Subjects & Career Choice

Another perspective worth considering when making subject choices is their relationship to career areas and college courses.  As a guideline, here are some pointers that you may find useful for a range of popular career areas:

Please note: These are guidlines based on popular choices, and do not indicate essential subject requirements!


Primary School Teaching
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Biology
  • History/Geography
  • Religion
  • Your favourite subject

Architecture
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Physics
  • Art
  • Design & Communication Graphics

Business
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Business/Accountancy
  • Economics
  • Your favourite subject

Nursing
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Biology
  • Chemistry/Agricultural Science
  • Home Economics - Scientific and Social
  • Your favourite subject

Physiotherapy
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Biology
  • Physics/Chemistry
  • Your favourite subject

Science
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Biology/Chemistry
  • Physics/Agricultural Science
  • Geography
  • Your favourite subject

Medicine
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Chemistry
  • Biology/Physics/Agricultural Science
  • Your favourite subject

Psychology
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Biology
  • Business/Economics
  • Your favourite subject

Engineering
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Physics
  • Chemistry/Engineering
  • Design & Communication Graphics
  • Applied Maths

Law
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Business
  • History/Classical Studies
  • Your favourite subject

Agricultural Science
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Agricultural Science
  • Business/Agricultural Economics
  • Biology
  • Your favourite subject

Veterinary
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Chemistry
  • Biology/Agricultural Science
  • Your favourite subject

Computer Science
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Physics
  • Design & Communication Graphics
  • Your favourite subject

Dentistry
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Chemistry
  • Biology/Physics
  • Your favourite subject

Social Science
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Geography
  • Religion
  • Your favourite subject

Hotel Management
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Business
  • Home Economics - Scientific and Social
  • Your favourite subject

Pharmacy
  • English
  • Irish
  • Maths
  • Language
  • Chemistry
  • Biology
  • Your favourite subject
Barry McEntee, Chartered Physiotherapist

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Music
  • French

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Rachel Berry, Pharmacist

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

For GCSE I studied Maths, Additional Maths, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Geography, English Language and Literature and German.

For A-Level I took Maths, Chemistry and Biology. I chose these subjects primarily because I was good at them and also because I enjoyed them. The school I attended was very academic and I always knew my future career would involve science of some description so the choices I made were logical.

I do regret not continuing on with art, although at the time I wasn't sure I could spare the time to commit to an extra subject that wasn't really going to come in useful. I guess you just have to weigh up costs and benefits. I found it very helpful to have a good grasp of statistics and pure maths as these topics came up quite alot during the pharmacy degree.

If you are thinking of taking a degree in pharmacy make sure you look at the admission requirements in good time as they can be quite specific and I know the grades are increasing every year so you need to be sure you are capable of making the grades.

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Laura Glendon, Multilingual Software Support SAP

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

Outside of the mandatory subjects, I studied Business, Economics, Agri Science and German. They were 100% great help in getting where I am today. Agri Science was quite a random choice, but I thought it was but an interesting one, and I loved it. If was to go back and take the Leaving Cert again I would probably choose all the same subjects!

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