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TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25
- Thread starter Jessica Booker
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I'm in the same boat. I personally feel that past VS experiences have not given me ANY advantage at all in my subsequent applications, and at times I might even argue that they are almost somewhat of a disadvantage...
All I'm going to say is that both the quality and quantity of applications have been inflated quite a bit especially for the past few cycles. This means that unless Grad Rec teams are expanding accordingly, there simply isn't enough human resources to fairly assess each and every application, especially when firms tend to invite as many people to apply as possible with ambiguous/loose eligibility requirements.
Luck is becoming a bigger and bigger factor imho....
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- Sep 7, 2024
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Hi there and welcome to the TCLA forum!
Contrary to the silence you’ve been hearing from firms, I want to stress that this is not the end of the road for you. It’s easy to feel that way, especially given how challenging the process can be, but I would really like you to remove that from your vocab. To put things into context, there are many reasons why you may have not heard back - processing timelines, operational reasons, and so on. Ease up, take a deep breath, and refine your strategy. In fact, take a moment to yourself when you need to. This will enable you to come back stronger.
Just to put it out there, the most important quality (in my opinion!) a candidate needs to have in this process is not what you would typically think. It’s not commercial awareness, it’s not adaptability or intellectual curiosity - it’s resilience. Resilience will enable you to even build on those named skills. It’s a hard skill to build for sure - something I’m still constantly trying to build on a daily. But the most important factor to it is the willingness to keep going, and the realisation that you need to take breaks for yourself as and when is needed.
Best of luck! And I have no doubt you’ll do great. Please lean on this community for support as much as you need - whether technical or emotional, we’re here!
oh my God thank you so much for taking the time to write this! If it is no issue I would love for you to take a glance at one of my applications and see where I went wrongI had the same experience of underestimating the competitiveness, getting shocked by the rejections, and recalibrating - so I thought I'd share what worked better for me.
3. I spent a lot more time understanding different firms' key practices and USPs before I started my next application cycle. I figured if I applied to firms with similar practice areas and similar application styles, I'd get a lot better at writing. So I figured for instance, that I liked US firms and private equity -> narrowed down to the ones with fewer practices and offices because I also liked the 'leaner' outfits, etc. This helped me (1) articulate my motivations for the firm and for one of their practices (private equity) a lot better, and also (2) get better at the apps generally because they were quite similar. I didn't for instance need to spend time practicing Watson Glaser because none of my firms had it.
It might work to apply to both MC and US firms, I'm sure many have done it, but its still really helpful to understand the USPs - even among MC firms and US firms there's a lot of differences. For example, at the Kirkland AC the partners outright said 'we're not Latham' and asked us which other firms we're applying to, I think to precisely to see how well we understood these differences.
In terms of how to understand the differences: virtual events/open days and then following up on LinkedIn with the solicitors at the event. I attended a lot of events and some were far more helpful than others (Willkie's for instance are really good) but if you also message trainees afterwards, some of them can be very kind with their time, and a conversation helps a lot. There's also some good gems on TCLA if you use the search bar wisely.
4. I still applied to only ~6 firms. Personally, I didn't believe its a number's game, because if I had more selective criteria for the firms I was applying to, I'd care more about them -> put in more time and effort -> could produce a tailored, high-quality application. So I made an entire spreadsheet comparing firms on my criteria and narrowed down. By the time I'd done this I was actually interested in writing apps for the firms I'd chosen.
But that's just my individual preference for deep-diving - if you feel you can do a lot more applications, it also helps because your application improves each time (and it is, to some extent, a number's game - I've seen many people apply to 15-20 and be successful because you just need the one). I'd say strategise based on how you work best and what will motivate you more.
2. There's paid detailed review services including at TCLA, CLA and NCL. I'm not an expert by any means but if you'd just like a fresh pair of eyes I'm happy to go through something on PM.
Anyone heard anything from Sidley summer? Haven’t had a whisper since October
GR mentioned they arent rolling and would review all apps, but they have started reviewing apps since November.
I'm not sure if they send out holding emails as I haven't heard anything either. Was just wondering if anyone knew how many ACs they hold and roughly when as I've seen a few invites on the forum. Hopefully we will hear soon.
Anyone else having trouble booking the NRF VI? The bookings page isn’t loading at all for me. Not sure if it’s just me.
If anyone has any insights into the Goodwin Interview that would be amazing, not sure what to expect!
Jessica Booker
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Several PFOs got sent out on February 13th last cycle (I just checked the thread)
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