Kinda wanna do an English degree; didn't do Eng Lit A-level?

I'm in Year 13, and I'm doing Biology, Psychology and Geography A levels. I cannot really decide what I want to do with my life. In year 11, I wanted to do a computer science degree, then in year 12 biomedical science, then this year diagnostic radiography, now english(?)

As a kid I fully believed I was going to be an author when I was younger. All I did was write stories, and I thought English was the greatest subject ever. I really enjoyed English Language and Literature at GCSE too, and I got a 9 and an 8 respectively. I was decided on Psychology and Biology A levels, but for some reason I decided to do Geography as my third. I didn't even consider English, and I didn't like Geography that much? I don't know what I was thinking, but it's safe to say I regret it :tongue:

I've also realised I don't want to do diagnostic radiography, and that I was tricking myself into thinking I found it interesting when really I just liked the £6k annual bursary and high employability. I feel like, in a non-cringy way, I was always meant to do English.

So I started looking into English degrees. Obviously, the majority (the good ones) require you to have done English Literature at A-level. Which I have not. My dilemma is that if I'm going to university, I'm gonna go to a good one. There's no point paying £27k to not get a good education.

I've always planned on doing a gap year after A-levels, to work and save money before university. But would I be able to do A-Level English Literature as a private candidate within this year? Lack of motivation and discipline in self-studying isn't an issue for me, so this isn't a factor, but is that a good idea? I'm also not sure how the coursework aspect would work privately. Or is this whole thing silly, and I should just stick to diagnostic radiography?

I realise it is really late in Year 13 to be undecided on what degree you wanna do. Trust me. I'm aware. :eek:

Reply 1

DerDracologe

Study Forum Helper

Hi!
Firstly, I think pursuing what you love is the most important thing!
Taking English a level on a gap year could be a good move, im also not sure of the specifics though but it’s worth looking into for sure.
Another option I thought id mention is the possibility of a foundation year if you get good grades but in the ‘wrong’ subjects. Do any of the courses youre aiming for offer this?
Also, might be worth looking into what careers you can get to with an English degree and see if those interest you. You dont wanna study something at uni and then be in this situation again where it feels like you did the wrong thing for what you want to do next!
Hope that helps 🙂

Reply 2

jessfjshsds

Thank you for responding! :smile:

I have looked at the possibility of a foundation year, but I'm not really keen to pay that much extra tuition for a year that doesn't contribute to actually getting the degree :s-smilie:

And I've been researching almost obsessively about English degree career prospects bahaha, as someone who's always been very STEM focused and didn't think the degree had that much employability. I've realised I was wrong, and a lot of the jobs that many English graduates go into really interest me; copywriting, editing, publishing, marketing, etc. I really feel like I'd be happy in those careers too :smile:

(especially compared to radiography!)

Reply 3

bbu7372

Obviously this all depends on one’s opinion, but personally I think it’s important to do something you actually enjoy. As someone who has been forced due to illness to spend time around medical professionals, it clear when someone just loves the field or does not really want to be there. I recently had a CT scan, and there was a radiographer there - his enthusiasm and calm made me feel so much better, even though I had been incredibly anxious about it. So my point is, if you don’t love it, then how are you supposed to give confidence to your patients? You will come across patients who are in desperate, life-threatening situations, so making a positive impact in this way really matters imo. Also, working in hospitals can be highly stressful, so it’s important I think to make sure you want to take that on.

Secondly, as a fellow English literature lover (planning to do a degree and have an A* at A level), I couldn’t imagine doing something completely different.

That being said, doing an A level in English would take some financial commitment, so it’s important to be sure first.

I don’t have any experience of doing an A level in a year (it’s actually something I’m investigating for myself instead of resitting one of my subjects which was too low for my first choice), however I do have experience of being a private candidate (for my GCSEs). My understanding was that doing coursework is not possible as a private candidate (please double check though and don’t take my word for it as this might have changed). So you would have to do an A level course that doesn’t have coursework (which rules out AQA). Cambridge international qualifications don’t usually have coursework, so they are perfect for this, and that’s why I did their GCSEs. You normally just sit an extra paper or two instead of coursework.

