View Full Version : College courses Choices
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.
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.
Yeh I want to A levels as I think it will give me more options in the long wrong.
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!
Alto of my friends tok Dance A Level, they all really enjoy it.
Chloe-Elise
18-12-2006, 19:32
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
18-12-2006, 21:11
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.
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.
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 ( :lol: ), 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
18-12-2006, 23:41
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?
Dr. Tangliss
19-12-2006, 10:27
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.
Yes I see what you're saying and it is true that most institutions won't ask for you to have studied their subject as A'level.
Saying that, professional courses such a Medicine do ask for specific subjects to be studied at a'level.
The best thing to do it get onto UCAS's website and look at up the course/s you are interested in, then go through their entry profiles. Some universities, especially the older traditional ones, as more specific than others.
i rememebr picking my subjects, it doesnt seem long ago at all and now im having to think about unis. It is so scary.My advice is pick what YOU want to study, but i would check out UCAS if you have a particular uni in mind. I didnt have a clue what to do and took what i wanted to do. Just work hard and yourll all be fine.
DaVeyWaVey
19-12-2006, 17:48
I am hoping to stay on for A levels next year. I am planning to take English Literature, Drama and Theatre Studies, Media Studies and ICT.
di marco
23-12-2006, 21:17
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.
from my experience they dont do that, i took performing arts for alevel and my grade wasnt downgraded
back to picking alevels, when i picked mine i got the option book out and straight away got rid of all the subjects id chosen to drop for gcse, then got rid of the subjects i wasnt very good at at gcse or didnt like. after that just read through the courses carefully, you might like a subject at gcse but the alevel course could be a lot different (this is what i found with IT). also try and look at more than one sixth form/college, cos they might offer different subjects or they might use a different exam board and so the course might suit you better at one place than another
for alevel i took performing arts, maths, biology and politics, which was a mixture and most people could never understand why i took such different subjects but when i decided i didnt really know what i wanted to do afterwards (i still dont lol!) and so just picked things that i was good at and liked so that i could keep my options open. if you dont have a definite choice of what you want to do afterwards i wouldnt pick subjects which are too similar (such as all arty subjects) as this limits your options. also its a good idea to take a core subject cos unis/employers like these and it gives you more options
but most importantly, dont be persuaded into taking subjects by teachers/parents/friends, by all means get as much info/advice as you can from your teachers about the course and how they think you would cope etc and you can talk to your parents, but at the end of the day its your decision and youre the one who has to do the course for 2 years so pick something you want to do! (im just saying this cos my teachers really tried to persuade me and a lot of other people i knew to do other subjects and some people were persuaded even though they didnt really want to)
My advice would be thinking carefully about what you like, and then checking against the course description, for example if the place provides more that one ICT course, think about what you like and choose the best one because i didn;t really and i hate IT Applied. Also, look around which is something i didn't do and I regret it in a way now because some colleges have better teaching styles and better resources etc.
squillyfer
24-12-2006, 15:25
we filled our college aplication forms in last week and I've chosen A level History, Maths, Chemistry and Biology
we filled our college aplication forms in last week and I've chosen A level History, Maths, Chemistry and Biology
thats a lot of science, i was too thinck for sciences, good luck with them next year.
squillyfer
24-12-2006, 17:59
thats a lot of science, i was too thinck for sciences, good luck with them next year.
you say that but i was gong to take physics too instead of maths lol then realised i hate physics
di marco
27-12-2006, 14:56
we filled our college aplication forms in last week and I've chosen A level History, Maths, Chemistry and Biology
i took alevel maths and biology. maths i found quite easy when i tried and bothered to do the work, however if you dont bother with hw and dont listen in lessons it can get quite confusing, so as long as you work well then i found it a good subject to do. biology i found difficult but i think that was partly to do with the rubbish teacher we had. my sis is taking alevel chemistry and history (and biology lol!)
you say that but i was gong to take physics too instead of maths lol then realised i hate physics
lol! i would never take physics, people must be mad that do lol!
lol! i would never take physics, people must be mad that do lol!
I agree my 4 people from my music last year, dropped physics to do music as it was so hard. I think Maths is a far better option if your any good at it. Numbers arent my strong point i was much better with words which was why i chose essay type subject.
I know that certain universities e.g. Cambridge will actually ignore certain subjects, but most unis don't.
I know I'm doing Psychology, Government and Politics, Philosophy of Religion and Ethics (so basically more RE) and then I'm not sure. I'm doing ICT now so that's out so maybe computing or English lit.
Elsie Tanner
31-12-2006, 04:14
Is anyone interested in taking A-Level languages?
Is anyone interested in taking A-Level languages?
No, I cant barely cope with french at GCSE, I just dont have the memory for it
Is anyone interested in taking A-Level languages?
I already do, and my advice is that you got to be good at learning vocab, because all it really is, is a year long/2 year long vocabulary test and i think that's partly true. but you really got to enjoy languages to keep motivated!
Elsie Tanner
31-12-2006, 20:57
Is anyone interested in taking A-Level languages?
I already do, and my advice is that you got to be good at learning vocab, because all it really is, is a year long/2 year long vocabulary test and i think that's partly true. but you really got to enjoy languages to keep motivated!
I disagree. I am a languages graduate, and I feel that at A-Level grammar is the key to success. Candidates should have enough experience of different grammatical constructions to be easily familiar with them to the point of natural usage, instead of having to rely on 'remembering'.
Perhaps your A-Level teacher takes a different view of things, but to simply teach students lists of words is rather pointless.
Is anyone interested in taking A-Level languages?
I already do, and my advice is that you got to be good at learning vocab, because all it really is, is a year long/2 year long vocabulary test and i think that's partly true. but you really got to enjoy languages to keep motivated!
I disagree. I am a languages graduate, and I feel that at A-Level grammar is the key to success. Candidates should have enough experience of different grammatical constructions to be easily familiar with them to the point of natural usage, instead of having to rely on 'remembering'.
Perhaps your A-Level teacher takes a different view of things, but to simply teach students lists of words is rather pointless.
I agree that grammar is also very important, but for me, i feel that grammar is not quite as important as the new vocabulary because i've already had a lot of practise using the grammatical constructions, as both teacher that i had at high school were very hot on grammar, so we have had it all drummed in. i'm not saying i know everything, but at this point in AS everything grammar wise i have done at school prior to college, so for me the vocabulary is more important, and in the exam knowledge of vocabulary AND grammar is important. however, for us we have a lot of vocabulary to learn, and we get approximately 30 new words a lesson, which is why i said it's more of a vocabulary test.
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