Taking a Science subject - Necessary??

I.Am.A.Panda

Currently, I have to pick my Leaving Cert subjects for next year. I have chosen History, Economics and French so far, and am pondering whether or not to take a Science subject. Some colleges seem to require them regardless of the course itself. So, with that in mind, I was considering putting down Biology or Chemistry.

Is the Junior Cert Science a good indication of where your strengths and weaknesses are?

Besides Medicine and other obvious Science-related courses, what courses require a Science subject to be studied?

zam

I would if I were you! I mean you have no idea what you'll want to do in the future, definitely keep your options open! I discovered that medicine was my 'calling' in the summer before 6th year - thank God I picked biology! Or if you want to do nursing or anything like that. Also, biology is quite easy in terms of picking up points for the LC if that's what you're into. Then again, many of my friends do no sciences and are going for law/arts subjects etc. and they have no regrets!

jumpguy

Yup, I agree with Zam. It's definetly the best option to keep your horizons as broad as possible. You don't wanna be like many of the poor lads you see trying to start up in March when they realise they need the subject. Science subjects are often a requirement for a course (mostly related to science), whereas you can do most business courses without even doing business!

I'd definetly do atleast one if I were you.

unknown13

It all depends what you want to do. Near the end TY I realised I was not interested in going into the science area after I did my LC. So I didn't put down any science subjects and It has paid off because I do no science subjects and I have never regretted it because I have never taught about doing anything science related and I also know a few doing no science subjects and I think most of them are going to do business courses

Check qualifax to see possible courses you are interested in because if one requires a science subject you may have no choice but to do a science subject.

randylonghorn

I.Am.A.Panda wrote: »

Currently, I have to pick my Leaving Cert subjects for next year ...

Do you have any sense of what you want to do after LC? ... even the broad area?

Do you like science? ... are you good at it, or has it been the bane of your life all through JC?

From the other subjects you have chosen, I'm inferring a person with more of a leaning towards the humanities ...

I.Am.A.Panda

randylonghorn wrote: »

Do you have any sense of what you want to do after LC? ... even the broad area?

Do you like science? ... are you good at it, or has it been the bane of your life all through JC?

From the other subjects you have chosen, I'm inferring a person with more of a leaning towards the humanities ...

I'm interested in the areas of Business, History, Philosophy or Politics.

I'm decent at science, but I'm not particularly fond of it (But then again I've had the most boring teacher fr the past 2 years who can't teach), but if I want to do well and apply myself and I can get a good grade. To be honest I'm looking for points, and am definitely leaning towards Geog.

And yes, I'm a humanities kind of guy .

bleh!

As have been said, if you're still not sure what you want to do, then defo pick a science subject to cover all the possibilities. If I were to choose between chemistry and biology in terms of entry requirements to universities, I'd pick chemistry. More courses require chemistry than biology(medicine, pharmacy, plus it makes life much easier if ever you decide to do a science degree). If you're going for points, I personally think that LC bio would be the better option.

bleh!

I.Am.A.Panda wrote: »

I'm interested in the areas of Business, History, Philosophy or Politics.

I'm decent at science, but I'm not particularly fond of it (But then again I've had the most boring teacher fr the past 2 years who can't teach), but if I want to do well and apply myself and I can get a good grade. To be honest I'm looking for points, and am definitely leaning towards Geog.

And yes, I'm a humanities kind of guy .

Oops, that was posted almost at the same time as my last post, feeling kinda stupid now Anyway, if you're going for points and you know what you want to do then do Geography. I'd still recommend Biology though, it's just learning and work, you don't even have to understand it, kinda like geo. Understanding just makes it easier

randylonghorn

I.Am.A.Panda wrote: »

I'm interested in the areas of Business, History, Philosophy or Politics.

I'm decent at science, but I'm not particularly fond of it (But then again I've had the most boring teacher fr the past 2 years who can't teach), but if I want to do well and apply myself and I can get a good grade. To be honest I'm looking for points, and am definitely leaning towards Geog.

And yes, I'm a humanities kind of guy .

I'm not hearing any good reasons for doing a science ...

I don't disagree with the "keep your options open" philosophy, but tbh if all your interests now are in the general area of humanities, you're unlikely to decide you want to become a doctor or an engineer in 2 years time.

