Alevel subject choice guidance for BME/EE major

I want to pursue BME/EE in uni and I'm especially interested in neural engineering/computational neuroscience.
I'm also planning to apply for both US and UK universities.
The sixth form that I'm going to only allows 4 alevel subjects, but I'm thinking of taking an extra subject myself (because i'm genuinlt rlly interested and also maths/fm kind of counts as one subject??), below are my possible choices:
- maths (confirmed)
- further maths (confirmed??)
- bio (confirmed)
- physics (confirmed)
- chem
- comp sci
- EPQ (probably sth BME/ comp sci related)
my questions:
- should i take chem or comp sci (pretty good at chem, beginner/intermediate at programming - only know python rn)?
- is it worth my time doing an EPQ?
- since i'm applying to both UK and US, shld i take AP courses as well (e.g eng lang/ psychology/ econs) to show that i'm balanced
(but i am definitely taking SAT/ ACT alr)?
- which subject should i take outside of skl/ on my own?
- also any advice on BME/EE applications in general would be greatly appreciated !!! (as i havent seen a lot of threads/comments on this major)
many thanks in advance )

Hi.
Firstly, I recommend you check entry requirements for the courses/degrees that you're interested in. I don't know much about bio-mechanical and electrical engineering, but my concern would be that chemistry would be more important/valued by unis than further maths. Do check entry requirements, though, as I'm not entirely sure about that.
Secondly, four A-Levels is really the maximum that sixth forms and colleges allow for a reason. Any more than that is an unreasonable workload in one sitting, especially when considering that universities only require three A-Levels. The jump from GCSE to A-Level is a lot, so be cautious at the very least about this idea. If you're determined to do five A-Levels, talk to your teachers about workload, ask questions, ect, and keep an open mind that it may be too much.
I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions, feel free to ask me. 😊

Maybe consider math, further maths, physics, and (psychology or chemistry). You can self-teach programming and do CS activities without needing an A level. e.g. https://rosalind.info/problems/locations/, https://neuromatch.io/open-education-resources/
I think it would be worth doing an EPQ since you can do it on computational neuroscience.
Also check out the Arkwright fellowship, PCTC, c3l6, British informatics Olympiad, BPhO, and UKMT competitions
US schools are used to A level STEM applicants having only STEM A levels so don't worry about needing humanities/social science A levels especially if you aren't confident you can get an A* in them.
The best place for computational neuroscience at the graduate level in the UK is the Gatsby Computational Neuroscience unit at UCL, so you can see what their students studied at undergrad to get an idea of which degrees can lead there.

For these types of degree, maths and fm wont be seen as the same subject at all. Also even if they are you would still have 3 subjects, 4 gives you do advantage.
Typically BME type degrees seem to require maths and a science (often physics or bio required/preferred). Make sure you check the entry requirements for any unis you have in mind specificalld and some US options as well!
In terms of doing more than the 4 of double maths, physics and bio, i would not recommend doing extra a levels. The 4 you will be doing will be perfectly fine and self-studying an additional subject would give you no advantage and lower your grades in the other 4 (which does disadvantage your application) OR it will take up your free time which you will need for super-curriculars and not burning yourself out from too much studying!
Given the kind of courses you seem interested in, id recommend you look at improving your own coding skills. This could be through an EPQ if you wanted or just a project you do by yourself. I also know that cambridge uni runs a biology program around coding that might be of great interest to you! Doing an epq wont advantage your application and those who i know that have done 4 a levels and an epq havent done well on the epq because they simply dont have the time. If you are someone who struggles to get the motivation to do your own projects tho the structure could help.
Look at the US entry requiremnets at a range of unis to see if AP classes will give you an advantage, if not then dont take them. I think you may be underestimating the difficulty and volume of work needed for a levels

I want to pursue BME/EE in uni and I'm especially interested in neural engineering/computational neuroscience.
I'm also planning to apply for both US and UK universities.
The sixth form that I'm going to only allows 4 alevel subjects, but I'm thinking of taking an extra subject myself (because i'm genuinlt rlly interested and also maths/fm kind of counts as one subject??), below are my possible choices:
- maths (confirmed)
- further maths (confirmed??)
- bio (confirmed)
- physics (confirmed)
- chem
- comp sci
- EPQ (probably sth BME/ comp sci related)
my questions:
- should i take chem or comp sci (pretty good at chem, beginner/intermediate at programming - only know python rn)?
- is it worth my time doing an EPQ?
- since i'm applying to both UK and US, shld i take AP courses as well (e.g eng lang/ psychology/ econs) to show that i'm balanced
(but i am definitely taking SAT/ ACT alr)?
- which subject should i take outside of skl/ on my own?
- also any advice on BME/EE applications in general would be greatly appreciated !!! (as i havent seen a lot of threads/comments on this major)
many thanks in advance )

thank u sm!! I am in G10/Y11 rn and i have alr self-studied most of al bio, chem and maths. I think i can handle 3/4 subjects pretty well, so i was wondering if 5 subjects would also be manageable. I know that alevels is a huge step up from igcses, so i might just do 4 alevels (maths, fm, bio, phyics) or do chem and drop it in AS level.
As for an EPQ, i think the structure that it provides is quite helpful for me (someone who procrastinates A LOT), and i'll probably focus it on computational neuroscience (and also improve my coding skills in the process). i'll look into the cambridge uni program and US requirements asw )

Sounds like a very well thought out plan! My only comment is that because of your age it may be that some of your supercurriculars will be too long ago to discuss on your ps. Its fantastic that youre taking your learning further but just to be aware, unis will want to see how your interests have developed over time with research (eg: in year 11 you maybe attended a webinar on topic and then in year 12 you read a book and did an online course and then over the year 12 summer you visited somewhere relevant). Your ps needs to be personal to you and your story of how you decided this is the right subject for you, without becoming a list where everything youve done is only briefly mentioned 🙂

thank you :P , i'll take that into account when writing my ps ))
i'm aware that UK applications may be more heavily focused on grades and academics, but hopefully US unis will allow me to list out more of my ECs

thank you so much for the advice! I personally want to keep bio as an alevel bc it's my best science subject and also bc i'm doing USABO/BBO alr so the content overlaps. I am probably going to take maths, fm, bio, chem, physics and self study cs (might drop chem in as if it gets too overwhelming).
I am currently doing the neuromatch academy course on my own (definitely a bit of a struggle), and am planning on doing BPho/IPO/Physics Bowl later this year. I'll look into the UCL course asw, sounds pretty perfect for me

Doesn't CS have a large Non Examined Assessment? How do you plan do complete that and have it assessed if you're self studying?

I want to pursue BME/EE in uni and I'm especially interested in neural engineering/computational neuroscience.
I'm also planning to apply for both US and UK universities.
The sixth form that I'm going to only allows 4 alevel subjects, but I'm thinking of taking an extra subject myself (because i'm genuinlt rlly interested and also maths/fm kind of counts as one subject??), below are my possible choices:
- maths (confirmed)
- further maths (confirmed??)
- bio (confirmed)
- physics (confirmed)
- chem
- comp sci
- EPQ (probably sth BME/ comp sci related)
my questions:
- should i take chem or comp sci (pretty good at chem, beginner/intermediate at programming - only know python rn)?
- is it worth my time doing an EPQ?
- since i'm applying to both UK and US, shld i take AP courses as well (e.g eng lang/ psychology/ econs) to show that i'm balanced
(but i am definitely taking SAT/ ACT alr)?
- which subject should i take outside of skl/ on my own?
- also any advice on BME/EE applications in general would be greatly appreciated !!! (as i havent seen a lot of threads/comments on this major)
many thanks in advance )