• Question: How much relevance did your a level choices have on your ability to chose options once you were in your degree course?

    Asked by yoncé? to Dominic, Maedeh, Matthew, Matt, Monica on 4 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Dominic Eggbeer

      Dominic Eggbeer answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      Pretty high. I chose design tech, art and geography (spot the odd one out). I was fortunate to choose very hands-on subjects and have the freedom to use some of the earliest computer aided design/animation software. This influenced my interest and career choice. However, I didn’t know I’d end up helping to reconstruct peoples’ bodies! I’d suggest that maths, physics and design technology are key areas that have widespread application in engineering and will be valuable in lots of careers.

    • Photo: Maedeh Borhani

      Maedeh Borhani answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      It was highly relevant. I did physics, maths and biology.

    • Photo: Matthew Round

      Matthew Round answered on 4 Mar 2016:

      I’m going to go against the grain here and say mine were largely irrelevant but I think this was because I was a mature student and the entrance hoops were a lot less hassle to jump through. I think I could have had A-levels in Basket-weaving and Underwater Ballet dancing and I would have still been able to choose whatever I would have liked to do at degree level. The uni’s argument was that any A-Level showed a certain degree of educational aptitude.

    • Photo: Matthew Oldfield

      Matthew Oldfield answered on 5 Mar 2016:

      Very little. Once I started my Mechanical Engineering degree, most of the options were already selected. I did get to choose some specialist subjects in the third and fourth years of the degree. The choice was limited though and was not influenced by my A-Level subjects.

    • Photo: Monica Rozeik

      Monica Rozeik answered on 6 Mar 2016:

      I took maths, physics and design technology for my a-levels and I think they were all really relevant. You need maths and physics to understand a lot of engineering concepts and design technology helped me know how to build things.

      I did Biomedical Engineering but you learn biology as you go along so it’s not needed as an A-level choice though it can be helpful.

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