I'm looking to study medicine at university - should i take Politics or Psychology at AS level?

Question

I will be starting sixth form (year 12) in September - looking to go into medicine as a career, so I will be taking Chemistry, Biology and Physics. I have been advised to take one more subject, sort of as enrichment

Which of the two would benefit me more in my potential career, and which would be more respected by universities? I have an interest in both Politics and Psychology and think I would genuinely enjoy both.

I know it varies of course between different students, but it would be much appreciated if anyone could give me some advice here!

Answer 1

You should study four AS subjects in Chemistry, Biology, Maths or Physics, and any other subject. Chemistry and Biology are required however the Medical School will remain flexible in its consideration of candidates who are unable to offer Maths or Physics at AS. You should achieve grades of A and three Bs in any of these subjects as a minimum. If you offer five AS subjects the best four grades will be taken into account.

I don't know what Politics at A level is like but Psychology sucks big time!

EDIT:

Lowey - Drop Psychology and take English Language instead. Your grammar, syntax, punctuation and semantics all leave a lot to be desired! I know it was you that awarded me a negative vote.

Futuristicmilo - Get real! Anybody with a triple digit IQ would know that I was only joking! I couldn't give a toss about my relative popularity or unpopularity on Yahoo! answers. Still, when all is said and done your Po-faced seriousness did make me chuckle for which I award you a thumb's up for your answer. And another for little antipodean Lowey as well out of goodwill.

I actually did Psychology at A level so I know what I'm talking about. The subject is not a quantitative science like chemistry or physics. Psychology, like economics, is a non-discipline and pseudo-science that uses simple mathematics and statistics in its attempt to masquerade as real science. If psychology were as grounded in science as many people believe, many of its own historical and contemporary assertions would have been falsified by its own theoretical and clinical failures, and it would be either replaced by something more scientifically rigorous, or simply cast aside for now.

I did five A levels and psychology was the easiest, most disappointing and most useless of them all. It was not much harder than a physics GCSE and I got a grade A in it without breaking into a sweat. Contrary to popular opinion psychology is NOT well regarded by medical schools; if you want to sinch your place stick to the hard sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) and the pure sciences (mathematics) as your main subjects.

So there! Ya boo sucks to you all!

Get over yourselves and lighten up!

EDIT TWO

Lowey - Go for it kiddo and good luck to you! When you get to medical school you'll find the professors and other students play hardball with each other all the time on a daily basis; it's probably a good thing to expose you to a dose Tigonian bluntness early on in your career because you're going to meet an awful lot of it later in your life!

Answer 2

It's a shame that you are so overly indoctrinated by this "thumbs up, thumbs down" system, Tigon. Somebody obviously didn't like your answer!

Ben, I can only suggest that you do whatever you think is best for you. I personally would suggest going for Politics, only because it offers something different to the Science subjects and just to make year 12 more interesting it is broadening your mind rather than doing all Science subjects. You can always drop Politics anyway and it won't make any difference to your career path.

Both subjects are highly respected but both are different subjects altogether.  

Answer 3

choose politics it'll show that you are a more rounded person, that you are a well as being strong in sciences you have an interest in current affairs. psychology is such a dry subject  

Answer 4

I would go with the one you think you'll enjoy the most and get the best grade at.  Both are respected at universities so that shouldn't be your worry.  If you take psychology you have a very science-based range of subjects to follow whereas politics will give you a bit of variety and not show you to be a 'one-trick pony' (sorry, not meaning to be rude but you know what I mean)!  Psychology, however, is more 'medicine' based but don't forget you're going to drop one subject at the end of year 12 anyway so it won't have too much of an impact on your future career.  With all that in mind I'd go for politics if I were you!  Good luck with your future studies!

Answer 5

Really you want to take AS maths, but it's not essential. I do Psychology and I'm starting A2 in september, it's a good, interesting subject. And would be more relevant to medicine than politics.Both are highly respected by universities but if you want to get into medicine it will be more benifical because you will be dealing with people and by knowing a little bit about Psychology it can only help.

Whatever you choose to take, you need to be getting A's and B's, medicine is really competative and most universities require you to have 360 ucas points to get onto the course.

What you need to do as well this summer or even next is get work experience, volunteer in a hospital, it all looks good on your personal statement when applying to a university. You have to show you have a keen interest in it. You need other work experince that you didn't do at secondary school, I'm having that problem now.

if you haven't done so already go onto the ucas website and apply for a ucas card, you'll do ths when you start sixth form but it will help if you do it now so you can start researching what AS to take.

the website is www.ucas.com and if you want to get straight to the card part just put /ucascard  on the end

hope this helps

Edit-

Don't forget if you take a subject and you find your not happy with it, most sixth forms will let you change you choice in the first few weeks. You can also drop and pick up subjects at the end of year 12. In year 13 if things didn't go to plan you can continue with the subjects you want and drop the ones you don't, and pick up new subjects and do a mix of As and A2 subjects. Just do what you feel comfortable with and remember it's not a trap you can change your mind quite easily.

Edit Tigon- Considering I'm dyslexic, i think i'm doing fine.