Hello to everyone reading this! After reading a few TC journeys, I am somewhat convinced that I should post a thread of my own. So please bear with me T_T.
I have been applying for VS and TC since last fall. It was my step towards a world of struggle that I was completely unaware of at that time. The struggle of applying over and over only to get rejected. Although I have been rejected left, right, and centre, I am still not losing hope. I have read threads of people who have applied for TC in more than two or three cycles and have finally got offers. I am hopeful that if I keep my consistency alive, I might also get a decent TC offer.
Well, I forgot to tell you a bit about my background. I am an international applicant. Yes, I am not a UK citizen. I am a law student and have been pursuing my undergrad from outside the UK. The legal system in my country follows the common law, and hence, there are many similarities between our laws and UK laws. Nonetheless, I want to qualify as a commercial solicitor. To be specific, I want to become a corporate lawyer. Since I am an international applicant, I am not eligible to apply to more than half of the law firms in the UK. This drastically limits my options. However, it also helps me to filter out many law firms, allowing me to focus my time and efforts on applications for a decent number of law firms rather than an exorbitant number of law firms.
In the 2024-2025 cycle, I applied to the following law firms:
I have been applying for VS and TC since last fall. It was my step towards a world of struggle that I was completely unaware of at that time. The struggle of applying over and over only to get rejected. Although I have been rejected left, right, and centre, I am still not losing hope. I have read threads of people who have applied for TC in more than two or three cycles and have finally got offers. I am hopeful that if I keep my consistency alive, I might also get a decent TC offer.
Well, I forgot to tell you a bit about my background. I am an international applicant. Yes, I am not a UK citizen. I am a law student and have been pursuing my undergrad from outside the UK. The legal system in my country follows the common law, and hence, there are many similarities between our laws and UK laws. Nonetheless, I want to qualify as a commercial solicitor. To be specific, I want to become a corporate lawyer. Since I am an international applicant, I am not eligible to apply to more than half of the law firms in the UK. This drastically limits my options. However, it also helps me to filter out many law firms, allowing me to focus my time and efforts on applications for a decent number of law firms rather than an exorbitant number of law firms.
In the 2024-2025 cycle, I applied to the following law firms:
- Herbert Smith Freehills (Internship)
- Clifford Chance (TC)
- Wilkie Farr & Gallagher (VS)
- Linklaters (TC)
- CMS (TC)
- Freshfields (TC)
- Kirkland & Ellis (TC)
- Sidley Austin (VS)
- Hogan Lovells (TC)
- Ashurst (TC)
For most of the applications, I have received rejection emails. Awaiting a response from Hogan Lovells. Although I am pretty sure it is going to be a rejection cuz it has been over a couple of months since the deadline passed, and the quality of my application was not that good imo. I applied for the TC at Ashurst just a few days ago and will be receiving the psychometric test tomorrow. I am a bit hopeful with my application at Ashurst cuz I did a hell lot of research.
From this cycle, there were many learnings for me. I applied to just around 10 firms, which is not a healthy amount of number, and the worst part is that despite applying to a small number of firms, my application quality was poor to say the least. I can attribute this failure to the fact that I was completely new to this process and was not aware of many things. Moreover, I had no mentor or resource to get help from. Over the past 5-6 months, I have learnt a lot and I am hoping to not repeat a single mistake. That's why I have decided to start preparing for the 2025-2026 cycle from spring itself. I am aiming to apply to at least 20-25 law firms with quality applications. I will be taking part in as many virtual events as possible and networking with as many people as possible. I can't apply for most of the VS being an international applicant as I won't get a visa sponsorship, and therefore, I will need to limit my applications mostly for direct TC.
I will try my best to keep this thread alive with every update regarding my applications. I plan to purchase the TCLA gold membership 1-2 months before the start of this year's cycle. I hope to receive a bit of help from the community as well, so if you have any suggestions or advice, please let me know!
Fingers crossed.😖
From this cycle, there were many learnings for me. I applied to just around 10 firms, which is not a healthy amount of number, and the worst part is that despite applying to a small number of firms, my application quality was poor to say the least. I can attribute this failure to the fact that I was completely new to this process and was not aware of many things. Moreover, I had no mentor or resource to get help from. Over the past 5-6 months, I have learnt a lot and I am hoping to not repeat a single mistake. That's why I have decided to start preparing for the 2025-2026 cycle from spring itself. I am aiming to apply to at least 20-25 law firms with quality applications. I will be taking part in as many virtual events as possible and networking with as many people as possible. I can't apply for most of the VS being an international applicant as I won't get a visa sponsorship, and therefore, I will need to limit my applications mostly for direct TC.
I will try my best to keep this thread alive with every update regarding my applications. I plan to purchase the TCLA gold membership 1-2 months before the start of this year's cycle. I hope to receive a bit of help from the community as well, so if you have any suggestions or advice, please let me know!
Fingers crossed.😖
