Good IB Subjects for Law?

[catbug]

Hey everybody. More questions for subject selections for IB next year, like a lot of other people who are going through this process as well. I'm kind of interested in pursuing law in the future, but I'm not entirely sure as to what subjects I should take in order to make me a good applicant for law as well as give me a high, solid IB score. Law is also kind of vague, which to be honest, it makes it so much harder for me to pick out what I should do. 

The subjects I've picked out so far are: 

 

English Language and Literature HL

French AB Initio 

Chemistry (Unsure if I should go with HL or SL, I've read that it's quite difficult to get a 6 or 7 for HL)

Math SL (No way in hell I could do HL, I'm already struggling with IGCSE Additional Mathematics)

 

Obviously, I have to still pick out a Social Science, as well as an extra one to fill in the Arts- and I have absolutely no clue what I should pick, since I'm getting mixed advice from everywhere.

 

The other subjects my school offers are: 

Biology

Geography

Economics

ITGS (not fond of this, I've heard it's regarded as a "soft choice")

ESS (same reason for ITGS)

Psychology (I'm not sure if this would be entirely appropriate for law)

Physics 

 

If anyone had suggestions as to how I should select the rest of my subjects (and which should be HL or SL) for law or what you selected to get where you wanted to be (if you took law and have any firsthand experience with the selection process to go toward law would be incredibly helpful) or even just some advice about the IB in general would be amazing.

Thank you! 

Edited March 3, 2015 by catbug

[behaaa]

History would be a great choice for you, especially if you plan on doing law. I would recommend you take chemistry at SL because it truly is a hard subject to get a good grade on. Economics is also pretty useful, and not as difficult as the other subjects (physics). I wouldn't recommend taking psychology because it is also considered to be a 'soft choice'. IF you are good at physics then take it, it won't necessarily help but if you do well on it it will boost your overall score.

[catbug]

History would be a great choice for you, especially if you plan on doing law. I would recommend you take chemistry at SL because it truly is a hard subject to get a good grade on. Economics is also pretty useful, and not as difficult as the other subjects (physics). I wouldn't recommend taking psychology because it is also considered to be a 'soft choice'. IF you are good at physics then take it, it won't necessarily help but if you do well on it it will boost your overall score.

The thing is, my school doesn't offer history, which is a bummer.  What about biology over physics? I'm taking Biology at the moment for IGCSE and I usually get the highest marks in the year- and plus, I'm better at Biology, I'm not the brightest when it comes to math, hence the reluctance to do Economics. 

Psychology is considered a soft choice? Hmm, I didn't know that- but it does seem interesting.

How difficult would you say Chemistry at HL, and what is your personal experience with the subject, since you are taking it and it'd be awesome for some insight from someone who's actually doing the course.

Edited March 3, 2015 by catbug

[behaaa]

Then you should definitely take physics and econ. I wouldn't recommend any of the other subjects, because they are considered to be 'soft choice' subjects. Maybe geography, but apart from that only  econ and physics

[Veo]

For Law, UCL and Cambridge do not have specific subject requirements, but necessitate a high grade of 40/45 on your diploma. 

[avalinelegato]

With all respect to behaaa, and no offense directed to behaa at all, I personally don't think Psychology is a 'soft' choice. Of course, this depends on your preferred university, or preferred course, but so far, from what I know, Psychology is not one of the 'soft' choices (Then again, it might be considered one in behaaa's country- both of us are in different parts of the world after all!)

 

The reason why I'm saying this is because from my current knowledge of 'soft' subjects, 'soft' subjects are usually those that are stereotyped to be able to give one a good score without much effort- although this definition varies from person to person. To me, psychology is definitely NOT one of the subjects that you can get a good score in without studying- if you can't memorise/remember the studies, you probably can't write your SAQ/essay. That's just one of the elements in the Psychology syllabus, I'm not even touching on the aspect of evaluation and linking yet.

 

Then again, some consider art to be a 'soft' subject. I don't take art, but seeing how much effort my friends have to put in for art, I do wonder why art is considered a 'soft' subject at all.

 

One good thing about law is that you don't really need any prerequisite subjects in most universities. Some do ask for English and one essay-based subject, and History or Psychology would be good for that! I'm not sure if economics involves writing essays since I don't take that subject though, sorry!