The downside of this is that coursework is a good way to bank marks, and some people are particularly good at longer form writing. If this is you, do you have a good relation with your sixth form where you could maybe ask them to support your coursework, so that you could do an exam board that has coursework? This could also save you time, because if you are a private candidate you have to arrange a centre to sit the papers at, and it can be weird going into an unknown environment.

So basically it all comes down to what you want, what route would be best for you and the cheapest and easiest way to make that happen.

In terms of the actual A level, I don’t think it’s impossible to do in a year at all if you’re doing it alone (but keep in mind I’m not talking from experience, as I did mine in two years). I think the key thing would be to make sure that you’re still covering all the aspects (themes, characters, etc) of the text in a structured way like you would in class, so that you can write well on anything the exam board throws at you. But as you say you’re very motivated, this should be no problem. Plus the best part of being a private candidate is that you can choose the set texts yourself!!

Personally (again this is just my opinion) I think it shows real determination to a university that you would have taken an A level in a year through your own motivation.

Best wishes

Reply 4

OffUniRepElla

Official Rep

Original post by jessfjshsds

I'm in Year 13, and I'm doing Biology, Psychology and Geography A levels. I cannot really decide what I want to do with my life. In year 11, I wanted to do a computer science degree, then in year 12 biomedical science, then this year diagnostic radiography, now english(?)
As a kid I fully believed I was going to be an author when I was younger. All I did was write stories, and I thought English was the greatest subject ever. I really enjoyed English Language and Literature at GCSE too, and I got a 9 and an 8 respectively. I was decided on Psychology and Biology A levels, but for some reason I decided to do Geography as my third. I didn't even consider English, and I didn't like Geography that much? I don't know what I was thinking, but it's safe to say I regret it :tongue:

I've also realised I don't want to do diagnostic radiography, and that I was tricking myself into thinking I found it interesting when really I just liked the £6k annual bursary and high employability. I feel like, in a non-cringy way, I was always meant to do English.
So I started looking into English degrees. Obviously, the majority (the good ones) require you to have done English Literature at A-level. Which I have not. My dilemma is that if I'm going to university, I'm gonna go to a good one. There's no point paying £27k to not get a good education.
I've always planned on doing a gap year after A-levels, to work and save money before university. But would I be able to do A-Level English Literature as a private candidate within this year? Lack of motivation and discipline in self-studying isn't an issue for me, so this isn't a factor, but is that a good idea? I'm also not sure how the coursework aspect would work privately. Or is this whole thing silly, and I should just stick to diagnostic radiography?
I realise it is really late in Year 13 to be undecided on what degree you wanna do. Trust me. I'm aware. :eek:

Hi Jess!

I did an English degree and I absolutely loved it. Like you, I was still undecided in Year 13 and actually applied for Geography. Long story short, I ended up taking a year out and reapplying for English which, for me, was the best decision.

If you are super interested in English, I think I would have to recommend that you take English as an A-Level during a gap year. I work at the University of Nottingham and we do request that students have taken English at A-Level - it's pretty much non-negotiable. However, more importantly, doing the A-Level will also really help you decide whether you actually like English! Plus, taking a year out is always a great option so you have more time to feel confident in your choices.

Ella
(UoN Official Rep)

Reply 5

beant6464

Original post by jessfjshsds

I'm in Year 13, and I'm doing Biology, Psychology and Geography A levels. I cannot really decide what I want to do with my life. In year 11, I wanted to do a computer science degree, then in year 12 biomedical science, then this year diagnostic radiography, now english(?)
As a kid I fully believed I was going to be an author when I was younger. All I did was write stories, and I thought English was the greatest subject ever. I really enjoyed English Language and Literature at GCSE too, and I got a 9 and an 8 respectively. I was decided on Psychology and Biology A levels, but for some reason I decided to do Geography as my third. I didn't even consider English, and I didn't like Geography that much? I don't know what I was thinking, but it's safe to say I regret it :tongue:

