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a level/btec choices

im picking my a levels soon and im really unsure of what to pick, rn i do quite academic subjects (like french, economics and geography) so im thinking of maybe doing quite academic a levels like geography, politics, economics or french. i also have quite a passion for music and tv so im thinking of doing btec certificates (same as 1 a level) in media or music tech at college. im not sure whether to stick to the academic path or do something more creative like the btecs, any help would be appreciated.

Reply 1

mima223

depending on wether you pick 3 or 4.
I would do 2 creative, 2 academic
, or for 3 (Like me) 1 creative, 2 academic as it keeps your options open.
I do Art, Politics and Economics

Reply 2

yesjess73

a creative subject an essay subject (history, geography, english etc) and a mathsy subject (economics, maths) would keep your options the most open.
I would imagine a combo such as art/history/economics would be good as you can reasonably claim interest in art (eg I did history because i'm interested in history of art) and economics (I did history to put economics in context).

However this combo will not be as good as committing to an area (even if not a subject) now. Consider what you'd like to do in the future - would you be happy doing freelance media work, working in journalism, going into an economics office job? Do you have the family wealth to support a job that probably won't make you much, at least in the first couple of years, or do you need stable, reasonable income as soon as possible after finishing college/uni?

Do you want to go to uni? If you do you need to make sure you have the subjects required for the degrees you might want to do, eg if you want to do french you will almost always need french at A level. If you want to go in a geography/economics direction I would strongly recommend maths. if you want to do an essay subject you ideally want 2 essay subjects at A level.
Also think about how prestigious you want your uni to be - very few of the top unis will only require one specific a level for a given subject so the 'combo' above would be very risky for them. (a typical science offer bc I'm a stem person and only know about stem might be 'BSc Chemistry - chemistry and one other science or maths')

If you are thinking uni I would strongly recommend at least 2 A-Levels, ideally 3. People argue about whether it's fair but the truth is BTECs and other certificates are not considered as good.

I don't know much about the creative industries but I would imagine experience would count more than some level 1 certificate? (in case you don't know a level 1 is equivalent to easier than gcses, which are lvl 2). Could you do an essayish degree and then career switch to media afterwards? In some ways you're lucky that your passion area doesn't require a degree for entry so you don't have to commit to it right now.

I think I'm quite uni biased though as it's all I could imagine wanting to do, remember to follow your gut. There comes a point when a pros and cons list doesn't help anymore and you just have to trust yourself :smile: