Daniel’s Blog

When I finished my GCSEs, I looked at the A Levels that my school was offering. They did not offer ‘Computing’ A Level at the time, they did offer ‘IT’ but I was sure that I wanted to do things to do with proper Computer Science, some proper software development. So I went to my local college and did some Diplomas and Certificates in Computing and Software Development.

When I started these courses at college, I thought “which A Levels would I have chosen”, and back then I thought I would have done: Maths, Physics, IT and Spanish.

Now after all of the college, and nearly finished at Uni, what would I do if I decided to do A Levels after Uni? (and not if I went back in time, I actually mean what would I want to do now)

If I had the full choice of A Levels and had to choose 4, I would probably do the following:

• Mathematics (Probability would be one of my major interests in this)
• Psychology (Particularly anything to do with Mysteries of the Brain)
• Philosophy (Particularly Logic)
• Religious Studies

I would obviously not choose Computing now, as it would just be too simple and not worth it.

The interesting one here is Religious Studies, back when I was choosing my GCSEs, I had no interest in Religion, so I didn’t choose it for GCSE - but thinking back at it now, I was actually reasonably good at it… and I am very interested in Religion now. Maybe I should have chosen it over History, probably would have got a better grade for it.

You may notice that the above subjects are actually quite interlinked: Philosophy is linked with Maths by logic, the brain uses logic so psychology is linked in there. Philosophy and Religion are quite obviously linked, Religion and Belief are Psychological things in a way…. all linked, all nice. But also Computing is also linked with all of them too, it is obviously mathematical, it also deals with logic. Artificial Intelligence has philosophical issues. Artificial Intelligence is also to do with Psychology. I also believe that Computing has links to Religion, for a start Computing can help religious debates, Computing can also help decode some very complex philosophical statements in religious texts. But also many people in Computing are religious (two of my lecturers spring into mind, one is a Christian reverend and another is an open Celtic Christian) (and also my girlfriend is a strong Anglican Christian, and she is a Computing Student) - there just must be a link really.
I am thinking about this because I might actually do an A Level or two, and maybe evening classes in something. Thats only if I don’t manage to get to do a masters in the next academic year, then I will probably reapply to do a masters.

So, I am asking you this. If you could do A Levels now what would you do? and are they different to what you did choose (if you did A Levels) or would have chosen (if you did not do A Levels and did something else)? (Please comment, I am genuinely interested in your thoughts)
Daniel