To echo what Dheepa said - I would really not get caught up in the numbers. I can only speak for HSF - at every stage they had informed me that there were always enough spaces for all of us (whether that be on the AC or on the VS). There were approximately 30 of us on our winter vacation scheme. Multiply that out and you have approximately 120 vacation scheme candidates a cycle. If you look on Legal Cheek, they offer approximately 60 training contracts a cycle. So, you'd expect a 50% cut right...
Well...no. I don't know the figures exactly, but I'm pretty sure over 20 of us got the TC offer from HSF's winter vacation scheme (Again, I don't know the official figures, that was my sense from our group chat popping off). That's well over the 50% rate. The point is that there is no hard and fast rule with a firm like HSF. Don't worry about the numbers, focus on doing your best, and it will, all things willing, fall into place!
So, in summary, and this goes for other candidates who are worrying about this kind of thing - please don't care about the numbers. When having my VSs/First-Year schemes, I did all the calculations - they genuinely end up stressing you out more, and give you no help whatsoever. Just enjoy the scheme, do your best, and, as they say (I sound tragically old...), leave the rest.