I've heard some claims that geography is also another soft subject, but as I said, 'soft' subjects vary from person to person, and it can also depend on what you want to do in the future.

 

Personally, I'll say go with what you like best, or what you do best. Are you good with memorising? If yes, I'd say take psychology or biology. Do you like subjects that require more application than memory? If yes, I'd say take Economics (that's how one of my friend described economics).

 

If you aren't sure, maybe you can take a look at the syllabus guide for each of those subjects, and see which one you're most interested in In terms of which subject is more applicable for law, I've heard people say that some of the knowledge from economics might be useful, while some of the skills learned from learning and taking psychology is useful as well. (Although I have to admit that I cannot confirm this claim, since I have yet to enter university myself.)

 

This is a pretty long post, sorry about that :3

[flinquinnster]

As a current law student in the UK, I would seriously say that it does not matter what subjects you do - insofar that you get a good score, and that (maybe, though not necessarily) you want to practice essay-writing subjects. I know people both in and outside my university who have studied all science/maths subjects before law, others with the complete reverse mix - so it doesn't really matter. 

 

So, main advice is to do what you think you would be good at, and enjoy enough to be motivated to study! None of us here can really tell you this about yourself, you should (hopefully!) have some idea. If you do happen to be keen on a 'soft subject' then you can still do it - though if you're not, it is generally better off to avoid them. In terms of psychology, I think that it is a good subject for law - analytical and also largely essay-based. My impression is that psychology isn't a soft subject, though I might be wrong (though honestly all those assessments are subjective). I did geography, and I liked it - and I find it quite useful for law actually. Even if it is often considered a 'soft subject' I got in fine with it as HL.

 

I would personally suggest that doing Physics and Chemistry as 2 sciences may be a bit much, but of course, that's up to how much you enjoy/are good at sciences! I think that maths/science subjects are still good to take in terms of IB score - they add a bit of diversity to your subject mix and are subjects with a pleasingly different studying routine to essay-based subjects, which can be motivational, as well as being more objective in marking - and just general practice at being logical. I must admit however that doing a maths/science at HL probably won't be that useful to the law degree itself - though honestly, no IB subject is directly relevant!

 

Law is a great subject in that there are pretty much no pre-requisites - minimises the stress of picking subjects, though I do seriously respect how much thought you're putting into your subject choices from an early stage! Best of luck

[catbug]

Okay, I think I'm going to end up with the following:

 

English Language and Literature HL

Psychology HL

French AB Initio 

Mathematics SL

Either Chemistry SL or Biology HL

Geography HL or SL depending on which Science I pick. 

 

What do y'all think about these subjects for law? Any alterations I should make? Thank you

[Arrowhead]

I sugget dropping your Science (Chemistry or Biology - whichever you pick, doesn't matter) down to SL.

 

Does your school not offer Economics as well? It's a good complimentary subject for a future Law degree. You don't necessarily need Economics for a Law application, but having completed a Law degree, I can tell you that a basic Economics background is exceedingly helpful.

 

But overall, Geography, Psychology and English HL are more than enough for a successful Law application. Universities take particular account of your success in essay-based subjects because they are considered to be directly correlative to your ability to handle the courseload of a Law degree.

 

As far as UK universities specifically are concerned, it really doesn't matter what SLs you take as they only consider what your HL subject choices were. As for as your SLs are concerned, they only exist to boost your overall score.

[catbug]

I sugget dropping your Science (Chemistry or Biology - whichever you pick, doesn't matter) down to SL.

 

Does your school not offer Economics as well? It's a good complimentary subject for a future Law degree. You don't necessarily need Economics for a Law application, but having completed a Law degree, I can tell you that a basic Economics background is exceedingly helpful.

 

But overall, Geography, Psychology and English HL are more than enough for a successful Law application. Universities take particular account of your success in essay-based subjects because they are considered to be directly correlative to your ability to handle the courseload of a Law degree.

 

As far as UK universities specifically are concerned, it really doesn't matter what SLs you take as they only consider what your HL subject choices were. As for as your SLs are concerned, they only exist to boost your overall score.

Yeah, they do offer Economics, but taking it this year for the IGCSE, I feel like it's a bit of a bore for me and I don't think I would enjoy doing it as an IB Subject for two years, which is why I opted for Geography instead.