Hello,

Hope someone can help me...

My DD has just started sixth-form and her A-level subjects are Art, Physics, Maths and Further Maths.

She has always loved Art, and my husband always said to her that she should do Architecture at uni. As he has encouraged this from a fairly young age the idea of becoming an architect has always been set in her mind. However, now she is worrying whether architecture is really for her and doesn't know whether to change subjects and choose a different career path.

She has thought about taking chemistry instead of physics but I am worried about what course she would take at uni with those subjects (Art, Chemistry, Maths, further Maths).

Does anybody have any advice?

Thank you

Get her to enter her A level subjects on here and see what comes up:
https://www.whatuni.com/degrees/courses/

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Which ones is she actually enjoying?

Loving Art can lead to all sorts of professions. My sister did Graphic Design at University and became a photographer after doing an Art foundation course after A levels. DG

I think there are two separate issues here.

If she wants to reasses her Uni course choice that's one thing but it doesn't necessarily require a change of A levels.

If she isn't enjoying one or more of her A levels then that's another and doesn't necessarily mean she couldn't still apply for architecture courses if she so wished.

If there are doubts about her A level subjects then she should talk this through with a subject teacher.
Why did she choose these subjects to begin with.
If she has moved schools she may just be adjusting. As demonstrated by other threads, it can take some people a while to settle down to the new demands of A level classes.
Or were the choices made because she got the best grades at GCSE without having a particular interest.

It is tricky because she doesn't want to miss too many lessons if she decides to switch but it is a decision that needs to be properly thought through.

My advice would be to sit down with her, possibly without your husband, and find out whether she has any interest whatsoever in this career path, or if it is her father's ambition for her rather than her own. If she doesn't, let it go now and let her choose her own subjects. A combination of Chemistry and Maths would allow her onto most science based courses; keeping Art would allow her to go that way too; and also that combination would not rule out most Humanities courses either if she so chose (I have a child who did 3 Science A levels and got 4 u/c offers for a non-Science course at university).

I agree with others that any change needs to be sorted out as soon as possible. Good luck.

I have to be honest, this statement made my heart break a little. The implication from this, and your follow up that she is not sure that architecture is for her, is probably at the root of all the issues. If she loves Art, why couldn't your husband encourage her to do Art as a career, for example? It is perfectly possible - although possibly not as lucrative as Architecture.

Like other posters, I would spend time with her, or get her to spend time with the school careers adviser, actually drilling down to what she would like to do - or what she definitely doesn't want to do - Chemistry is arguably one of the hardest A levels - so she needs to be sure that she would want to do that - what does her Chem teacher say? Did she not choose this originally because of the Maths/Physics connection with Architecture?

Start from the beginning again, but quickly. The most important thing is that she enjoys the subjects she takes and isn't taking them out of some perceived obligation to her father.

A friend of mine at college was doing maths physics and art. She did Industrial design at Brunel. She later moved into marketing for a planning company. Her father and brother were both architects btw, but that’s an aside.

If she is happy with the A level choices then stick with them. If not then she needs to think about what else sooner rather than later.

Four A levels including Art ... very time consuming.

There are many unemployed architects at the moment .....

What does she enjoy? Art can be done for fun rather than as an examination subject ...

I agree. I started doing Engineering because my Mum said it was what she wished she had done (if she hadn't had me at 18) rather than because I had a real desire to. I had no idea what I wanted to do and it fitted the A levels. I lasted 1 term before switching to Physical Sciences. The O level in technical drawing that I did at night classes during A levels was unnecessary in the end.

As far as I understand it, there are always a lot of unemployed architects, it's supposedly just about the least employable vocational degree there is.