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Is taking A Level Law damaging to Oxbridge chances?

I was excited to take A Level Law because I love it as a subject and know I would enjoy it. However, now I'm worried because I've seen many people saying it would harm my chances of getting into university. Is that true? I'm planning on picking Law, History and Psychology and possible business or film studies as a fourth subject. If I do 4 subjects will it be less likely to harm my chances?

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Reply 1

Law is a solid, essay-based subject, so stop worrying.

PS. BS is a waste of time, and no-one needs 4 A levels.

Reply 2

Original post
by McGinger
Law is a solid, essay-based subject, so stop worrying.
PS. BS is a waste of time, and no-one needs 4 A levels.

Thanks for the reply! I only considered Business Studies because I thought it would be an easy A* since I find it super easy now. And I considered 4 A Levels because I really want to do Film Studies as well but thought it wouldn't be taken seriously as a subject.

Reply 3

Original post
by isabellajaynexxx
Thanks for the reply! I only considered Business Studies because I thought it would be an easy A* since I find it super easy now. And I considered 4 A Levels because I really want to do Film Studies as well but thought it wouldn't be taken seriously as a subject.

No Uni wants or prefers 4 A levels, or will be extra-impressed by 4 A levels. Its very literally a waste of your time.

Law, History, Psych - perfectly acceptable for so many different degrees.

Reply 4

Doing 4 isn't necessarily a bad idea (e.g. if you're planning on doing medicine or if its further maths) but in your case doing 4 humanities isn't really necessary. And don't worry about picking law, it is a respected subject, although business and film aren't so much.
P.S If you really want to do 4, probably do the generic thing and take maths, unless you really hate it obvs

Reply 5

Original post
by bumba123
Doing 4 isn't necessarily a bad idea (e.g. if you're planning on doing medicine or if its further maths) but in your case doing 4 humanities isn't really necessary. And don't worry about picking law, it is a respected subject, although business and film aren't so much.
P.S If you really want to do 4, probably do the generic thing and take maths, unless you really hate it obvs

4 A levels give you absolutely no advantage when applying for Medicine.
And there is no point in taking Maths/FM unless you are aiming at a STEM degree,

Reply 6

Original post
by McGinger
4 A levels give you absolutely no advantage when applying for Medicine.
And there is no point in taking Maths/FM unless you are aiming at a STEM degree,
Not in itself it doesn't, but taking 4 does show the uni that you are more dedicated and genuinely interested in the subjects. Two identical candidates but one has another a-level obviously they're going to pick that candidate. That being said it isn't that important so probably not worth the workload, but saying it has absolutely no advantage isn't entirely true

Reply 7

Original post
by bumba123
Not in itself it doesn't, but taking 4 does show the uni that you are more dedicated and genuinely interested in the subjects. Two identical candidates but one has another a-level obviously they're going to pick that candidate. That being said it isn't that important so probably not worth the workload, but saying it has absolutely no advantage isn't entirely true

Experienced Admissions staff here - Universities do not work like this.
They will state their entry requirements as 3 grades, and they do not give extra 'clever' points for those taking 4, nor do they regard extra subjects as evidence of 'dedication' or any other tenuous quality.

Reply 8

Original post
by McGinger
Experienced Admissions staff here - Universities do not work like this.
They will state their entry requirements as 3 grades, and they do not give extra 'clever' points for those taking 4, nor do they regard extra subjects as evidence of 'dedication' or any other tenuous quality.

I'm just going off what I was told, but this might just be an excuse by our school to force us to do 4 lol

Reply 9

Original post
by bumba123
I'm just going off what I was told, but this might just be an excuse by our school to force us to do 4 lol

Be careful about 'my teacher says' - its often inaccurate or out-of-date.
Marketing legislation means that Universities now have to be entirely up-front about entry requirements, and what is required or preferred. There is no 'secret info' - what they publish on the website / course page is what they want.

Reply 10

Original post
by McGinger
Be careful about 'my teacher says' - its often inaccurate or out-of-date.
Marketing legislation means that Universities now have to be entirely up-front about entry requirements, and what is required or preferred. There is no 'secret info' - what they publish on the website / course page is what they want.

Wow that is great to know. I assumed you had to sort of get into the mind of the tutors

Reply 11

Original post
by McGinger
4 A levels give you absolutely no advantage when applying for Medicine.
And there is no point in taking Maths/FM unless you are aiming at a STEM degree,

Agree. Out of my entire FM cohort, only 2 of us are going to do non-STEM degrees. Imo it's not worth it unless OP wants to do something like physics/engineering, etc.

Reply 12

Original post
by bumba123
I'm just going off what I was told, but this might just be an excuse by our school to force us to do 4 lol

Lol same! Nice to see that other schools also force their students to do 4 : / (though I do enjoy my subjects very much though).

