2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

[OH]

For the Weil VS application, there is a commercial question asking us to talk about a transaction that we are interested in and link it back to their clients. Does this have to be related to PE since most of their clients/work comes from their arena or can I talk about transactional practice and M&A more generally?

I reached the AD last year (very similar question) and you can write almost anything. I mentioned a political issue I'd studied and then searched online until I found a random case of theirs I could tie it to in the final line (maybe 30 words in total). It formed the main icebreaker in the interview so pick something you know well though.

 

[M1999]

Hello,

Has anyone received the following email from Simmons, this year or in the past? I did my VI three weeks ago and it went terribly. I was quite convinced it was going to be a no so cannot decide whether to be excited or not!

Due to the large volume of applications we received, our winter scheme is now full and therefore we are unfortunately no longer able to consider you for a place. We were, however, impressed by your application and would like to invite you to transfer your application to our Summer Vacation Scheme instead.

We are pleased to confirm that you were successful at our online testing stage and as such, we would like to invite you to the final stage of the process for our Summer Vacation Scheme, which is an Assessment Day. We appreciate this may be disappointing news for you, but we hope you will consider our summer scheme instead.

This is very confusing- but my interpretation is that you’re through to the AC for summer? Congratulations if this is right! You seem to have progressed onto the final stage

 

[OH]

hi, i have been sent the Mayer Brown tests (SJT and verbal reasoning). is the verbal reasoning the same as the watson glaser? thanks

It's broken into more sections, so there is some overlap with the Watson, but there's also a proof-reading section where you have to rewrite grammar/words. There's a good mock test on their website which walks you through all of it (https://practice.cappassessments.com/Vrt/VrtPage.html)

 

[LeilaScott]

Anything from Ashurst post Ac?

 

[bethbristol]

Hello,

Has anyone received the following email from Simmons, this year or in the past? I did my VI three weeks ago and it went terribly. I was quite convinced it was going to be a no so cannot decide whether to be excited or not!

Due to the large volume of applications we received, our winter scheme is now full and therefore we are unfortunately no longer able to consider you for a place. We were, however, impressed by your application and would like to invite you to transfer your application to our Summer Vacation Scheme instead.

We are pleased to confirm that you were successful at our online testing stage and as such, we would like to invite you to the final stage of the process for our Summer Vacation Scheme, which is an Assessment Day. We appreciate this may be disappointing news for you, but we hope you will consider our summer scheme instead.

I think you should be very excited about this (as long as the summer scheme is an option for you!)

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Has anyone heard back from Travers Smith this week?

 

[s10]

Has anyone heard from Travers for the winter vac? I feel like at this point, its a rejection

Havent heard back either. I am taking it as a rejection too.

 

[M1999]

It’s been nearly a week since I was interviewed & I haven’t heard back yet (despite people being interviewed after me being moved onto the next stage). I have a feeling it’s a rejection:/ I don’t get why they can’t tell me straight away

 

[Jessica Booker]

It’s been nearly a week since I was interviewed & I haven’t heard back yet (despite people being interviewed after me being moved onto the next stage). I have a feeling it’s a rejection:/ I don’t get why they can’t tell me straight away

Because sometimes decisions are not made straight away

 

[Rene]

I got a rejection from Sullivan & Cromwell in case anyone else is waiting on a response x

 

[juswantavacscheme]

Because sometimes decisions are not made straight away

Out of curiosity what is the process for making decisions? Is it a yes/maybe/no verdict made straight after the interview in every case, or a score which can be ranked against others to determine outcome? For both the vac schemes I’ve been offered these past weeks I was waiting for well over a week, while others (who interviewed that day as well) got offers within 2 days. Does this mean I was a less straightforward yes for them?

 

[Wajahat Jilani]

It’s been nearly a week since I was interviewed & I haven’t heard back yet (despite people being interviewed after me being moved onto the next stage). I have a feeling it’s a rejection:/ I don’t get why they can’t tell me straight away

Hi, all the best. May I ask which firm this was for?

