The Student Room Group

uni courses combining science & humanities?

it sounds impossible to apply for medicinal chemistry or neuroscience with just one science and not maths, but i am quite interested in these types of science and if possible id like to be able to do a course that incorporates some types of science with humanities, like human sciences or something like that. im in y11 and thinking about picking my a levels, i already know im thinking about taking psychology and neuroscience electives and if i dont take chem a level (which im leaning towards bc i know its not as useful without maths/science), i could do a science/public health-based epq or core maths. are there any uni courses taken at competitive unis that incorporate science and humanities similar to human sciences, or maybe a degree to do human behaviour in general, including both social social sciences and general sciences?
Original post by jt3928
it sounds impossible to apply for medicinal chemistry or neuroscience with just one science and not maths, but i am quite interested in these types of science and if possible id like to be able to do a course that incorporates some types of science with humanities, like human sciences or something like that. im in y11 and thinking about picking my a levels, i already know im thinking about taking psychology and neuroscience electives and if i dont take chem a level (which im leaning towards bc i know its not as useful without maths/science), i could do a science/public health-based epq or core maths. are there any uni courses taken at competitive unis that incorporate science and humanities similar to human sciences, or maybe a degree to do human behaviour in general, including both social social sciences and general sciences?

Hiya!

I might be a bit biased here as a psychology final year student haha, but psychology is probably going to be one of your options at university-level if you're interested in the integration of the sciences and humanities :biggrin:. I would say that psychology at university level is quite different to A-Level in the sense that it tends to be a bit more scientific in nature (hence why most degrees are BSc - bachelor of science than BA).

There's a lot of statistics as its usually a bit research heavy - but you don't need to take a maths a level since they teach you the basics. In both first and second year we've had compulsory modules on biopsychology/neuroscience, but there are also 3 optional modules in neuroscience in final year.

You do "lab work" or "practicals" in the degree, although this is a little different to your stereotypical chemistry lab. Here, you're doing practical experiments on human behaviour.

But also in a psychology degree, you cover stuff like social psychology or political psychology, which is a bit more social sciencey in nature.

Just to also say everything I've said is based on my experiences of studying at Cardiff (one of the top schools for psychology), but other unis might be slightly different :biggrin: If it sounds like something you're interested in though, I'm happy to answer any questions you had about studying psychology :smile:

~ Fatiha, Cardiff University Student Rep
Original post by jt3928
it sounds impossible to apply for medicinal chemistry or neuroscience with just one science and not maths, but i am quite interested in these types of science and if possible id like to be able to do a course that incorporates some types of science with humanities, like human sciences or something like that. im in y11 and thinking about picking my a levels, i already know im thinking about taking psychology and neuroscience electives and if i dont take chem a level (which im leaning towards bc i know its not as useful without maths/science), i could do a science/public health-based epq or core maths. are there any uni courses taken at competitive unis that incorporate science and humanities similar to human sciences, or maybe a degree to do human behaviour in general, including both social social sciences and general sciences?

This depends really how rigidly you are defining the disciplines vs their approaches:

There are certainly courses that incorporate both traditional humanities style approaches of reading texts and writing analytical essays with also incorporating scientific approaches like evaluating gathered data or conducting structured experiments, for example archaeology/archaeological science, linguistics, sociology, politics, some areas of anthropology etc.

There are also others which incorporate the two areas as more discrete subjects studied in parallel e.g. joint honours courses in physics and philosophy, arts and sciences degrees and similar.

There are some which might try and overlap the two or study one area in terms of the other e.g. the history and/or philosophy of science, digital humanities, various technical approaches to e.g. conservation of artefacts/objects etc.

There's also human sciences which isn't widely available but tends to fall into any of those categories depending on the exact university offering it and subjects being studied there. Note human sciences is a very specific field that overlaps heavily with aspects of (biological/physical) anthropology and (evolutionary/prehistoric) archaeology in the first category.


That said if as per your other posts you're not really keen on maths I don't see why you keep focusing on scientific degrees in themselves. You say you're interested in e.g. chemistry, but you are averse to doing maths which you'd invariably do day in and day out in a chemistry degree at least in parts of the degree, which seems to be a bit of cognitive dissonance.

What is it you purportedly find interesting about chemistry? You're still going to need to gather and analyse numerical data, and understand maths at last around A-level standard if not a bit beyond to grasp the theoretical frameworks that underpin physical chemistry (which explains the fundamental energy relations in all the reactions you might otherwise be interested in). If you wouldn't enjoy that (the former likely a part of all areas of chemistry courses in terms of labs and stuff, the latter which you'll invariably be studying throughout the degree anyway - whether you are interested in quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics doesn't really matter as they're core topics in any chemistry degree which are necessarily mathematical) then your apparent interest may simply be too narrow to justify considering the course further.