I've also realised I don't want to do diagnostic radiography, and that I was tricking myself into thinking I found it interesting when really I just liked the £6k annual bursary and high employability. I feel like, in a non-cringy way, I was always meant to do English.
So I started looking into English degrees. Obviously, the majority (the good ones) require you to have done English Literature at A-level. Which I have not. My dilemma is that if I'm going to university, I'm gonna go to a good one. There's no point paying £27k to not get a good education.
I've always planned on doing a gap year after A-levels, to work and save money before university. But would I be able to do A-Level English Literature as a private candidate within this year? Lack of motivation and discipline in self-studying isn't an issue for me, so this isn't a factor, but is that a good idea? I'm also not sure how the coursework aspect would work privately. Or is this whole thing silly, and I should just stick to diagnostic radiography?
I realise it is really late in Year 13 to be undecided on what degree you wanna do. Trust me. I'm aware. :eek:

I am in my final year of a History degree (*and have done 2 15-credit modules from English Lit*) but did not do History at A-level... You will be fine if you keep looking around, but I think you taking a foundation year in English Lit at a strong uni ((which will not require English A-level)) will arguably be more beneficial for you than doing it as another A-level. Remember, it will still be one year of your time, and while student finance may sound scary in Y13, its really more of a lifetime tax rather than a loan. The extra foundation year cost will be minimally felt as SFE caps you at repaying just 9% of your earnings ONLY once you start to earn over £2,082 per month, adding up to about c. £43 - £46 repayment per week. Regardless if you do 3 years or 4, we will all have to pay similiar amounts to that per week anyway, and its all manually taken out of your payslips before you see it.

However, as for that process, keep in mind that applying for a degree is (alot of the time) about how passion and engagement come across in the personal statement, so if you explain in an application why you are making the switch to English then great. Even with your current subjects you can find alot of points to twist into English components, like how from Psychology you might have learnt to enjoy doing Freudian analysis of texts or that you watch lectures/read scholarship on psychoanalytical applications across different types of literature... or for Biology, you might have learnt about how the Hippocratic Corpus is used in medicine / studied Latin origins of biological terminology which went onto inspire your major interest in reading the Classics (Greek and Roman literature) like Homer, Sophocles, Ovid, Virgil, thus aiding in you finding classical allusions in English novels or poetry... All of this is studied at degree level literature, so you should try to fill your PS with as much of this related information as possible if you choose to pick English (regardless of if its for foundation year or not). Hope this helps!

(edited 2 weeks ago)

Reply 6

superstarw

Original post by jessfjshsds

I'm in Year 13, and I'm doing Biology, Psychology and Geography A levels. I cannot really decide what I want to do with my life. In year 11, I wanted to do a computer science degree, then in year 12 biomedical science, then this year diagnostic radiography, now english(?)
As a kid I fully believed I was going to be an author when I was younger. All I did was write stories, and I thought English was the greatest subject ever. I really enjoyed English Language and Literature at GCSE too, and I got a 9 and an 8 respectively. I was decided on Psychology and Biology A levels, but for some reason I decided to do Geography as my third. I didn't even consider English, and I didn't like Geography that much? I don't know what I was thinking, but it's safe to say I regret it :tongue:

I've also realised I don't want to do diagnostic radiography, and that I was tricking myself into thinking I found it interesting when really I just liked the £6k annual bursary and high employability. I feel like, in a non-cringy way, I was always meant to do English.
So I started looking into English degrees. Obviously, the majority (the good ones) require you to have done English Literature at A-level. Which I have not. My dilemma is that if I'm going to university, I'm gonna go to a good one. There's no point paying £27k to not get a good education.
I've always planned on doing a gap year after A-levels, to work and save money before university. But would I be able to do A-Level English Literature as a private candidate within this year? Lack of motivation and discipline in self-studying isn't an issue for me, so this isn't a factor, but is that a good idea? I'm also not sure how the coursework aspect would work privately. Or is this whole thing silly, and I should just stick to diagnostic radiography?
I realise it is really late in Year 13 to be undecided on what degree you wanna do. Trust me. I'm aware. :eek:

I know someone at my school who completed yr13 last year but didn't get the grade they needed in one subject so they are now studying in school again this year for a level maths and taking both yr12 and yr13 classes. That may be an option for you otherwise private candidate may be worth it. If you'll end up unhappy or wanting to change career paths later on in life then you should go for it now!