A level choices

I’m really interested in doing neuroscience for uni but I’ve chosen politics, psychology and philosophy for my a levels, which one should I swap out for biology or can I still do these subjects and also do neuroscience for uni.

I’m really interested in doing neuroscience for uni but I’ve chosen politics, psychology and philosophy for my a levels, which one should I swap out for biology or can I still do these subjects and also do neuroscience for uni.

I’m really interested in doing neuroscience for uni but I’ve chosen politics, psychology and philosophy for my a levels, which one should I swap out for biology or can I still do these subjects and also do neuroscience for uni.

look at the unis you may be thinking of going to, as they will have the required and preferred subjects listed in the entry requirements. most, if not all, will want biology and/or chemistry (I think when I was applying most required bio/chem and then another STEM subject), but this depends on the uni.
personally, I'd keep psychology as there is some overlap between neuroscience and psychology, and then choose which one you'd rather do between philosophy and politics. but definitely look at uni entrance requirements!!

Hey @supercoolgril!
First off, it's great to hear that you already have an idea of what you want to study at university. Neuroscience sounds fascinating, and knowing that's what you want to study at this stage can help you tailor your A-Level choices to best meet the entry requirements for various Neuroscience courses.
I think it's important to note that even with the same course, different universities still ask for different subjects - I'd definitely recommend swapping something out for Biology, but just double check that any of the universites you might consider applying to in the near future don't ask for Chemistry/Physics/Maths as well.
In terms of what you should swap out, it's really up to you. Politics, Psychology and Philosophy are all essay subjects, so taking any of them will display good writing skills - is there any particular one that you prefer/feel you might perform better in?
Best of luck with your choices,
Eve (Kingston Rep).

If you’re set on neuroscience and you don’t want to do a foundation year (you can look into the pros and cons of this) then I would strongly suggest doing 2 core sciences at a level, preferably chemistry and biology. Most unis require 2 science subjects and for a lot them this has to be from physics, maths, biology and chem with some requiring both biology and chem and some wanting one of bio and chem plus another core or non-science (eg: psychology). So if you’re seriously about the subject take bio, chem and another subject. If you’re not so serious and don’t want to do this you may still have a few options if you were to take biology, psychology and one other but this will limit your options. Hope this helps and happy to try to answer any more questions if you have them. Have a great day

Just to let you know if job prospects factor into your uni desision, neuroscience has one fo the worst job prosepects going. Theres not jobs in it at all except researching which pays really bad salaries and theres not a huge lot of researcher jobs to begin with. Im just saying this as someone else who wanted to do neuroscience but decided not to due to this issue with it. Before you decide A levels make sure to really look at degrees not just what you want to study and are interested in but your job prospects, student satisfaction rates etc.
However still change out one of those subjects for biology because biology will open a lot of doors for you. You could do psychology with neuroscience but again psychology is so popular that its insanely difficult to get a job in psychology nowadays but it can be done.

As someone who is studying psychology, philosophy and politics and previously wanted to do neuroscience, you have three options:
The first is to do a foundation year as others have suggested. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who don't study STEM A levels but go on to do STEM degrees. Personally, I think this could be a good option if you are heavily invested in your current choices. Doing a foundation year does mean an extra year at university, but if you think you will do well in your current A levels and you are keen to learn more about them rather than replacing one for biology, it might be a better route. If you are between studying neuroscience and something else, this may actually help you make your mind up. I didn't get the grades needed for biology so I switched that to English last minute and hated it. I then switched to politics because I had a bigger interest in politics than biology and I was also considering law as a degree. Studying politics and philosophy made me realise that I'm not as invested in psychology and neuroscience as I thought I was, which helped me to decide on studying law. I also really enjoy how politics exams are done, as they are very similar to history exams with (in my opinion) more interesting topics.
Your second option is to start off with four A levels and drop the one that you don't want to do after the first few weeks or months. Some schools won't let you do four A levels if you don't have very high grades, but this varies. If possible, I would try and start with four (the four being politics, philosophy, psychology and biology), as this will help you make up your mind for certain. It also gives you a little time to figure out whether neuroscience is really for you. This is probably the best option.
Your final option is to replace one of your subjects for biology. It can't be psychology as for neuroscience, many universities will require biology or chemistry and an additional science-related subject, which psychology is classed as. It would have to be either politics or philosophy. I really love both of these subjects, but if I was in your position and my heart was set on neuroscience, politics would be the one I would switch. Politics is actually my favourite subject and I perform very well in it, but out of the two, it has a lot more content. Biology and psychology are already content heavy, so to add politics on top of that may make your workload a lot heavier. With philosophy, assuming you're doing AQA philosophy, there isn't actually a lot of content, however it is hard to understand the content there is sometimes. I'm lucky that I have great teachers, but I struggled a lot in my philosophy exams throughout Year 12. It was only in my end of year mock that I achieved a high grade, and even then it was still a struggle at times. You have to really understand the content to do well. Personally, I wouldn't go down this route unless you are very sure you want to do neuroscience.
It's not an easy choice, but you did pick these A levels for a good reason (I'm assuming). As others have said, neuroscience won't necessarily offer you the best job prospects if you decide to stay in that field, but your degree won't necessarily dictate your career. You could go into pharmaceutical development or work in drug testing. You could do a conversion degree and go into psychology to eventually qualify as a neuropsychologist. You could take your neuroscience degree and go into a completely different sector, such as bioinformatics or marketing. Every degree has value if you make use of it while studying. I would suggest looking into the modules in different neuroscience degrees. This is what helped me realise that neuroscience might not really be for me, as I was more interested in human behaviour than actually studying the brain. From there I began researching more into psychology and as much as I think I could enjoy it far far down the line, politics had a big impact on me and I knew that studying and working in psychology for the next decade was not the life I wanted. I'm still interested in human behaviour, but more so how society shapes human behaviour, which is what drew me to law. You should also be aware that in a neuroscience degree there is a lot of chemistry, and as someone who hated chemistry, this put me off heavily.
If you have any more questions I'd be happy to answer them

thank you so much for the reply, i think i might stay with psychology and biology as i feel like my chemistry gcse grade wont be strong enough however if its decent, i think i might take chem too but i dont really wan to do a subject im not interested in/ struggle in. is there any other career paths relating to biology, psychology and philosophy that you may recommend?
have a great day too😊

thank you so much for taking time out of ur day to reply!
i think i might take the second option and do all 4 to see which one ill enjoy. luckily for me, my desired sixth form allows us to do 4 a levels so it shouldn't be too much of an ask. after reading the specification about neuroscience and seeing how many time chemistry came up i think im having huge second thoughts. ive never been very strong in chemistry however i need to see my GCSE results to determine that. like you i am also really interested in the way that the brain works and how humans function as stuff like that. i will definitely keep searching for possible jobs and uni courses with my chosen a levels but ill probably end up changing my mind again ahah. i also might consider taking a foundation year too since im so indecisive
what uni course are you looking to do?

oooh okay tysm, do the requirements change each year or do they stay the same

I’m really interested in doing neuroscience for uni but I’ve chosen politics, psychology and philosophy for my a levels, which one should I swap out for biology or can I still do these subjects and also do neuroscience for uni.