Andy Millar:

Emma Blackburn:

I actually did Chemistry, Geography and English A levels. [...] It also had the advantage of broadening my knowledge ...

Personally I couldn't agree more. I think at least one non-science subject is really useful for broadening the knowledge of undergraduate engineers - I wrote at length elsewhere that excellent engineering is about communicating with non-engineers to use technology to understand and then solve their problems in the context of their society. So pretty much any subject is going to come in useful here: English (or language of choice) and geography as you say, or history, art, drama, or (as in my case), music, sociology and psychology. (Ok, due to various constraints I only got half way through the first two at A level, but they were still very useful.) Probably lots of others I can't think of at the moment.


I'm honestly not sure how university admissions departments view this - I expect it very much depends on the university?

Students traditionally took 3 A Level subjects so it was a wise choice to ensure that the subjects were compatible with each other and relevant for the university course. A more modern practice is to take 3 A Levels and an AS Level which provides a greater opportunity for more diverse subject combinations. There are still questions about whether the fourth subject should be a potentially useful addition in terms of knowledge or very distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course or a career along with whether it is best to have a facilitating or non-facilitating subject.


A / AS Levels in law, economics, or business studies, are potentially more useful in terms of knowledge to engineers than history, English literature, or Latin are, although the first group are non-facilitating subjects and the second group are traditional facilitating subjects. None of these subjects are particularly well understood by admissions tutors in engineering departments (as they are used to seeing STEM subjects) so the perception of a particular subject may differ. Pyschology and sociology are almost in a twilight zone as they are both non-facilitating subjects and unfamiliar to most admissions tutors.


If an applicant has an unusual combination of A Level subjects, or subjects distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course, then it will amost certainly be queried in an interview.


Personal enthusiasm for a subject distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course can impress. There was a case of an applicant for a physics degree who had an AS Level in classical civilisation (in addition to A Levels in mathematics, further mathematics, and physics) because he had a keen interest in ancient history and archaeology. However, picking a distant subject simply to broaden knowledge, or use the other side of your brain, will not always pay off.


I'm not confident myself that arts and humanities A Levels (or any A Levels for that matter) are particularly helpful and beneficial when it comes to acquiring the skills to communicate technical stuff to a non-technical audience because they were not designed for that purpose. I think that reading various business communications books are a better choice. Very few engineers have ever studied English language beyond GCSE or technical and business English. This is an area that I feel needs more attention.

Andy Millar:

Emma Blackburn:

I actually did Chemistry, Geography and English A levels. [...] It also had the advantage of broadening my knowledge ...

Personally I couldn't agree more. I think at least one non-science subject is really useful for broadening the knowledge of undergraduate engineers - I wrote at length elsewhere that excellent engineering is about communicating with non-engineers to use technology to understand and then solve their problems in the context of their society. So pretty much any subject is going to come in useful here: English (or language of choice) and geography as you say, or history, art, drama, or (as in my case), music, sociology and psychology. (Ok, due to various constraints I only got half way through the first two at A level, but they were still very useful.) Probably lots of others I can't think of at the moment.


I'm honestly not sure how university admissions departments view this - I expect it very much depends on the university?

Students traditionally took 3 A Level subjects so it was a wise choice to ensure that the subjects were compatible with each other and relevant for the university course. A more modern practice is to take 3 A Levels and an AS Level which provides a greater opportunity for more diverse subject combinations. There are still questions about whether the fourth subject should be a potentially useful addition in terms of knowledge or very distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course or a career along with whether it is best to have a facilitating or non-facilitating subject.


A / AS Levels in law, economics, or business studies, are potentially more useful in terms of knowledge to engineers than history, English literature, or Latin are, although the first group are non-facilitating subjects and the second group are traditional facilitating subjects. None of these subjects are particularly well understood by admissions tutors in engineering departments (as they are used to seeing STEM subjects) so the perception of a particular subject may differ. Pyschology and sociology are almost in a twilight zone as they are both non-facilitating subjects and unfamiliar to most admissions tutors.


If an applicant has an unusual combination of A Level subjects, or subjects distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course, then it will amost certainly be queried in an interview.


Personal enthusiasm for a subject distant in terms of knowledge in relation to a university course can impress. There was a case of an applicant for a physics degree who had an AS Level in classical civilisation (in addition to A Levels in mathematics, further mathematics, and physics) because he had a keen interest in ancient history and archaeology. However, picking a distant subject simply to broaden knowledge, or use the other side of your brain, will not always pay off.


I'm not confident myself that arts and humanities A Levels (or any A Levels for that matter) are particularly helpful and beneficial when it comes to acquiring the skills to communicate technical stuff to a non-technical audience because they were not designed for that purpose. I think that reading various business communications books are a better choice. Very few engineers have ever studied English language beyond GCSE or technical and business English. This is an area that I feel needs more attention.