Spanish vs Drama

Original post by lililm

Context: at my school we so get 3 options. I am very academic and aim to study PPE then law at top universities in the future, so am not trying not to burnout early. OG choices: Music (love it but boring atm), History, Spanish. 2 months in, I CANT STAND Spanish nor history. I don’t get on with either teacher, but I used to like history and might need it for law?
Spanish is relevant to my family and I pick it up fast, but idk if even good teachers teach it fast at GCSE, so I am considering switching it for drama.
Ive never been crazily into drama (got straight 9s tho) but the teacher is amazing and likes me, + I need to improve at confidence esp in awkward situations. If I choose drama I’ll take Spanish classes out of school, and vise versa I’d do one of the drama plays.
Does anyone know their time/study demands (do lots of sports)?
What should I do? I just want to enjoy school and learn a wider variety and am very lost 😭

i think you should take spanish bc from what ive personally read, unis tend to look more favourably towards languages than arts like drama (and also some courses even if they arent language based will require you to have studied a foreign language at a certain level)

i take spanish now (and also do a fair amount of sports/music/drama depending on the term) and honestly am finding it quite fun and not very demanding, especially in comparison to some of my other subjects. some of my friends do drama and they say its quite a lot of coursework so do bear that in mind.

doing school plays is honestly a good way to try and build confidence, i literally hate talking to or infront of people but because i like singing i did the musical last year and was on stage in front of sooooo many people including my friends and family. its such a cool thing to be able to look back on and say, yeah, i did that : D

taking spanish lessons outside of school may end up being quite a bit with your other subjects, so i would say taking it as an actual gcse and then js doing drama productions/plays if you want to would be more manageable, but honestly that depends on you haha

lmk how it goes!

Reply 2

Wired_1800

Original post by lililm

Context: at my school we so get 3 options. I am very academic and aim to study PPE then law at top universities in the future, so am not trying not to burnout early. OG choices: Music (love it but boring atm), History, Spanish. 2 months in, I CANT STAND Spanish nor history. I don’t get on with either teacher, but I used to like history and might need it for law?
Spanish is relevant to my family and I pick it up fast, but idk if even good teachers teach it fast at GCSE, so I am considering switching it for drama.
Ive never been crazily into drama (got straight 9s tho) but the teacher is amazing and likes me, + I need to improve at confidence esp in awkward situations. If I choose drama I’ll take Spanish classes out of school, and vise versa I’d do one of the drama plays.
Does anyone know their time/study demands (do lots of sports)?
What should I do? I just want to enjoy school and learn a wider variety and am very lost 😭

I suggest Music, Spanish and History. Take Drama classes out of school or ask your teacher whether you could attend as s non-formal student so you learn the skills and knowledge.

Reply 3

Original post by lililm

Context: at my school we so get 3 options. I am very academic and aim to study PPE then law at top universities in the future, so am not trying not to burnout early. OG choices: Music (love it but boring atm), History, Spanish. 2 months in, I CANT STAND Spanish nor history. I don’t get on with either teacher, but I used to like history and might need it for law?
Spanish is relevant to my family and I pick it up fast, but idk if even good teachers teach it fast at GCSE, so I am considering switching it for drama.
Ive never been crazily into drama (got straight 9s tho) but the teacher is amazing and likes me, + I need to improve at confidence esp in awkward situations. If I choose drama I’ll take Spanish classes out of school, and vise versa I’d do one of the drama plays.
Does anyone know their time/study demands (do lots of sports)?
What should I do? I just want to enjoy school and learn a wider variety and am very lost 😭

I would do Drama - great for speaking out confidently.

You don't need History for Law - any essay subject would help though many unis don't specify [have a look now at requirements]

Reply 4

hi, hello

1

Original post by lililm

Context: at my school we so get 3 options. I am very academic and aim to study PPE then law at top universities in the future, so am not trying not to burnout early. OG choices: Music (love it but boring atm), History, Spanish. 2 months in, I CANT STAND Spanish nor history. I don’t get on with either teacher, but I used to like history and might need it for law?
Spanish is relevant to my family and I pick it up fast, but idk if even good teachers teach it fast at GCSE, so I am considering switching it for drama.
Ive never been crazily into drama (got straight 9s tho) but the teacher is amazing and likes me, + I need to improve at confidence esp in awkward situations. If I choose drama I’ll take Spanish classes out of school, and vise versa I’d do one of the drama plays.
Does anyone know their time/study demands (do lots of sports)?
What should I do? I just want to enjoy school and learn a wider variety and am very lost 😭

It depends - If Spanish is your only modern foreign language, stick with it, it is preferable to have at least one. If not, I'd switch Spanish and maybe take it on duolingo or something to get better at it if it is important to your family. For law, an essay subject like history would help, but if you're going to do well in English, I don't really think that matters, so you could switch history. Ultimately, most universitys (maybe not oxbridge though) are only going to heavily consider A-levels, so while you have the time to do what you want and enjoy the subjects you can take, so do what you want.

Reply 5

Original post by hi, hello

It depends - If Spanish is your only modern foreign language, stick with it, it is preferable to have at least one. If not, I'd switch Spanish and maybe take it on duolingo or something to get better at it if it is important to your family. For law, an essay subject like history would help, but if you're going to do well in English, I don't really think that matters, so you could switch history. Ultimately, most universitys (maybe not oxbridge though) are only going to heavily consider A-levels, so while you have the time to do what you want and enjoy the subjects you can take, so do what you want.

No uni requires a language GCSE so why are you saying it is 'preferable'?

Reply 6

Original post by Muttley79

No uni requires a language GCSE so why are you saying it is 'preferable'?

some courses will require/prefer you to have one depending on which courses you take

Reply 7

Original post by 17ZC

some courses will require/prefer you to have one depending on which courses you take

Which ones? Please link to this information.

Unless the OP is doing a language degree, no other course requires a MFL

Reply 8

Original post by Muttley79

Which ones? Please link to this information.
Unless the OP is doing a language degree, no other course requires a MFL

i mean i don't specifically know but ive been told this by a few teachers

Reply 9

Original post by 17ZC

i mean i don't specifically know but ive been told this by a few teachers

They could be wrong as some unis, like UCL used to require one. I'm a teacher and can assure you that they don't any more.

"Please note – you do not need a Modern Foreign Language at GCSE and are not required to take further language study whilst at UCL."

Scroll down here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/how-apply/entry-requirements

Reply 10

lililm

OP

6

Family connections know quite a few people in Oxbridge admissions, and we discovered that they don't prefer one over the other so long as academic subjects receive high grades. So I am trying to decide based on what is more enjoyable and that neither would take up too much extra time. Just got grades back in spanish and am definitely ahead, which makes classes very boring, but I like the language itself and being praised for being good at it 😭. Drama would be more fun but i wouldn't be the best, still potentially grade 9 standard as long as I try my hardest. Im interested in it for the life skills, as my decision making (clearly) and confidence in awkward situations are awful 😭.

Reply 11

lililm

OP

6

Does anyone have advice on how to literally make a decision as I physically can't 😭

Reply 12

Original post by Muttley79

They could be wrong as some unis, like UCL used to require one. I'm a teacher and can assure you that they don't any more.
"Please note – you do not need a Modern Foreign Language at GCSE and are not required to take further language study whilst at UCL."
Scroll down here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/undergraduate/how-apply/entry-requirements

oh okay thanks

just repeating what I've been told tho so yeah

Reply 13