Journey to a TC

[Tallat]

Hi,

I previously posted on here a while back introducing myself and my journey and now I have come to a very important milestone in this journey, my first application cycle.

As a penultimate year law student, I am looking to apply to a few vacation schemes this year, I have selected the following firms as they align with my interests and I meet the academic requirements for them.

- Macfarlanes
- Freshfields
- Clifford Chance
- Akin Gump
- Linklaters
- Herbert Smith Freehills
- Milbank
- Skadden

I understand the level of competitiveness involved in each and every one of these firms but through all the hours I have dedicated towards my career, the research, the events and every person who I have met, some of whom have told me my dream was unrealistic, others who have been in my shoes and helped motivate me towards it, I believe that after all that, something certainly has to workout.

The firms above take applications on a non-rolling basis which means I will have a bit more time in terms of spacing out when I want to send them out, I have made a timetable on how I will work on each application and when, meaning I have enough time to dedicate for all of them evenly, my next steps are to work on my commercial awareness and Watson Glaser abilities, whilst balancing my time for university and BIUCAC, a commercial awareness competition which rewards its winners with great opportunities within the legal field.

That is what this thread will involve in a nutshell , I will try to update it regularly, not only as a way to keep myself in check but also in case anyone has any questions or would like to share any advice.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Hi,

I previously posted on here a while back introducing myself and my journey and now I have come to a very important milestone in this journey, my first application cycle.

As a penultimate year law student, I am looking to apply to a few vacation schemes this year, I have selected the following firms as they align with my interests and I meet the academic requirements for them.

- Macfarlanes
- Freshfields
- Clifford Chance
- Akin Gump
- Linklaters
- Herbert Smith Freehills
- Milbank
- Skadden

I understand the level of competitiveness involved in each and every one of these firms but through all the hours I have dedicated towards my career, the research, the events and every person who I have met, some of whom have told me my dream was unrealistic, others who have been in my shoes and helped motivate me towards it, I believe that after all that, something certainly has to workout.

The firms above take applications on a non-rolling basis which means I will have a bit more time in terms of spacing out when I want to send them out, I have made a timetable on how I will work on each application and when, meaning I have enough time to dedicate for all of them evenly, my next steps are to work on my commercial awareness and Watson Glaser abilities, whilst balancing my time for university and BIUCAC, a commercial awareness competition which rewards its winners with great opportunities within the legal field.

That is what this thread will involve in a nutshell , I will try to update it regularly, not only as a way to keep myself in check but also in case anyone has any questions or would like to share any advice.

Hey @Tallat, I just wanted to firstly thank you for creating this thread - I think it will be really valuable for our community members to see how you progress on your journey throughout the year. Also, to mention the perhaps cliche but still very true piece of advice that you should never let other people tell you your dream is unrealistic. In my vacation schemes with top US and MC firms, I have seen people from all varieties of backgrounds and circumstances succeed - not only the straight 1.1s Oxbridge type of candidates.

In my own journey, I struggled a lot with self-doubt. In my first application cycle I was rejected at first stage in every single one of my applications and I begun to wonder whether or not I was good enough for this. However, I managed to use my frustration as a source of motivation and to come back more determined than ever before. Subsequently, I became more successful than I could have ever dreamed to in my applications and certainly more than anyone expected me to. When asked about what led to all of this success in one of my final TC interviews, I realised it had only been one thing: determination. There weren't any moments of pure brilliance or in which I demonstrated any extraordinary abilities. I was fundamentally the same person I was a year ago when I was getting rejected everywhere. The one thing that changed was how serious, motivated, and organized I managed to keep myself throughout the cycle.

All that is to say, none of this would have been possible if I had listened to the people who were telling me to lower and recalibrate my ambitions. So my advice to you is to stick by your plan and to know your worth regardless of what others might say !