 

[Wajahat Jilani]

Has anyone heard back from Travers Smith this week?

Nothing for me either. Is there anyone here who has moved to the next stage?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Out of curiosity what is the process for making decisions? Is it a yes/maybe/no verdict made straight after the interview in every case, or a score which can be ranked against others to determine outcome? For both the vac schemes I’ve been offered these past weeks I was waiting for well over a week, while others (who interviewed that day as well) got offers within 2 days. Does this mean I was a less straightforward yes for them?

Its not even straight after the interview. Sometimes as interviewers you are rushing between meetings and don’t get a chance to follow up with your fellow interviewers or HR (or both) until much later. I have had situations where I have interviewed with a partner and then that partner has literally left straight after the meeting to go to another country for a week and I haven’t been able to catch up with them until they were back.

It’s not common for people to get to the end of an interview and make a decision there and then.

So it isn’t as simple as those who hear back quicker have been an easier decision. There are literally hundreds of reasons why a candidate who is a straight forward yes doesn’t hear back from some time.

 

[SRW]

Its not even straight after the interview. Sometimes as interviewers you are rushing between meetings and don’t get a chance to follow up with your fellow interviewers or HR (or both) until much later. I have had situations where I have interviewed with a partner and then that partner has literally left straight after the meeting to go to another country for a week and I haven’t been able to catch up with them until they were back.

It’s not common for people to get to the end of an interview and make a decision there and then.

So it isn’t as simple as those who hear back quicker have been an easier decision. There are literally hundreds of reasons why a candidate who is a straight forward yes doesn’t hear back from some time.

@Jessica Booker what’s the usual process if the interview was with two partners and no grad rec? Do the partners have the final say?

 

[Jessica Booker]

@Jessica Booker what’s the usual process if the interview was with two partners and no grad rec? Do the partners have the final say?

not necessarily, because they may not have interviewed all the candidates. They will have the final say if they have interviewed everyone though.

Otherwise how would it work if 10 pairs of partners interviewed 10 candidates and they all wanted to offer their candidate the job, but there was only 5 vacancies?

 

[LeilaScott]

Its not even straight after the interview. Sometimes as interviewers you are rushing between meetings and don’t get a chance to follow up with your fellow interviewers or HR (or both) until much later. I have had situations where I have interviewed with a partner and then that partner has literally left straight after the meeting to go to another country for a week and I haven’t been able to catch up with them until they were back.

It’s not common for people to get to the end of an interview and make a decision there and then.

So it isn’t as simple as those who hear back quicker have been an easier decision. There are literally hundreds of reasons why a candidate who is a straight forward yes doesn’t hear back from some time.

This is actually really comforting to read while waiting post-AC, having seen one person post they received an offer before the week grad rec said we would hear back is a bit nerve-wracking - thanks for putting it into context!

 

[bethbristol]

not necessarily, because they may not have interviewed all the candidates. They will have the final say if they have interviewed everyone though.

Otherwise how would it work if 10 pairs of partners interviewed 10 candidates and they all wanted to offer their candidate the job, but there was only 5 vacancies?

I've always wondered about this. Could there be potential situation where the partner who interviewed you just didn't shout loud enough at the meeting?

 

[Abonil]

Anything from Ashurst post Ac?

Hiya, I received an offer for the winter vac yesterday evening - it was via a call from one of the associates who interviewed me. I did my AC last Wednesday. I think they are probably still giving out offers till the end of this week! Hope you receive good news soon!

 

[Miki3999]

Hi, I applied for a Dentons VS a month ago. Today, I logged in on Apply4Law and under the "Tests" window there seems to be a Watson Glaser test with status "assigned" and the deadline which passed yesterday, but I have never got any email regarding this nor there is anything regarding the test in the "correspondence" window on the website. Is there any point in contacting GR RE this, or is this a lost cause? I have passed the WG before, so maybe they would let me through, but for now I feel completely destroyed