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HELPPPP what to take in college?!

I'm going to college in september and I was planning to take criminology (extended certificate) with psychology (a lvl), biology (a lvl). But someones told me that extended certificate is vocational and like BTEC and that some unis dont see it as robust enough to accept it like an a level.

Theres no criminology a level at my college (only ext certificate), there is law but i'm more interested in forensic psychology and just psychology in general.
I was considering either health and social (ext certif) or sociology a level. I think i prefer subjects that aren't vocational.
But I'm really stuck because i've heard people say sociology is useless and it seems very theoretical which i don't really like.

I'm thinking of h&social because i think it would be a better look than criminology if i want to have a career in medicine. But again, it's a BTEC so idk.
i havent got a solid plan for what to take for uni (ik something like psychology, or medical area tho). I think taking criminology would be good to branch out, since h&social is more in the same area of bio and psychology. IDK.

So in a nutshell, im stuck between :
- sociology a level (better look for medicine-related degrees? but i dont like theoretical study)
- criminology ext certif (really interested but worried about getting into uni + idk ab vocational)
- health and social ext certif (same as above)

I would appreciate ANYONE'S opinion!!

(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 1

44siyah

hiii!! i do health and social care btec which I started in september (as well as geography and english lang alvl) so it's really the only one i can give my opinion on!! it's a really nice class which I enjoy a lot. but i think if you don't like coursework it may not be for you as it is VERY coursework heavy!! we learn a lot about different life stages and the issues that come with each of them as well as growth & development + physical, intellectual, emotional & social factors that influence one's mental and physical wellbeing. I find this really interesting and agree that it does tie in nicely with medicine so it could look very good for u

as for sociology / criminology - i'm not a professional but i have a friend who does both of those along with law. she really enjoys them too but similarly with h&sc, criminology has a lot of coursework. but since u mentioned wanting to do forensics i have to say i don't rlly think that criminology talks much about the forensic side of crime. it's kind of similar to law (from what i've heard from friends) i think it would be worth looking deep into the course, exam board and course details that ur college provides.

finally, i just wanna say that ik it seems like this is a rlly super huge big decision right now but trust me this isn't final!!! don't worry too much :]]

I actually switched from fashion and textiles within the first few months of A-levels and was able to catch up in Geography which is what I switched to very easily.

to wrap this up, I'll say in my opinion health and social care is probs ur best option tbh but then again, I am not a professional and still think that u should gather as much info as u can before making a decision ! remember !! : u can always change within the first few weeks/months depending on ur colleges rules.

hope u do rlly well on ur GCSE's + good luck in deciding what you want to do in colly xx

do NOT stress ! it will b okay x

Reply 2

yasmins06

Thank u soo much for the advice, I've been thinking ab it all day :')
yea i feel like i would prob try out criminology and see if i like it and switch if i dont.
Hope u can confirm but I've also heard that for courses that aren't commonly done in gcse (like socio,psych,h&so) the first few lessons are just you learning ab the basics and ab what the subject contains, kinda like a summary? coz that would be rly helpful for me to decide
I'm kindaaaa thinking ab sociology over criminology now tho, how does ur friend like it?