I am rethinking my application strategy and tbh I feel like I won't put in any more VS apps.
Orrick has a 'tiny intake' as Chambers Student put it and R&G has no work experience section. That does not work in my favour cuz my grades were just meh. And some other reasons I would elaborate. So the total number is 30 + FF DTC!
Revisiting my goals in Sep last year, I think I managed to tick all the boxes (sorta):
For this cycle, I aim to do the following:
- Send 30+ Spring/Summer VS applications
✅ exactly 30 haha
- Attend as many in-person open days/evenings as possible
❓I didn't go to as many in person ones bc of rejections & my schedules. But I did attend a lot of online ones which are also quite helpful. Funnily enough two firms that rejected me for open days invited me to ACs.
- Become more organised and not submit applications last minute!!
✅ & ❓I definitely did a lot better compared to last cycle, esp my Christmas VS app marathon 🤣 But there's still a handful I submitted on the deadline day either bc I was too busy or I just thought I might submit one in case they like me lol
Application strategy-wise, I tried to diversify as much as I can. I was previously focussing on large international law firms, didn't do MC or US for previous cycles. Tbh the large intl firms are still my fav and from my understanding fit me the most. I applied to MC and got 2 PFOs, 2 waiting, 1 didn't apply bc of their horrible culture (iykyk).
With US firms, I got 5 PFOs (no point waiting for Goodwin
Cooley and V&E so I'm including them) and 3 progressions. Even these three are not the most 'American' firms as they have pretty decent presence in London. So I am right not applying to them before haha. One invited me to AC (the one I did earlier this week) and tbh I feel like I may not be a good fit. I was confused why I got the AC in the first place (am still). People at the firm are very nice, so are the candidates in the AC. But I'm not the eloquent type and I felt it in comparison to others in the group exercise. To an extent, I am happy to be on the supporting-ish role and not having to carry the discussion. This ties in to my reasoning for not applying to
Orrick and R&G.
I am just waiting for the rest to come back to me and see how it goes. I also have around 8 lined-up for DTC and will work on them later down the line. I really need to get back to my uni work now. Back to the warm embrace (not really) of readings and essays🥹