A level choices

[Amber]

If she wants breadth then English would be the best imho.

If you want to dissuade her from doing 4 send her along to one of the talks at Durham university's combined honours department, or to Cambridge for one of their talks. It gets spelled out in words of one syllable - 'we do not care how many A levels you do, but one of them needs to be an A* and 2 of them need to be A. Doing more A levels will not impress us.' (Ok some of those have more than one syllable).

[Eccentric]

If she wants breadth then English would be the best imho.

If you want to dissuade her from doing 4 send her along to one of the talks at Durham university's combined honours department, or to Cambridge for one of their talks. It gets spelled out in words of one syllable - 'we do not care how many A levels you do, but one of them needs to be an A* and 2 of them need to be A. Doing more A levels will not impress us.' (Ok some of those have more than one syllable).

Good idea. How do I get her to one of those talks before a level choices time? Do you know how to go about it?

[scary mum]

If she wants breadth then English would be the best imho.

If you want to dissuade her from doing 4 send her along to one of the talks at Durham university's combined honours department, or to Cambridge for one of their talks. It gets spelled out in words of one syllable - 'we do not care how many A levels you do, but one of them needs to be an A* and 2 of them need to be A. Doing more A levels will not impress us.' (Ok some of those have more than one syllable).

Good idea. How do I get her to one of those talks before a level choices time? Do you know how to go about it?

University open days - usually attended in year 12 or 13. They may well say it on their websites too? I don't know.
PS +1 to English

[Guest55]

I would suggest looking at the specifications to see what she will study. Talk to other students doing those A levels; what are the subjects really like? I would go to at least one other Open Evening just to get another perspective on subject choices. Does the school offer an EPQ? That would widen the three A levels.

[kenyancowgirl]

As we are going through Medicine applications currently I can say with certainty that NO university requires 4 and most have made it perfectly clear that taking 4 is an absolute disadvantage as the offer will be on 4 with little leniency if grades are dropped. Apart from a couple, most are happy as long as Chemistry and one other science (or Maths) are taken - the third can be something completely different. Generally speaking, Chemistry is seen as the "hardest" A level but none of the Sciences/Maths are easy - and this is watching a child who could not have done better in his GCSEs do them - but, I am not sure any A level is "easy" and, if that is what she/you are looking for, then I wouldn't advise doing one. Bearing in mind the problems you had with her perfectionism etc, I wouldn't think this would be advisable for her particular mental/emotional health either, if she wants to continue participating in a positive other half (ie the non academic side) as well.

There are so many ways of widening her interests without taking an A level - as Guest suggests, an EPQ, or simply reading novels etc (if English is an interest) - everything doesn't have to be certificated - English is a great A level but very time consuming, in a way that the Maths/Chem/Biol are not so, good as a third but less good as a fourth.

[Eccentric]

As we are going through Medicine applications currently I can say with certainty that NO university requires 4 and most have made it perfectly clear that taking 4 is an absolute disadvantage as the offer will be on 4 with little leniency if grades are dropped. Apart from a couple, most are happy as long as Chemistry and one other science (or Maths) are taken - the third can be something completely different. Generally speaking, Chemistry is seen as the "hardest" A level but none of the Sciences/Maths are easy - and this is watching a child who could not have done better in his GCSEs do them - but, I am not sure any A level is "easy" and, if that is what she/you are looking for, then I wouldn't advise doing one. Bearing in mind the problems you had with her perfectionism etc, I wouldn't think this would be advisable for her particular mental/emotional health either, if she wants to continue participating in a positive other half (ie the non academic side) as well.

There are so many ways of widening her interests without taking an A level - as Guest suggests, an EPQ, or simply reading novels etc (if English is an interest) - everything doesn't have to be certificated - English is a great A level but very time consuming, in a way that the Maths/Chem/Biol are not so, good as a third but less good as a fourth.

I couldn’t agree more KCG and especially as it is looking as through there are genuine learning disability reasons for DD feeling she needs to work so hard all the time. I think I am going to have to leave the number of A levels to the school though because I will/am just met with opposition. It is useful to hear your perspective on the medicine applications although I keep hoping Dd will change her direction. We had an interesting conversation last night about what medicine may actually look like in 20 years time. My problem is that DD is beginning to see my intervention as dream stealing rather than realism and concern for her mental health and wellbeing. It is a tricky road to steer.

[ninanina]

We had an interesting conversation last night about what medicine may actually look like in 20 years time. My problem is that DD is beginning to see my intervention as dream stealing rather than realism and concern for her mental health and wellbeing. It is a tricky road to steer.[/quote][/list]


Hi there,

I got very interested in and intrigued by your post stating „what medicine may actually look like in 20 years time” I’m guessing you probably have experience of some kind in this field. Would you be so kind and elaborate further on that? I would be extremely interested in your ‚vision’ of medicine as my dd is very keen to become a doctor in future - yet I have no idea or experience to shed some light on this issue for her other than think being a doctor is a lovely profession for a clever caring girl.

Thanks so much in advance,

[Eccentric]

No experience I am afraid. Only family members who are medics. However I expect that this would make an interesting thread so I will start one.

[Blitz]

If she wants breadth then English would be the best imho.

If you want to dissuade her from doing 4 send her along to one of the talks at Durham university's combined honours department, or to Cambridge for one of their talks. It gets spelled out in words of one syllable - 'we do not care how many A levels you do, but one of them needs to be an A* and 2 of them need to be A. Doing more A levels will not impress us.' (Ok some of those have more than one syllable).

Good idea. How do I get her to one of those talks before a level choices time? Do you know how to go about it?

I took my DD to https://www.undergraduate.study.cam.ac. ... ectmatters" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I thought the talk was great and it spelt out the need for 3 A levels only, but it certainly put DD off Oxbridge. (Hearing a law student say they do 30 hours of reading, an essay every 3 days, 11 hours of lectures and 4 hours of supervision a week. The essay every 3 days was the )

[Daogroupie]

A student from dd1's year at DAO ranked second in the end of year Law exams this year at Cambridge.

They did 4 A levels but one of them was Further Maths.

Another student won the Law essay prize in Y12 and a place at Trinity Cambridge, They did 3 A levels and I saw them still doing a part time job just a few weeks before A levels.

28 students from DAO this year met their Oxbridge offers and started last week. Nearly all of them did 3 A levels apart from those doing Further Maths.

Both my dds have friends from other schools who were forced to do 4 A levels and ended up missing their university offers.

Knowing what I know now I would not have wanted my dds to go to a school which forced students to do 4 A levels.

They focused on the three subjects they loved most and it made choosing a subject for university a lot easier. DG