A Level subjects

[Middlesexmum]

Dd is coming to the end of Year 10 and thinking about A Level choices.

She's ruled out a lot of subjects she DOESN'T want to do - no Maths, Sciences or Languages. And strangely enough, for a child who was just about born with a book in her hand and reads constantly, she's not enjoying English at the moment - too much language analysis.

Her best subjects are Classical Civilisation and RS, both of which she is keen to continue to A Level. She's doing History GCSE so may consider that alongside depending on the course content. However she's worried that Class Civ and RS are non-facilitating. Would this affect her choice of Russell Group university? She's not sure about career choice yet, possibly considering Law.

[Guest55]

She could try putting different choices in here: https://university.which.co.uk/a-level-explorer" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Why RG unis though? It is a self-selected club and there are great unis, like Bath, that are not RG.

[RedVelvet]

My son is really enjoying Government and Politics.

Makes for interesting dinner table discussions too.

[DC17C]

My dd is really enjoying psychology at a level...but doing it with compsci and maths.

[KB]

The three you mention do provide quite a narrow focus so for someone who isn't sure about future choices it might be an idea to think about subjects which encourage a wider range of skills and maybe keep more options open.

+1 to trying Guest's link

[doodles]

+2 to guest's link

Don't get hung up on a uni being RG, imo the course content is often more important than the name over the door.

[Middlesexmum]

Thanks for the link, very helpful.

Dd wants RG, it's ultimately her choice.

[Guest55]

Does she really know what RG is? I don't recommend it for all degrees as some courses at the newer unis or places like Bath are actually better.

There is a lot of misinformation about this!

[KB]

+1 again to Guest ( begining a habit )

Try to find out what she thinks Russel Group is.
Many are still under the misapprehension that it's just the tier below Oxbridge.
Schools may encourage this as it's an easy way for them to claim a standard of university destinations but it's not always in the best interests of the individual.

[Amber]

My view on this RG/non-RG thing is that it is fairly simple. If you want to do a traditional academic subject at university, you are probably as a general rule better off at a RG (or other 'top') university. If you want to do one of the newer subjects, or anything vocational, you are probably better off at a non-RG one. This view reflects the different trajectories of the different types of institutions - the new universities were almost all polytechnics or technical college type places before they became universities.

Something like History or English at a 'new' university is not going to be as well-regarded as if you did it somewhere more traditional; equally a lot of the RG universities don't offer things with a vocational angle, and if they do, they may be less useful in getting you into work at the end of it all. So while it could be argued that the quality of teaching might be comparable or even better the other way round in each case, the course content will be more geared to the different demographics. Biomedical science is one example - the newer universities tend to offer a qualification which is accredited for work in medical laboratories and the more traditional universities gear their course up more for those who want to do higher scientific research (or sneak into medicine having failed to do so first time round) and don't lead to that accreditation. Not irrevocable either way round, but probably easier if you start out with an idea of where you might see yourself next.