The Student Room Group

A Level choice HELP!

I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent

Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).

Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.
Reply 1
If you're sure you can do well in Further Maths, I'd say take it but you could always replace it with economics. Further maths is a very interesting A-level but can get very challenging.

Could also switch out bio for economics as well (since bio isn't always necessary for med/dent) but I wouldn't stress out about either of these; your A-levels seem good but you should also check for different uni courses' A-level requirements so you aren't going in blind.

Also, remember most sixth forms will often let you switch between courses within the first term (and that my friend managed to switch into further maths during Y12 summer so anything is possible)

Good luck!
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.
LSE love Further Maths, so study it!!! 😉

Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology are good enough for LSE, Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Durham, Warwick and many other Economics degrees. Also, the fact Further Maths content is in Year 1 of many Engineering, Computer Science, Science and Economics degrees means it is highly regarded.

Also, if you study Edexcel Pearson, do FM1 and FD1.
Reply 3
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.

yes esp w/ further maths your choices are great. if you defo decide on med/dent i’d suggest dropping further if you want but for now it’s great
Reply 4
If you are trying to decide between Medicine and 'something else', the advice is always to choose the something else.

Med is a tough course, the career is even harder - and unless your heart and soul is in this, you are not likely to be successful. You need to be 110% committed to Medicine, even before A levels, and not just 'thinking about it'.

A levels in Maths/FM, Bio and Chem leaves hundreds of degree courses open to you - a very wide range of STEM subjects, plus anything needing solid Maths skills, or other degree areas like Law, Politics/IR.

Good careers website with hundreds of job / career descriptions - Browse job profiles by sector | Prospects.ac.uk
Reply 5
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.

I take the 4 that you mentioned and I was literally in the same position as you when i chose my a-levels. I’d say those are pretty perfect considering what you want to do.

The only things i could really suggest is that if you are going down the medicine/dent route, then you might be more inclined to drop further maths down the line, with finance/economics, i know people in my school who are applying with maths, fm, and chem only so you could drop bio if that’s something you’d want to do.

I think considering its still quite early in the year you may gravitate more toward one of the degrees by the time you end up starting sixth form, and in that case you might be better off with econ rather than bio if you’d like to go into finance for sure. If you don’t though, the options you said are probs the best options to have a really strong shot at whichever you end up deciding.
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.

Hey!

I'm currently studying medicine so I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about this! In terms of other careers, I'd really recommend going to a university open day as this is a great way to have a look at differentsubjects and the careers they can lead into! This will then give you an idea about which subjects would be best to take at A-Level!

For example, for medicine, most require chemistry and potentially biology so both of these are always good to have! If you add in maths as a 3rd choice and then if needed, any other subject as a 4th then this opens a lot of choices for you!

I hope this helps,
-Rebecca


I hope this helps and if you have any questions, let me know!
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.

Hi! I know some people who are doing Maths, Bio, Chem and Further maths and want to go into medicine. I think with those A-levels, you can do really well if you were to do a career in med/dent. As for switching to Physics, I think that if you were to do Chem, Physics, Maths and Further Maths, you could do something engineering-related. It also depends on how much you want to do med/dent. If you really want to do it, I would suggest doing Bio, Chem, Maths and Further Maths. You can always do BioChem as well with those 4 A-levels. Besides, Chem, Bio, Maths and Further Maths offer so many more STEM courses at uni, not just med/dent. But it is about what you want to do in the future
(edited 1 month ago)
Original post by js234
I’m honestly so torn between a career in finance/econ or med/dent
Will the A level choices- Maths Bio Chem Further maths open up both career choices ? For the top universities aswell etc LSE if I take the finance route( this isn’t considering the supercurriculars and stuff just purely based off subjects).
Currently just putting down a level choices on my sixth form applications hope to not have much variation to my final choices as I’m scared the sixth form I go to won’t have spaces if I switch something like bio to physics if I completely change my mind on medicine/dentistry.

Hi,

I know I'm coming into this very late! I just thought I'd jump in to ask whether you have looked into what kinds of careers a degree in medicine vs a degree in econ or finance could open up for you? Obviously with med its likely you'll end up as a junior doctor/GP/surgeon/psychiatrist if you'd like to; but there I would say that econ or finance, although competitive, are not as competitive as medicine/dentistry and might open a wider variety of doors in the future.

For example, with econ you could end up working as a data analyst, financial risk manager/analyst, an auditor, an economist for a bank; with finance you could go into chartered accountancy, a forensic accountant, an auditor again, a stockbroker, a financial advisor, a financial project manager, you could also work in data analysis here and a variety of roles in business and management.

Try to think about what you would most enjoy as a career and where you would like to be in the future - do you see yourself working with people a lot as you will with medicine, or are you more of a numbers-person, a negotiator, as you would be with finance or econ?

I'd also like to reassure you that with a combination of two sciences and mathematics then you would be eligible for a number of numerical/analytical/STEM degrees as well as economics or finance.

I hope this helps, best of luck!

Holly
University of Bath

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