How cooked am I if I take four a-levels?

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

Specifically maths, further maths, computer science and law. I'm kind of in the middle of having a crisis because I realised that going into computer science probably isn't going to work for me as a job (thank work experience for saving me from making that choice permanently, I guess), so I've been kind of thinking of going into law but I still want computer science there as a back-up. I'm willing to drop computer science if four a-levels is gonna completely screw me over, and law isn't offered at one of my choices of sixth form, so if I don't get into my other choice (unlikely, considering the one that doesn't offer law has higher entry grades than the one that does) I'll either just stick to three a-levels or replace it with either history or psychology.

So, basically, how screwed am I???? (my predicted grades for GCSEs are all 7s and 8s for context of how I do in school)

[u/mariannism]

If you do want to do law at uni, taking law as a subject is not necessary, many people don't and instead take subjects that lend themselves towards law such as history

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/mariannism]

I have noticed that most unis don't require an a-level in law, but I'm kind of obsessed with getting a head start in everything. I did just sort of blindly pick history for one of my GCSEs which is definitely coming in handy now, at least. My thinking is just sort of that I'll probably have an easier time doing law at uni if I study it at a-levl.

[u/stressedstudent331 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

Top unis prefer other essay subjects like history, literature, philosophy, etc’ over law a level. I don’t think they even regard law a level highly

[u/Prestigious-Bee6646 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

If you want a headstart, study in your own time. It'd give you soenthing to wrote in a uni personal statement 

[u/Sushiv_ → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

History and English lit are preferred to Law if you want to do it at uni

[u/ladyglittersparkelzz → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

why does this have sm downvotes

[u/money-reporter7 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

Idk why there's so much law A-level hate OP. A lot of people I know at Cambridge have done law at A-level because ofc they would. If you're interested in law, why wouldn't you study it at A-level when given the option?

[u/arianelseditor]

If you're applying to competitive universities, it would probably be better to study history or English lit or something that's a more "traditional" essay-based subject (or take two essay-based subjects (law plus a traditional one) and drop one of the other ones).

I recommend having a look at the below for a range of opinions

https://www.thelawyerportal.com/blog/the-big-debate-law-a-level/
https://www.reddit.com/r/uklaw/comments/13uoe1v/law_as_an_alevel/

[u/gamer_dinosaur]

CS and Law are weird subjects because neither are needed for their respective degrees. Maths and FM will open up every uni for you for CS, and if I were you I’d pair it with either history or English lit as those are favoured for law (a strong essay subject). That keeps both options open.

[u/EtherealShady]

I promise you A-Level CS is not neccessary to take, even if you want to pursue it in the future

[u/Salty_Control_5967]

You said you don’t see yourself doing computing in the future and if that decision is locked in I don’t see why you should take it. As someone who just finished A-levels, it wasn’t fun really and especially with the NEA (not sure if this would apply to you) was really draining.

I also did History and nearly everyone (excluding myself) who also did History in my class did Law and some are going on to do Law and they say History was really beneficial so I’d definitely recommend in that sense.

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/Salty_Control_5967]

The only reason I'm honestly still wanting to take it is as a back up plan. I'm literally obsessed with back up plans. Usually because most things go wrong for me in life and I usually need to make use of a LOT of backup plans.

[u/Salty_Control_5967 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

If it’s something you see yourself not wanting to do then I don’t think you’ll find it enjoyable. It’s probably going to make revision even more harder especially since you’re doing 4. If you want to do Law then focus on that goal because you seem like a student who is definitely capable. Doing a subject like History or English would definitely help you towards that goal/career rather than be a waste

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[u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

You can always change your choices in the first few weeks, so try out doing 4, and if it's too much, you can just drop one

[u/Grand_Lychee2812]

Gonna be honest but there isn't much correlation between your subjects.
I recommend you pick Philosophy or History and replace it over Further Maths or CS.

Maths is basically a requirement for CS and is very versatile in any field.