Something in the vein of studying science from a humanities perspective (e.g. the history and/or philosophy of science or science/technology studies) might be a better fit for you as such...? Or as I noted, just stop fixating on scientific courses and focus on what you have stated previously you are good at and enjoy and go from there. As I linked in your other thread, research has found STEM and non-STEM graduates have equivalent mid-long term career outcomes in the UK so there is no justification that one is better for career prospects than the other regardless of how prevalent this assumption is.
Reply 3
Original post by artful_lounger
This depends really how rigidly you are defining the disciplines vs their approaches:

There are certainly courses that incorporate both traditional humanities style approaches of reading texts and writing analytical essays with also incorporating scientific approaches like evaluating gathered data or conducting structured experiments, for example archaeology/archaeological science, linguistics, sociology, politics, some areas of anthropology etc.

There are also others which incorporate the two areas as more discrete subjects studied in parallel e.g. joint honours courses in physics and philosophy, arts and sciences degrees and similar.

There are some which might try and overlap the two or study one area in terms of the other e.g. the history and/or philosophy of science, digital humanities, various technical approaches to e.g. conservation of artefacts/objects etc.

There's also human sciences which isn't widely available but tends to fall into any of those categories depending on the exact university offering it and subjects being studied there. Note human sciences is a very specific field that overlaps heavily with aspects of (biological/physical) anthropology and (evolutionary/prehistoric) archaeology in the first category.


That said if as per your other posts you're not really keen on maths I don't see why you keep focusing on scientific degrees in themselves. You say you're interested in e.g. chemistry, but you are averse to doing maths which you'd invariably do day in and day out in a chemistry degree at least in parts of the degree, which seems to be a bit of cognitive dissonance.
What is it you purportedly find interesting about chemistry? You're still going to need to gather and analyse numerical data, and understand maths at last around A-level standard if not a bit beyond to grasp the theoretical frameworks that underpin physical chemistry (which explains the fundamental energy relations in all the reactions you might otherwise be interested in). If you wouldn't enjoy that (the former likely a part of all areas of chemistry courses in terms of labs and stuff, the latter which you'll invariably be studying throughout the degree anyway - whether you are interested in quantum chemistry and statistical thermodynamics doesn't really matter as they're core topics in any chemistry degree which are necessarily mathematical) then your apparent interest may simply be too narrow to justify considering the course further.
Something in the vein of studying science from a humanities perspective (e.g. the history and/or philosophy of science or science/technology studies) might be a better fit for you as such...? Or as I noted, just stop fixating on scientific courses and focus on what you have stated previously you are good at and enjoy and go from there. As I linked in your other thread, research has found STEM and non-STEM graduates have equivalent mid-long term career outcomes in the UK so there is no justification that one is better for career prospects than the other regardless of how prevalent this assumption is.
so far in chemistry i have found the maths helps me understand chemical processes which helps me overall understand it better. i enjoy learning about the way things interact with each other in chemistry and i wouldn't say i don't enjoy maths but i just don't really get some of the most difficult questions where you have to apply what you know to situations where it's not immediately clear that you need to use them, whereas in chemistry i feel that the maths supplements the theory we do and it helps me understand further what we're doing by making it easier to visualise in my head if that makes sense. i think you're right if i don't want to take maths a level the mathematical nature of chemistry wouldn't really appeal to me but my own chemistry teacher said he partially objects to how compulsory maths a level is for chemistry degrees because some of the abstract maths in it is just not related to chemistry and that's what i struggle with. i've been told i could take maths a level and do well in it but the issue is mostly confidence in it for me and as you said i will probably lean more towards english like you said which i feel much more confident in unless i suddenly have a big change of heart. i know my interest in it probably can't and shouldn't be maintained beyond gcse without maths a level but i'm still interested if it would be possible to have some crossover between science and humanities because i don't really identify myself with both stem or humanities by themselves and so early in y11 it couldn't hurt to explore all my options and all the subjects im interested in to see where they could intersect
Original post by jt3928
so far in chemistry i have found the maths helps me understand chemical processes which helps me overall understand it better. i enjoy learning about the way things interact with each other in chemistry and i wouldn't say i don't enjoy maths but i just don't really get some of the most difficult questions where you have to apply what you know to situations where it's not immediately clear that you need to use them, whereas in chemistry i feel that the maths supplements the theory we do and it helps me understand further what we're doing by making it easier to visualise in my head if that makes sense. i think you're right if i don't want to take maths a level the mathematical nature of chemistry wouldn't really appeal to me but my own chemistry teacher said he partially objects to how compulsory maths a level is for chemistry degrees because some of the abstract maths in it is just not related to chemistry and that's what i struggle with. i've been told i could take maths a level and do well in it but the issue is mostly confidence in it for me and as you said i will probably lean more towards english like you said which i feel much more confident in unless i suddenly have a big change of heart. i know my interest in it probably can't and shouldn't be maintained beyond gcse without maths a level but i'm still interested if it would be possible to have some crossover between science and humanities because i don't really identify myself with both stem or humanities by themselves and so early in y11 it couldn't hurt to explore all my options and all the subjects im interested in to see where they could intersect

