(UK) A-levels, university? Advice, please

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I've finally got out of the phase where I couldn't see the point of anything, and now I'd like to do A-levels* and go to university, then I'd like to be a virologist. Which A-levels should I take??

I don't want to give up on moving to Italy, so I'd like to go to university in Italy. Which Italian universities are best?

(I already picked my GCSE subjects for next year, BTW, I am doing English Literature, RE, History, and Textiles. None of those have much to do with virology, but there wasn't much choice.)

* A-levels are the only qualifications I know the name of after GCSE, so when I say this I mean all the other ones you do at sixth-form as well.

My advice would be to take the following A-levels if you want to be a microbiologist who specalises in viruses.

Biology
Chemistry (Physics)
Maybe Italian as well

Why not consider Imperial College, they do Biology with Microbiology (C1C5) {three years BSc} and Microbiology (C500) {three years BSc}. They typically want AAB at Imperial, Imperial is one of the best universities in the UK and if you can cope with the course then you can get a good start in life from IC.

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ugprospectus ... quirements

Well, if you want to be a virologist, you will most likely be required to have an A level in both biology and chemistry, and at least one other A level.
To have an A level (and an AS level) in biology and chemistry, you have to have studied triple science in GCSE (ie. you will need to take biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs, not just core).

I'm afraid your GCSE choices do limit what AS and A levels you can take in college, which therefore limits what courses you can take in university.

There were no science options for GCSE, because science is compulsory at GCSE anyway. Is that just my school, or what?

Science as a CORE (ie. all sciences incorporated into one brief subject), is compulsory at GCSE.

However at my school, and I believe most, you can choose to take each of the sciences (biology, chemistry, physics) as a separate GCSE. It's called triple science. You basically do 3 times the amount of science as you would in core, and go into a lot more detail.
'Science' as a GCSE counts for only one GCSE, whereas triple science (or biology, chemistry and physics GCSEs) counts for three entirely separate GCSEs.

I believe (though this may only be for the sixth form colleges near me) you need to have done the separate sciences as a GCSE (and done well in them) to be able to get into an AS/A level course in any science subject.

I took biology, chemistry, physics and English lit. as AS levels and I am carrying on biology, chemistry and English lit. as A levels.
I could not have got into any of the science AS levels if I had only taken science as a single subject in GCSE.

No that's not right. As long as you've gotten an acceptable grade in the core science then you can do an A-level science. Although physics you would need a good maths grade. I think you should take chemistry, biology, maths and something else. Possibly history or English literature so that you have a good writing ability. Decide on what you like.
I'm choosing my A-levels at the moment and it's tricky to choose because I don't know what I want to do when I'm older. At least you have a set career goal in mind.

^ It is right, because I said "this may only be for the colleges near me" and "I could not have got in". My comments were all right, just not necessarily applicable to everyone in every part of the country.

I think I meant to say that doesn't sound right. I didn't mean that all of your comments were wrong. Or did I?

The colleges near you must be strict then. At my school you have to do core science and then you can choose additional science as an option which is what I did. I've never seen a college that says you have to have three science GCSE's to do an A-level in one.