I'm about to choose my a-levels for the coming September, and I have definitely chosen the following:

* Music
* English Language (which I'm already doing the AS of now)
* Psychology

I now can't decide between taking history or biology as my other subject...

Now, I want to go on to get a music degree, and so therefore would think I would choose history as it is more related to music, BUT I'm finding biology A LOT more interesting than history at the moment...

Basically what I'm asking is:

Is it worth taking something I don't enjoy as much (eg; history, although it is still quite interesting) just because it will be more helpful for music? And how much more helpful will it be for me to do history?

I'm predicted A's/A*'s for both history and biology in my GCSE's (and music too), so it's not really a case of me choosing the subject I'm best at....

Oh, and another point I forgot to add - I emailed the University that I REALLY want to go to (Royal Holloway), and they said that they're not too strict on subjects other than music, but subjects such as english, languages and history would be good.



Any advice would be really appreciated!

Laura
XxX

I'd go for the one that you enjoy the most. if you dont enjoy history, dont do it, because you'll only end up feeling rather miserable about it, and have a lack of motivation for it. i would go for biology.
Im only in year 10, but i've got a good idea of what i want to do as well
-Music (obviously, seeing as i want a carreer in music!)
-English literature
-History (i'm the opposite to you, i love history!)
-French (i'm not brilliant,m but i love it)
-wish i could do Psychology as a 5th, but i cant. at the minute, i'm debating whether to do french, which im not brilliant at, but i'm enthusiastic, and really like it, or do Psychology, which im really interested in, and would consider it as a possible carreer along with english if my plan to be a musician or piano teacher goes out the window for some reason.

What do you think i should do?

Good luck with your choices. try asking your teachers what they think as well.

Jacob.

I haven't voted as I would say "either"

As David says, the one you enjoy most/feel you are best at will be fine with your other subjects, unless your particular university course that specifies certain subjects.

Reminds me of a daft comment my dad made at a parent teacher night... I was taking Music, English lit. and Geography. The teacher was saying how those were good choices and would give me plenty of options etc... and my dad said "yes, with the music and geography she could be a wandering minstrel!"

I voted for Biology because I did it at A level and it was very interesting and I liked the practical bits - a nice change from just book work. I imagine History would have a lot of cold facts to be learned (?)

An intersting way to choose your A levels!!

I took Biology A level, along with Music and Maths. If it doesn't affect your university entrance, then I think you should go with Biology. (You might get the chance to do a Music History module during your degree).

I think you should take an A level in Decisiveness!


That was flippant:

To be serious, once you gain a higher level qualification the subjects of your A-levels don't matter to employers. And once you have done a job for a few years your degree subject no longer matters either. So there is a strong case for studying what you enjoy, so long as it doesn't cripple your chances of getting on to the higher education course that you want.

From a life-skills point of view, I think the most useful subjects to learn, and as soon as possible, are Languages (it is a disgrace that most English people leave school at 18 with nothing better than a weak grasp of French, when many of our European counterparts are fluent in three or four languages), and Maths (it is the key to understanding much of science, and parts of music, and politicians and advertisors will never again dupe you with dodgy statistics). But I am not convinced that A-levels are an efficient route to competence in either. (Some education in financial matters wold not go amiss either - what money really is, how the system works ... but that will never happen because it would make it harder for Government and Business to turn us into wage-slaves - so instead they will offer courses in "Economics").

If you have a strong and genuine interest in any subject then you WILL learn it, at any age, with or without formal tuition.


My story? I studied Maths, Physics, and Chemistry at A-level, and hold separate bachelors degrees in Biology and Mathematics. I have taught in the British schools system at all levels from primary to A-level and Adult continuing education, but for many years now have made a living as a computer programmer. And the two subjects I now know most about? Music and History!!

Perhaps you should think about the structure of the courses - history is going to involve essays. Biology is more practical and has right/wrong answers - depends which you feel happier tackling. You could go for the one that you think you will get the best grade in.
There is no reason why you can't maintain an interest in whichever one you give up - keep it as a hobby?
Good luck

Thank you so much for all your replies! Your views are all really interesting!!