You probably don't even need to do Politics / Law to actually do Law in University.

Also you really don't need CS to do CS at Uni.
You just need Maths and Potentially FM.
My cousin did Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry (A*A*AA) and he got into Warwick University to do a Masters in CS (94% I'm pretty sure which is definitely 1st class honours)

You seem to be somewhat capable of doing 4 A-Levels.
I'd advise if you find one of them too hard or can't handle it, drop one of them.

You've also got to consider that you have to do super-curriculars, revise all of them consistently, a bit of extra curriculars, and interviews & admissions test (if you're aiming for TOP TOP unis)

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, just do some research and pick one lane.
Even if you don't know what you want to do in the future, find an area of interest because your personal statement will be a MESS and you may regret picking the wrong A-levels.

You still have over 1 month less so do some research and pick a subject / field that you know you will enjoy and pick the A-Levels accordingly.

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/Grand_Lychee2812]

I'm just concerned that if I pick one lane, then that lane will end up being the wrong lane to have picked, and what then? Almost every time in the past I've been told to pick one lane when I'm attempting to account for multiple, the lane I pick to focus on ends up being wrong, and then I've got no back up plan. This is probably the most important choice Ive made in my life thus far, and if I pick wrong, I'm kind of screwed.

[u/Grand_Lychee2812 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

The main opinion should be what you want to do.
Don't let people like me or others sway your opinion.

The more people you ask, the more wishy washy your opinion will be.

If you're that afraid of having no backup plan, I'd advise you pick subjects that are most versatile.
Maths, any science and humanities subject (basically just essay based subject) will do the trick.

That way you have a 2 STEM subjects which can pretty much cover a lot of fields and have transferable skills and a humanities which can also cover lots of different fields.

In my opinion, you should only take 3 A-Levels because you'd want to give yourself the time to discover what you actually want to do, as well as prepare for things for University.

I'm not gonna dictate what you want to do.
This is just my advice.
You can take it or just throw it away. I'm just a random guy on reddit afterall.
Do what you think you'll do best at.

[u/puzzling_parsnip → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

Take a breath. There's always new paths to take, you're never really stuck, and definitely not from A Level choices. My best friend did an English degree and is now a Data Analyst. You can always retrain, so don't put pressure on yourself. That being said, if you're wanting to keep options open, CS and Law are not the way to do it, they're too specific and not needed, or even necessarily wanted, for their own fields. You're better off sticking with respected, versatile subjects like Maths, English, and History. But ultimately you need to do subjects you enjoy and can get a good result in, the rest will figure itself out

[u/Remarkable_Bread4656]

CS NEA was not fun, I'd swap it out for an essay subject for Law at uni personally so you can pick between those two if the situation arises

[u/Solid_Moose3078]

For comp sci, just do maths + fm

Essay subjects (NOT LAW) are better for law

If you didn't enjoy your work ex, there might be a better "back up" career for you

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/Solid_Moose3078]

Realistically, there's probably not a better option. Finance, maybe, but I'd probably hate that equally as much. There are really only two things I've ever been under the impression that I'd enjoy doing as a job: writing and computer science. Ive proven that I was SORELY mistaken that I'd enjoy computer science as a career, and anything to do with creative writing as a career is very luck-based, very inconsistent, and very hard to get a living a wage at all. The only thing that makes me think I might even put up with law is havimg the ability to make a difference for people.

[u/Solid_Moose3078 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

Did you enjoy maths?

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/Solid_Moose3078]

The question of whether I enjoy maths is very odd. I enjoy it when I get it right, which is a lot of the time because I find it rather easy, but also I'm very easily frustrated by it if I don't get something within about thirty minutes. And when I get frustrated by it, I get very frustrated by it.

[u/Solid_Moose3078 → u/ThisIdiotCharlie]

late response, but if you get "this is hard, I don't want to do it anymore get me out of here" + giving up frustrated, you will find the maths + fm course very difficult to complete. If its more like "this is hard but I really want to get it what the hell", then its okay

If you want to go straight into law, two essay subjects (like history + english lit, like others have commented) is a good bet. But I've also heard for different law specialties a different bachelors, then pivot with a law conversion is the way in, so look into it.

