of finding out more about what each subject involves - recomended,
Your a levels seem like a perfect combination to study human resource management (HRM)
Psychology may not actually be a realistic option with just A-level Psychology and no core STEM A-levels; many psychology courses require a core STEM A-level, or one from those and A-level Psychology (or a second such STEM A-level).

In any case, it's easier to define this negatively by outlining those degrees you couldn't do/that wouldn't be options. These would be:

Economics or PPE (normally require A-level Maths), history (normally requires A-level History), English lit (normally requires A-level English lit), modern language degrees (normally require a language A-level, albeit not necessarily the target language; more flexibility for non-European languages), plus most visual and performing arts courses (usually require a relevant A-level and/or successful audition/portfolio submission).

You also wouldn't be able to go into any STEM subject for direct entry, although most such subjects are available with a foundation year so those are still possible options. Healthcare professions degrees may require science subjects at A-level but the requirements vary a lot depending on the specific field (e.g. optometry definitely requires STEM subjects basically everywhere whereas nursing it might depend where you apply to). Some may be available with a foundation year as above (note though that medicine foundation year programmes are for those meeting widening participation criteria, although there are a couple of medicine with gateway year courses for those with very strong A-level grades but the "wrong" subjects. Also Newcastle doesn't have any subject requirements for medicine).

Otherwise you have the vast majority of social sciences and humanities degrees as options; philosophy, anthropology, classics, marketing, archaeology, sociology, accounting, Egyptology, history of art, etc, etc. Really there are all sorts of subjects available at degree level that are often not available at A-level so think about what you're actually interested in studying! Also remember that most generalist grad schemes in e.g. accountancy, banking, the media, the civil service, law (i.e. training contracts), etc, do not require any specific first degree subject and will take applicants from all subjects that have relevant work experience from internships etc during their degree.

Equally those with "relevant" degrees but who just took exams for 3 years are likely to be functionally unemployable on graduation anyway so...there's no much point focusing on the subject and not on the things that actually make you employable. The subject you study is for you and your personal interests, unless you're going into one of a few fields where you do need a specific degree (e.g. healthcare professions, engineering, etc); otherwise it's entirely dependent on what you do to make yourself employable while at uni.
Original post by teaclub444
Hello, I’m a first year college student (year 12) studying law, psychology and film studies. I’m coming up on the trial exams that will give me my predicted grades very soon and plan to apply to university however I have no idea what degree to do. All I know is that I do want something that allows me to travel places or typically has a study abroad option.

Before you say “just don’t go if you don’t know”, I don’t have a choice because that’s just the household I was raised in and i think i want to go anyway.

My grades as of now are ABB.
At first i planned to do law or psychology as that’s just what i was interested but i don’t think i’ll have the grades considering everywhere i’ve looked asks for AAA or A*AA.

The other degrees I have looked into are fashion marketing (i really like the arts and this is the only artistic thing i can do without an art/media a level), nursing (lots of unis to choose and jobs), and economics/finance.

Please give me idea on what I can do, I’m open to literally anything.

There is no reason why you cannot take Law or Psychology. Many places will accept you with those grades. Foe Psychology your GCSE Maths grade will matter so you need to check that. Also universities have different science requirements for Psychology. Some require 2 sciences and some 1. Some accept psychology as a science and others. I just include Swansea Universities entry requirements as an example purely because it is local. As can be seen the offer if you are taking A level Psychology is ABB and there will be many like this.

Typical A-level Offer

AAB – ABB

If you have one of the following subjects at A-level Psychology, Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics. The typical offer will be ABB.

It is not essential to have studied any particular subjects at A level. We do not accept General Studies.


In addition there will be multiple other options such as Law, Sociology and a whole range of other humanities courses and these will available elsewhere as well.

You might be restricted with your grades for the very top universities but will have many options elsewhere.

As far as travelling it is very difficult to find jobs that involve travel and those that do tend to be places that are short term such as flight attendants. Most courses will lead to a base where you work from.

If you wish to travel then taking a gap year or going different places on vacation are better options.

Here is a tool from the Russell Group you can use to look for options available to you.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=5d4ca37f025cdbc32dd415fb18adb8e5816acc22fda7bd9e978e2026d574e29dJmltdHM9MTY1MjYzNTkwNyZpZ3VpZD1hNGE3YzNhMS0wYWI3LTQ4NjItYjM4ZS0xYWEwMmQyNTFjYzAmaW5zaWQ9NTE3NQ&ptn=3&fclid=e52b3d33-d474-11ec-9f40-c5157d8b03ac&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5mb3JtZWRjaG9pY2VzLmFjLnVrLw&ntb=1
(edited 1 year ago)

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