College courses Choices

[Abbie]

Ok, Well I know there are many of us here who are in our final year of highg school and I was just wondering what everyone was thinking of taking when you go to college or sixth form.
I Know i want to take drama and theatre studies, Biology, phsycology and one english.

[Layne]

Well i am applying to my school sixth form for Maths, Drama and Theatre studies, Phsycology and Applied Health and Social care and ontop of that i'd do a part time one night a week dance course. All A/s levels.
But i am also applyling to a college for a BTEC national diploma in Perforning Arts, but i'm most probably going to do my A levels.

[Abbie]

Yeh I want to A levels as I think it will give me more options in the long wrong.

[Layne]

Yeh I want to A levels as I think it will give me more options in the long wrong.

Yeh that is why i am probably taking them, but i can still do dance and drama but it'll will just be more Theory based!

[Katy]

Alto of my friends tok Dance A Level, they all really enjoy it.

[Chloe-Elise]

I'm in Year 11 now, and next year I'm going to college to do Psychology, Sociology, RS and English Literature at A-Level.

[Elsie Tanner]

Glad to here that you're all looking to continue your post-16 education!

My advice would be to try and avoid 'new' subjects as much as you can. Subjects like Law, Psychology, Media Studies or Sociology may seem new and exciting, especially if you've not been able to take them at GCSE Level, but they are now extremely popular amongst A-Level students.

Also, it is quite funny that most Universities or employers don't encourage prsopective employees to study 'their' subjects at all! For instance taking A-Level Law is not desired by many high-class Law Universities or employers, who much prefer their applicants to take a more traditional route into the profession.

If you are wanting to pursue a career in Media, you will probably fare better with A-Levels in English and Geography than doing Media Studies in its own right!

I'd say stick to core subjects like English, History, Sciences, Maths, Geography, Religious Studies and Modern Languages.

[Abigail]

Yeah, if you take "soft" subjects such as media and dance universities will downgrade your grade because they are easy subjects compared to maths or sciences. For example if you get an A in media they will accept it as a B so your UCAS points for that subject would be 100 as opposed to 120 for an A.
As mentioned in the post above, try to stick to main subjects if you want to go to university. Universities are more likely to offer you a place if you have a C in a science rather than an A in media.

[Abi]

UCAS is a great place to check before you choose you're subjects. Even if you only have a vague idea what you want to do, check that your subject choices wont totally block that out.

ICT is a good subject to take too, as it goes into a lot of different work areas, and is getting more popular with Uni's now.

Just try and be open with your choices. Last year, one of my mates choose Physics, Chemestry, Biology and Maths, and then realised how hard A Level Science actually is, failed her exams, and got kicked out of college. She's now working full-time in WHSmiths ( ), so dont make the same mistake as her!!

I chose Politics as a new subject, and i love it now, so dont disregard the new ones totally. Just balance them with other ones (I also took English Literature, Geography and ICT), and get a balance of Core and more Applied (Like my ICT and Politics is more applied, than English and Geog).

[Elsie Tanner]

Yeah, if you take "soft" subjects such as media and dance universities will downgrade your grade because they are easy subjects compared to maths or sciences. For example if you get an A in media they will accept it as a B so your UCAS points for that subject would be 100 as opposed to 120 for an A.
As mentioned in the post above, try to stick to main subjects if you want to go to university. Universities are more likely to offer you a place if you have a C in a science rather than an A in media.

It is important to remember that everything will be seen in context. Universities will never 'downgrade' an A-Level grade. Afterall, A-Level grading must be standard across all disciplines.

There are two factors which will be important to the acceptance of your University application - CHOICE OF COURSE and CHOICE OF INSTITUTION.

Your UCAS offers will be a direct result of these choices. Anyway, I don't want to turn this into a University Application chat, because that's off topic!

Are any of you thinking of going to University?