Reply 13

Original post
by nwar
Lol same! Nice to see that other schools also force their students to do 4 : / (though I do enjoy my subjects very much though).

Yes, I think I would have done 4 even if we didnt have too. They do let us drop one at the end of Y12, which I think is a great system.

Reply 14

Original post
by isabellajaynexxx
I was excited to take A Level Law because I love it as a subject and know I would enjoy it. However, now I'm worried because I've seen many people saying it would harm my chances of getting into university. Is that true? I'm planning on picking Law, History and Psychology and possible business or film studies as a fourth subject. If I do 4 subjects will it be less likely to harm my chances?

Much of the criticism of law at A Level you will see is hopelessly out of date. Schools who don’t offer it advise against it. All the Unis fed into the reformed specification (2019) as they wanted students to practice problem solving skills. For AQA , it is not an “essay” subject at A level. 75% of marks are for problem solving with one short essay for 15 marks in each paper. There are 3 papers Crime Contract and Tort .My son just accepted an offer from Cambridge with law politics and psychology A levels. He said the A Level helped massively with his interview as he knew how to read a statute, the importance of precision in language and the starting premise upon which the in-depth discussion was based. Take it you will enjoy it !

Reply 15

Original post
by McGinger
No Uni wants or prefers 4 A levels, or will be extra-impressed by 4 A levels. Its very literally a waste of your time.
Law, History, Psych - perfectly acceptable for so many different degrees.

And if i replaced Law with Film Studies in order to not do 4 would that destroy my chances? I’m desperate to do this subject as a know I’d love it.

Reply 16

Original post
by isabellajaynexxx
And if i replaced Law with Film Studies in order to not do 4 would that destroy my chances? I’m desperate to do this subject as a know I’d love it.

You would have to check with the colleges, because it is true that some colleges don't like 'less academic' subjects like Film Studies/Media Studies, etc. at A level. Some are quite surprising - Girton excluded PE, for example, which I thought was a fairly academic subject. The college I applied to advised against Art (but not Music - that's considered academic even though 60% of it is performance and composition coursework). So it can really depend.

Reply 17

Original post
by McGinger
4 A levels give you absolutely no advantage when applying for Medicine.
And there is no point in taking Maths/FM unless you are aiming at a STEM degree,

Further maths is also helpful for economics (90% at Cambridge did it, LSE also expect it if offered at your school….). I also just don’t buy the argument that 4 A levels (IF you want to and are able to do that) doesn’t help. It may lead to a lower offer across 3 grades, or give a good reason for admission if one grade of an offer is dropped (A*AAA vs offer of A*A*A…. The candidate who did 4 A levels is in a better position than one who did 3 and got ‘only’ A*AA)

Reply 18

Original post
by Spcb
Much of the criticism of law at A Level you will see is hopelessly out of date. Schools who don’t offer it advise against it. All the Unis fed into the reformed specification (2019) as they wanted students to practice problem solving skills. For AQA , it is not an “essay” subject at A level. 75% of marks are for problem solving with one short essay for 15 marks in each paper. There are 3 papers Crime Contract and Tort .My son just accepted an offer from Cambridge with law politics and psychology A levels. He said the A Level helped massively with his interview as he knew how to read a statute, the importance of precision in language and the starting premise upon which the in-depth discussion was based. Take it you will enjoy it !

Just to reinforce that, I read law at Cambridge and in ‘my day’ some colleges even advised against it! My son is now applying so I did some detailed digging, including asking the new admissions tutor (who was in my year) and everything has changed - Law A level will stand you in good stead, AND it will help you assess and explain why you want to do a degree in it. Do NOT drop it for film studies!

Equally, the discussion about 3 vs 4 here has missed a crucial point if applying for law: History, Psychology, Law = strong academic subjects, no need for 4 at all. History, Psychology, Film Studies = questions arise, frankly. So your reason for 4 should be that you want the 4th (Film Studies) for pure enjoyment.

Reply 19

Original post
by nwar
You would have to check with the colleges, because it is true that some colleges don't like 'less academic' subjects like Film Studies/Media Studies, etc. at A level. Some are quite surprising - Girton excluded PE, for example, which I thought was a fairly academic subject. The college I applied to advised against Art (but not Music - that's considered academic even though 60% of it is performance and composition coursework). So it can really depend.

I would say that says it all. If “some colleges” say they advise against Film Studies, you know that at least ‘some’ of the Cambridge law faculty take that view. Hell, I’m a lawyer (barrister) and I can say film studies (IF one of 3, not 4 A levels) won’t help you one jot if you decide on a career in law. And if it to comes to getting an offer and being in the pool, Film Studies at the very least won’t help with ‘some’ colleges who say they don’t advise it. Do it as a 4th, or not at all. And how can anyone be surprised that PE is NOT considered an ‘academic’ subject?

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