Struggling with A-level options

I have to pick my a-levels very soon. I definitely want to do something STEM related in the future and I'm considering medicine (but I'm not entirely sure if I want to peruse medicine yet). Perhaps I might change my mind during a-levels and decide to do engineering. As a result I want to pick flexible a-levels that will open as many doors as possible for university degrees.

So my first question is what a-levels would you recommend for me?
Is biology, physics, chemistry and maths too much in your opinion?
Also some universities (e.g. Oxford) say that you need chemistry for medicine and then can pick between physics, biology, maths or further maths. Are universities completely transparent about their entry requirements, in the sense that will they look down upon someone doing chemistry, maths and physics instead of biology?

Reply 1

adesewa.a

Original post

by n1gg4

I have to pick my a-levels very soon. I definitely want to do something STEM related in the future and I'm considering medicine (but I'm not entirely sure if I want to peruse medicine yet). Perhaps I might change my mind during a-levels and decide to do engineering. As a result I want to pick flexible a-levels that will open as many doors as possible for university degrees.
So my first question is what a-levels would you recommend for me?
Is biology, physics, chemistry and maths too much in your opinion?
Also some universities (e.g. Oxford) say that you need chemistry for medicine and then can pick between physics, biology, maths or further maths. Are universities completely transparent about their entry requirements, in the sense that will they look down upon someone doing chemistry, maths and physics instead of biology?

As an A-level STEM student myself, i would recommend doing Bio, chem and maths since you're considering medicine and there are many univerisity degrees you can do with these 3 subjects.
Physics is engineering based and you wouldn't really need it for an healthcare degree but it's needed for engineering. If you are really strong on medicine/engineering, you could do all 4 but there would be a lot of workload.
To take a slight risk, you could do chem, phy and maths for medicine/engineering but research whether or not your uni choices require biology for medicine if you end up choosing medicine.
I hope this helps.

Reply 2

cactus11235813

Original post

by n1gg4

I have to pick my a-levels very soon. I definitely want to do something STEM related in the future and I'm considering medicine (but I'm not entirely sure if I want to peruse medicine yet). Perhaps I might change my mind during a-levels and decide to do engineering. As a result I want to pick flexible a-levels that will open as many doors as possible for university degrees.
So my first question is what a-levels would you recommend for me?
Is biology, physics, chemistry and maths too much in your opinion?
Also some universities (e.g. Oxford) say that you need chemistry for medicine and then can pick between physics, biology, maths or further maths. Are universities completely transparent about their entry requirements, in the sense that will they look down upon someone doing chemistry, maths and physics instead of biology?

For medicine, the classic combination is chemistry (required), maths, and biology, and not doing biology might be viewed as a little bit odd (given that it's the closest content to what you'll be studying!). You could do the degree without bio A level, but it would probably be quite a bit harder. Also, you want to make sure that you'll actually like the subject (if you hate bio A level and love chemistry, for instance, medicine might not be the subject for you).

Engineering is tricky in that a lot of good universities prefer further maths / the double maths, physics route (and chemistry is generally more useful / easier than biology if so).

It's a tricky decision?

Four STEM A levels is definitely doable, and bio/phys/chem/maths is a nice option, unless you want to study physics/engineering at some (not all) universities. It's a good combination for chemistry everywhere, pretty much! As for medicine (although with all the extra curricular stuff, many medics end up doing three instead of four).

Honestly, look into the universities you're interested in, and have a look at their grade requirements (especially what's recommended, as that's usually a good hint at what they prefer), and then choose.

You could also look into natural sciences degrees! The Cambridge one is very good (10/10 would recommend), and they like people who do four A levels and enjoy different sciences.

Spoiler

Reply 3

stilllearning123

Original post

by n1gg4

I have to pick my a-levels very soon. I definitely want to do something STEM related in the future and I'm considering medicine (but I'm not entirely sure if I want to peruse medicine yet). Perhaps I might change my mind during a-levels and decide to do engineering. As a result I want to pick flexible a-levels that will open as many doors as possible for university degrees.
So my first question is what a-levels would you recommend for me?
Is biology, physics, chemistry and maths too much in your opinion?
Also some universities (e.g. Oxford) say that you need chemistry for medicine and then can pick between physics, biology, maths or further maths. Are universities completely transparent about their entry requirements, in the sense that will they look down upon someone doing chemistry, maths and physics instead of biology?

If you aren't sure on medicine, it probably isn't for you. I'd say take Chemistry, Physics and Maths as this would allow you to get into both later down the line if you wanted to and you wouldn't have to take 4 which would put a massive strain on you, especially when you'll have to take the UCAT for medicine and (I think) the ESAT for engineering, depending where you apply.
Best of luck.

Reply 4

username7378379

Original post

by n1gg4

I have to pick my a-levels very soon. I definitely want to do something STEM related in the future and I'm considering medicine (but I'm not entirely sure if I want to peruse medicine yet). Perhaps I might change my mind during a-levels and decide to do engineering. As a result I want to pick flexible a-levels that will open as many doors as possible for university degrees.
So my first question is what a-levels would you recommend for me?
Is biology, physics, chemistry and maths too much in your opinion?
Also some universities (e.g. Oxford) say that you need chemistry for medicine and then can pick between physics, biology, maths or further maths. Are universities completely transparent about their entry requirements, in the sense that will they look down upon someone doing chemistry, maths and physics instead of biology?

I know quite a few people in my school who are doing Biology, Chemistry and Maths. I think that Biology and Chemistry go really well together and you can do something Biochem related at uni. As for Physics, I'm currently an A-level Physics student and in my view, taking maths really helps with physics because most of the content you cover in some areas of the spec like mechanics require you to do quite a bit of maths. So I say Maths and Physics go well together. If you want to do something in medicine at uni, Biology and Chemistry are crucial and math helps with that. For the engineering side, maths and physics are crucial. So any combination would work as long as the subjects you pick align with what you want to do in uni. I don't think any unis will look down on someone for doing Chem, Maths and Physics as an A-level. Those are strong options, but I would recommend choosing 3/4 because doing all 4 will be stressful, time-consuming and annoying.