I know people change their minds, and spend months fiddling with their CAO, but they don't generally change to that extent.

zam

Don't do geography if you're looking for an easy A. It's marked really hard! Twice as many people get A1s in history than in geography. (probably because it's so awesome and people love it.)

rainbowtrout

If you have absolutely no interest in doing science (or a course that involves science related subjects) at third level and you weren't particularly interested in it at JC, there is probably no point taking for leaving cert just to 'keep your options open'.

All schools give that spiel to students and to be fair they are right as there are a lot of students who do not have any idea of what area they would like to go into after they leave school. There are however some people who know they have absolutely no interest in one particular area. My own school (all girls) always recommended a language, a business , a science and one other to keep all options open. I had no interest in humanities types subjects and I never wanted to look at another business book again as long as I lived. The only areas I was interested in were science and languages so I chose French, German, Biology and Phys/Chem combined. I've never looked back, never regretted not taking Accounting, Economics, Business, History, Geography etc. I had no interest in them.

For what it's worth I'm now a science teacher and if you don't like any area of science now it's not likely to change in the next two years.

bonerjams03

Isn't Geography accepted as a Science in Trinity?

andyman

I wanted to be a journalist when I was in 4th year. I was recommended to choose a Science subject so I chose Chemistry. Best decision I ever made in school. I grew to love it and am studying Science Education now, hoping to be a teacher.

To answer your question, yes. You never know what could change in the near future.

As for picking Biology or Chemistry. Both have their pro's and cons. Biology has a huge course but is the easier of the two. Chemistry has a small course in relation to Biology but is significantly harder. However if you go on to study Science in college, then having Chemistry would be much, much more valuable.

I.Am.A.Panda

IRcolm wrote: »

Isn't Geography accepted as a Science in Trinity?

My career guidance teacher confirmed Geography was not a science subject, and that it was a myth that it was accepted by colleges as a science. A bad one at that, seeing as my sister was convinced it was and did accounting instead, which she hated.

I.Am.A.Panda

andyman wrote: »

I wanted to be a journalist when I was in 4th year. I was recommended to choose a Science subject so I chose Chemistry. Best decision I ever made in school. I grew to love it and am studying Science Education now, hoping to be a teacher.

To answer your question, yes. You never know what could change in the near future.

As for picking Biology or Chemistry. Both have their pro's and cons. Biology has a huge course but is the easier of the two. Chemistry has a small course in relation to Biology but is significantly harder. However if you go on to study Science in college, then having Chemistry would be much, much more valuable.

Hmm...Well, would the teacher you get make an impact on Sciences, or is it the idea that if you apply yourself you do well? The Biology teacher in my school is supposed to be bad, to the point Biology is nicknamed "Bobology", as you learn more about his stories than actual Biology. As for Chemistry, I heard the teacher is good, but Chemistry was my worst area in my Mocks. However, I have a good grasp of the theories of chemical bonding and such.

elarkla

I didn't pick a science subject and i have to say that I don't regret it at all (and it wasn't that i struggled with it or anything coz I got an A)... I just thought if I'm having doubts about it for LC then I'm not really going to want to study it in college... Go on to qualifax.ie and do a search for courses requiring science then see if any of them interest you...

randylonghorn

IRcolm wrote: »

Isn't Geography accepted as a Science in Trinity?

I.Am.A.Panda wrote: »

My career guidance teacher confirmed Geography was not a science subject, and that it was a myth that it was accepted by colleges as a science. A bad one at that, seeing as my sister was convinced it was and did accounting instead, which she hated.

There are some science-type elements to geography, particularly physical geography and geology, but I wouldn't have thought there was anything like enough of that at LC to get geography defined as a science.

I wonder if that confusion has started because geography is often defined as a "social science" these days, rather than as a pure arts / humanities subject?

ted9308

I was in the same situation as yourself and in the end i chose geography.I would have to say best decision i had ever made.Geography is handy no doubt about it..The course is very very predictable and short.(You could teach yourself the course in about 2 months if you wanted and still get an a).I would advise geography because i like you am humanities minded and you should get an a.It is lots of common sense really.I have heard bad things about the biology course..It is supposed to be a very long course with lots of learning to be done.The whole keep your options thing is a bit stupid i think and go with what you like best and if you'll get a good or bad teacher choosing that subject.!:D