I think right now I'm swaying towards history. I looked further into the course content, and saw that a third of the biology course was on plants etc, which I'm not so keen on - I find the human body much more interesting! Also, I looked again at the psychology course, and found out that you do learn a fair bit about the brain and how it works, therefore that is kind of biology-ish!! And SueHM and Mad Tom are right, I can still learn about biology as a hobby even if I don't take it.

I've got another week or so until I have to hand in my application form, and even then my choices won't be set in stone until after my GCSE's. I'll speak to my teachers maybe and see what they think too.

Thanks again for your ideas

Laura

I voted for history because there is a lot more to music than theory and performance. The social aspect of the history of music is facinating - how did music come into existence, how and why did composers write - their social and economic contexts, how did music printing develop, and notation, development of instruments, orchestras, choirs, over the centuries, reception of music by the public and how that influenced how composers changed their ideas. This is closely tied in whith what was going on in the world at the time - religious views, revolution, wars, etc. Similar changes were going on in art, literature, etc. You'd get a much bigger picture if you had more historical knowledge, which may not at this time seem relevant.
I've learnt from experience on this one - I had to catch up with my historical knowledge to appreciate more fully why music developed as it did.
Good luck with your choice, and your A levels.

when I choose my A- levels, Idealy, I would do 3 sciences, History and music, but think I'll have to stick to 2 sciences or no history...

Ooh this is very helpful! I did wonder whether history would be useful for music as it isn't like "This is what happened in this period" etc....it's good to hear that knowledge on the other aspects of history (like the wars) is related to music too!

Slightly off-topic, but a young student of mine is doing a joint Music/Psychology degree (combined with cello lessons from Alice Neary at RCM!) at RHUL (which is where I see you want to go) and is absolutely LOVING it there!

Best of luck in making your decision.

Wow cool! That's great to know that she likes it at Royal Holloway!! Do you have any idea what she did for her a-levels?

XxX

Just texted her - she did Music, Psychology and French (got 3 AAA)!

Ooooh well done to her!!

Thanks Cyrilla for finding that out for me

XxX

No probs!

Do whatever you find interesting. To be honest, when you get to uni all your other a levels are forgotten. And especially with the points system, it's getting less likely that they're going to be looking at individual subjects and how they correspond (unless you're looking at unis where they don't do them of course).

I hated history, and having to take that for a year to AS was bad enough for me. I only did it because I had to choose one more (I was doing french, german and music) and did a toss up between what was likely to "get me into uni" and what was not. And history it was. If you like biology, do that one instead, coz I did so badly in my history through lack of interest, I didn't even put it on my application in the end!

Back in the dim and distant past when I did A-level Biology (along with Chemistry and Maths) those people who weren't also doing A-level Chemistry struggled with some aspects, same as those doing Physics who weren't also doing Maths struggled at times. I think there were one or two people who hadn't done O-level Chemistry and their grades really weren't a true reflection of their A-level capabilities.

Given the weird and wonderful combinations of subjects people seem to do these days this response may be completely outdated.

Given you're applying for Music, and your top Uni says they don't really mind, then you could take either. It may be worth looking at what other Universities specify, but I doubt they're going to be too fussy whether you chose History or Biology, just whether you have sufficient qualifications in Music.

If you like them both, then I'd probably say go for the one your best with. Unless your pretty certain you'll reach the grades for your other 3 anyway, in which case, choose the one you like best.



^Regarding TSax's point, I guess it's plausible not to choose those combinations, but everybody in my year who does Biology does Chemistry (there are only a few of us chemists that don't do Biology), and everyone that does Physics does Maths. I guess you could probably get past Physics on Dimensional Analysis and general mathematical reasoning alone without having to take A Level Maths, but chances are, if you have that, then you'd probably take Maths because you enjoyed it/found it easy anyway. I can't really see A Level Biology being that Chemistry orientated anyway for the current specification, so I guess you could probably get away today without doing Biology with Chemistry

~Wobby~

I'd agree - go with the subjects that interest you, otherwise it'll get really tedious. You're laready doing Music & English: that'll be fine. Royal Holloway seem to be good at that sort of thing...
and anyway, how is History better for Music? The two don't necessarily interlink, unless you choose it for coursework...

I study History at the moment (going on to do it at uni). That isn't relevant, but shows you I'm not biased and it's a lot of work

Thanks again for your replies! Just thought I'd let you know I've decided to do biology now

Biology is cool! I took it, wish I didn't but it's still good