a level subjects

Hi, im a yr 11 student and i was applying for sixth forms. I want to do between criminal, forensic or neuropsychology when im older. for my a levels i wanted to choose Biology, Psychology and im deciding between eng literature, sociology or criminology.

What would anyone reccomend?
my average point score 7.75
thanks in advance

Reply 1

DataVenia

Volunteer Team, Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post

by anh.

Biology and Psychology are good choices for the courses you hope to do in the future. Of the others, I would steer clear of Criminology as it's not an A level - it's a WJEC Applied Diploma which is equivalent to an A level. That can make the university application more complicated, as you have to establish whether or not your target university will accept it. Some only accept it for certain courses.

Between English Literature and Sociology, which do you think you'd enjoy more? Which do you think you might get the better grade in? Pick that one. :wink:

Reply 2

phoenixx06

as a y13 who does sociology (i wanna do criminology & criminal psychology at uni) id 100% recommend doing sociology!! i absolutely love it and it’d be super useful to talk about on your personal statement

i’d also suggest considering philosophy, metaphysics of the mind (25% of the course) ties in amazingly with psychology and would be awesome to explore esp if you wanna do neuropsychology so there’s that option there too :smile:

so sociology if you’re leaning more towards criminology, philosophy if you’re leaning more towards neuropsychology!

Reply 3

LJMUStudentReps

Official Rep

Hi there,

My best advice to you for your third option is to just pick the one you think you will enjoy more!

For the psychology courses you are interested in, the only entry requirement would most likely be a Psych A-level (which you are already planning on doing) - some don't even have this requirement. Bio A-level goes well with this, especially for anatomy etc and if you're interesting in neuropsychology.

Some courses may require Psychology AND another social science for entry. In this case, usually both criminology and sociology would be accepted under this. There isn't really a choice which would give you an advantage over the other, because if you decide to do criminal psych, the criminology aspects of the course would likely be taught from scratch for those who have not done criminology / criminal justice beforehand.

Take a lot at the course specs and exam layouts for each and then make your decision based on what you would enjoy the most! OR, choose the one which you think you will get a higher grade at if you want to boost your predicted grades (a popular choice amongst many)

Jorja (Student Rep)