TThe thing is what you're considering "abstract" maths at GCSE level would a) be considered simply mathematical methods at degree level and b) is exactly the basis of the maths needed to describe all of the theoretical background of physical chemistry, calculus, matrices, differential equations, etc. Now you won't be doing those in quite the same detail as e.g. a physicist but the underlying maths is the same and you will probably need at least a passing familiarity with some calculus and matrices concepts and that necessitates a very solid grounding in algebra, graphs, trigonometry etc at GCSE and beyond.

Also some areas of chemistry e.g. inorganic can involve some actual proper abstract maths I.e. group theory, albeit that's usually a higher level option in undergrad.

I just don't see it frankly. You say you don't like maths, you've indicated no interest in physics or biology which do have overlapping topics, and ive not seen any specific thongs you've said you're interested in from chemistry either, just a kind if vague reference to finding it "interesting". Whereas you have stated you enjoy and do well in your humanities and social science subjects.

It just seems like a slightly bizarre fixation rather than any genuine interest or aptitude from what you've said.
Reply 5
Original post by artful_lounger
TThe thing is what you're considering "abstract" maths at GCSE level would a) be considered simply mathematical methods at degree level and b) is exactly the basis of the maths needed to describe all of the theoretical background of physical chemistry, calculus, matrices, differential equations, etc. Now you won't be doing those in quite the same detail as e.g. a physicist but the underlying maths is the same and you will probably need at least a passing familiarity with some calculus and matrices concepts and that necessitates a very solid grounding in algebra, graphs, trigonometry etc at GCSE and beyond.
Also some areas of chemistry e.g. inorganic can involve some actual proper abstract maths I.e. group theory, albeit that's usually a higher level option in undergrad.
I just don't see it frankly. You say you don't like maths, you've indicated no interest in physics or biology which do have overlapping topics, and ive not seen any specific thongs you've said you're interested in from chemistry either, just a kind if vague reference to finding it "interesting". Whereas you have stated you enjoy and do well in your humanities and social science subjects.
It just seems like a slightly bizarre fixation rather than any genuine interest or aptitude from what you've said.

okay thanks for being so honest, honestly i'm not sure how i feel about taking 3 essay based subjects and i'm worried i'll get overwhelmed by the amount of writing i'll have to do and i sometimes feel like i might be kind of grabbing at straws to help me make my a levels less essay demanding and if it comes across that way to you then it kind of shows i don't have the most vested interest in it. i do like chemistry but i agree that i probably am overextending my interest further than it should go and i don't want to take chemistry and do really badly in y12 ending up with a bad grade in a subject that isn't really related to the other 2 i take. i just don't want to regret closing myself off to something in the future if i have a change of heart later, and it seems like stem subjects are the ones where i would close myself off if i only take essay based subjects. thanks for being honest again it's really helped me!
Original post by jt3928
okay thanks for being so honest, honestly i'm not sure how i feel about taking 3 essay based subjects and i'm worried i'll get overwhelmed by the amount of writing i'll have to do and i sometimes feel like i might be kind of grabbing at straws to help me make my a levels less essay demanding and if it comes across that way to you then it kind of shows i don't have the most vested interest in it. i do like chemistry but i agree that i probably am overextending my interest further than it should go and i don't want to take chemistry and do really badly in y12 ending up with a bad grade in a subject that isn't really related to the other 2 i take. i just don't want to regret closing myself off to something in the future if i have a change of heart later, and it seems like stem subjects are the ones where i would close myself off if i only take essay based subjects. thanks for being honest again it's really helped me!

As I noted in your original post, most STEM degrees are available with a foundation year for people who did non-science subjects at A-level - so if you do change your mind and want to fully commit to that route, you still have that option available :smile:

As for your other subjects, realistically you end up writing a lot of essays in an essay based degree so taking more essay based subjects is just good preparation for that at degree level. It's also not uncommon for people to do take 3 such subjects in combination and consider also - due to using similar assessment methods (i.e. essays) you get a cumulative benefit from taking more as you get 3 times as much experience writing essays (on any subject) as taking just 1 essay based subject. This gives you a lot more ability to practice your academic writing skills across your A-levels and use approaches and feedback (in terms of general academic writing/essay structuring etc) across all three of them.

I think you're overthinking it really - if you like and do well in essay subjects, take those! You are more likely to have a better experience in 6th form doing those than something you're less focused on/engaged with, and more likely to do well too. Plus, as above, you don't close off (almost) any doors as you still have the foundation year route if you change your mind :h:

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