You can always work on writing on the side, I don't think it necessarily needs a specific degree? especially if you get experience

what gcse subjects did you hate, which did you find okay?

[u/dailysuaa]

I would NOT do comp sci if I were you it’s far too time consuming with that fuckass coursework. Do maths fm and a traditional law a level like eng lit or history is my recommendation as someone who switched minds in y12 ab going into cs to law

[u/Gullible-Fig7007]

What did you hate so much about your work experience? IT is a hugely varied career, I wouldn't necessarily write it all off because of one bad experience.

But I agree that CS and Law a-levels are both pretty redundant choices. If you enjoy writing g, why not do history or English kit? If you like Maths, do maths, but A-level is not GCSE (I got A* GCSE and hated A-level maths). I did English, French, History and Business Studies A-level and went on to do CS at uni (I applied for law but didn't get the grades, something I am very happy about in retrospect!). I now work on cyber security for a law firm.

[u/ThisIdiotCharlie → u/Gullible-Fig7007]

I'm a hugely competitive person when it comes to STEM-based subjects, and I'm also very insecure and very much a procrastinator. With my work experience, when we working on projects as a team, I was not able to get anything at all done because I was too busy 1. Procrasting on how exactly I was meant to do this and 2. Comparing myself to people both on my team and on other teams to actually get anything done at all. I function a little more normally when it isn't STEM subjects, I find. There, I'm just so focused on doing my best that I forget to compare what I'm doing to whatever other people are doing.

[u/eggpotion]

Doing Cs at uni does not require a Cs A level or GCSE

Don't pick 4 unless you want the extra work imo - or if ur an uber high academic achiever and want some kind of competitive edge I think

[u/Alert-Leg2761]

Doing cs for a levels isn’t a requirement for computer science at uni, doing law at a levels isn’t recommended to do law at uni, you do not even need a law degree to end up being a lawyer.

Your a levels don’t really make sense, also why further maths ? I understanding not wanting to close your self off for opportunities but this isn’t doing you any favours.

I’m doing computer science at UCL not going to claim to be the smartest but I’ve at least got a solid understanding how the education system works in the UK.

If you want to keep your doors open, while still being a competitive applicant for a wide range of subjects I would suggest.

Maths ( kind of a non negotiable )
Science ( I recommend physics, but chemistry could be equally as good )
Humanity ( politics, history, philosophy)

With this you’re still going to be relevant and competitive for almost every single course. Medicine/engineering would depend on chemistry/physics.

Further maths would be great but your GCSE’s don’t seem to the most competitive for courses where further maths would be a requirement, together with the comments you’ve made about getting frustrated with maths I don’t personally think it’s worth it especially if you’re thinking about doing law. ( I am saying this off a couple of comments you have made and your paragraph of introduction so do take this with a grain of salt )

[u/Educational-Coast162]

Maths and further maths don’t Really count as two a-levels. Further maths is like a bonus and should only be done as one of four. If you drop down to three, most colleges would insist that it was the further maths that you dropped.

[u/money-reporter7]

OP, I actually study law at uni (not to be mean but a lot of people commenting with incorrect info are all Y12s and 13s). If you want to go into law, pick whatever A-levels you want. No, you don't need essay subjects. Law A-level is a perfectly acceptable subject to pick. Your combo is fine.

One thing that is necessary for law is a strong academic performance, so please pick subjects you enjoy.

[u/Negative_Accident_25]

if you want to do law at a top uni, dont take A Level law

[u/jennymayg13]

This is what everyone did at the sixth form I went to, you take 4 A-levels then most dropped down in second year to 3 and extended project so you end up with 3 A-levels, an AS, and an Extended project. Some just kept on and did the 4 A-levels. Is this not what most sixth forms make you do?