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2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion
- Thread starter Jaysen
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Oh really? I did look at my portal yesterday and it had been updated at some point during the day. Although, this is the application that I'm least confident with if I'm honest. Purely because of the format/word count and questions.
The whole point of the Pinsents test is you literally cannot guess and be successful. You need to get each group of 5 correct to get a point in the marking scheme. If you get 4/5 correct you get nothing.
The odds of guessing 5 answers (A b or c) correct are 1/3 × 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 = 3.9% chance you can guess one group of questions correctly.
There are 25 groups of questions so guessing just won't be successful.
DO NOT GUESS
Literally blindsided, PFO from Walker Morris. Easily my strongest application. Applied late December.
Ah, that sucks. Have you got other applications to hear back from?
I'm pretty sure Goldman Sachs have a Legal Analyst programme!
Also, not a grad scheme per se, but you could look into legal recruitment
Yeah, I wasn’t recommending guessing, just saying I know people who did and passed. Maybe people I’ve spoken to lied and found it easier than they said they did or the threshold to pass was low that year. I was just speaking from others’ experience 🤷♀️
Just checked my application on the portal and it hasn’t been updated since the 10th December
applied to the London officeIt super does. You know THAT application, the one you feel like you aced, no matter if you tell yourself “be objective, assume it’s a no to avoid feeling rejection” - this was that one 🤡
I have two more. It is my first round this year, but I’m a career changer who’s gone back to uni- I don’t have loads of time to spend not working a full time job whilst I chase this you know? 😭
I've had something similar from Burges in the past during my first VS cycle. It really sucks - but sometimes firms have a multitude of absolutely random reasons they'll reject you. Clearly your application was really strong, since they're interested in you pursuing a TC with them, so I wouldn't worry about that (just do some online business related courses or something to show you've developed - that's what I did for another firm). It literally may have just been something as simple as they're not sure whether you'd get along with the firm personality wise or that you applied slightly too late, if they're rolling. You should deffo contact Grad Rec asking for feedback but if their reply isn't helpful don't sweat it, you're obviously a great candidate!
I often find it's the times I think I've nailed it that I'm not successful - not just with applications but also interviews, assignments, etc. Then there's the times where I've written myself off and somehow done well. Maybe this is just one of those times?
As much as we try, I don't think we can ever truly know what the person reading our applications wants to see. Sometimes we just get it wrong...
Hey! I have always been interested in Goldman's but I'm not 100% aware of the IB recruitment process...do you know when they start hiring for this? As just now all I seen advertised in the last few weeks was their new analyst programme. Also can you qualify from their legal programme as I'm aware some companies are able to put you through legal training
If you do the legal programme at Goldman Sachs they don’t pay for your qualification. So you won’t qualify as a solicitor. Places such as PwC however do sponsor you SQE which allows you to qualify. Hope this helps!!
I'm sorry to hear that - but we have no idea what's strong and what isn't - we're almost completely blind here.
I submitted an application to HSF, spent forever on it, have visited the firm multiple times, met trainees and Grad Rec etc, got multiple trainees to read over my application and implemented their advice, sent it to both my undergrad and postgrad unis and implemented their advice, agonised over every inch of it, ensured I hit every single attribute they said they wanted, submitted it a week after applications opened. Passed the tests and then got a PFO. Then, I applied to Freshfields on the deadline day. My laptop broke and I lost my perfectly honed application and had to submit an earlier version that I'd backed up, there's a spelling error in the first sentence of my personal statement, and it says I will be doing something in October when I submitted in January (so, after I'd done it). I still got a WG invite. I've got two AC invites from other firms and I submitted both of those rushed, on the deadline day too. One of them I wasn't even going to submit because I was just too wiped from applications and was going to meet a friend instead but then it started raining and I thought it was less effort to submit it than to go out in the rain.
Essentially, in my experience, the ones I thought were the strongest were absolutely not the most successful ones. Good luck with your other applications - I'm sure something will stick.
On the topic of Goldman’s programme, anyone interested is free to message me. I haven’t worked at that bank but I have done a summer legal internship with a global investment bank so can provide insight into in-house life with an organisation similar to Goldman Sachs
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