Pressure to secure a vac scheme in second year

[ASullivanP]

Hi!

I am a penultimate year non law student. I applied to three vac schemes this year. I had two unsuccessful interviews and one initial rejection. I'm feeling a bit stressed because there's often a sense that if you don't secure a vac scheme in second year you fall behind the curb in terms of application competitiveness. This is a worry for me because it looks like I won't be able to get legal work experience this summer. Is anyone else in the same boat? And how unreasonable is it to be worried that not having done a vac scheme yet will disadvantage me? I'd be especially interested to hear from non-law students, because I think that many of us are later to the game of applying.

Best,
A

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi!

I am a penultimate year non law student. I applied to three vac schemes this year. I had two unsuccessful interviews and one initial rejection. I'm feeling a bit stressed because there's often a sense that if you don't secure a vac scheme in second year you fall behind the curb in terms of application competitiveness. This is a worry for me because it looks like I won't be able to get legal work experience this summer. Is anyone else in the same boat? And how unreasonable is it to be worried that not having done a vac scheme yet will disadvantage me? I'd be especially interested to hear from non-law students, because I think that many of us are later to the game of applying.

Best,
A

Most non law applicants don’t secure something until at least their final year.

It is only a small number of firms that take on non law students in their penultimate year, so if anything you are still super early in this process

 

[Aks.Khurana]

Hi!

I am a penultimate year non law student. I applied to three vac schemes this year. I had two unsuccessful interviews and one initial rejection. I'm feeling a bit stressed because there's often a sense that if you don't secure a vac scheme in second year you fall behind the curb in terms of application competitiveness. This is a worry for me because it looks like I won't be able to get legal work experience this summer. Is anyone else in the same boat? And how unreasonable is it to be worried that not having done a vac scheme yet will disadvantage me? I'd be especially interested to hear from non-law students, because I think that many of us are later to the game of applying.

Best,
A

Hey @ASullivanP, thanks for posting.

I can certainly empathise with the pressure of performance in your second year as a law student who went through the process recently. With law and other corporate careers, the narrative of getting your foot in the door early can be taken too far and make you feel inadequate.

However, objectively speaking, you are in a good position right now. As a non-law applicant, you will not likely lose any years if you were to secure your TC in your final year (I'm referring here to the potential gap year between graduation and the PGDL). Therefore, securing your TC in your third year is as good as your second - it does not change what happens after graduation! This is very important to recognise.

Additionally, having more time will allow you to improve your game with applications, interviews, and your experiences. Given that you have almost an entire year till third-year interviews, you have tremendous scope to grow. Even if you cannot secure legal experiences this summer, you have plenty of time to upskill, network, and master the application cycle, and TCLA is an excellent resource for this. With more time, you can become a better candidate, and apply to more places. This may lead you to get an even better TC offer.

Don't worry too much about the narrative amongst university students. A lot of pressure at uni is artificial and merely fearmongering. You're doing well. Keep it up.

 

[ASullivanP]

Hey @ASullivanP, thanks for posting.

I can certainly empathise with the pressure of performance in your second year as a law student who went through the process recently. With law and other corporate careers, the narrative of getting your foot in the door early can be taken too far and make you feel inadequate.

However, objectively speaking, you are in a good position right now. As a non-law applicant, you will not likely lose any years if you were to secure your TC in your final year (I'm referring here to the potential gap year between graduation and the PGDL). Therefore, securing your TC in your third year is as good as your second - it does not change what happens after graduation! This is very important to recognise.

Additionally, having more time will allow you to improve your game with applications, interviews, and your experiences. Given that you have almost an entire year till third-year interviews, you have tremendous scope to grow. Even if you cannot secure legal experiences this summer, you have plenty of time to upskill, network, and master the application cycle, and TCLA is an excellent resource for this. With more time, you can become a better candidate, and apply to more places. This may lead you to get an even better TC offer.

Don't worry too much about the narrative amongst university students. A lot of pressure at uni is artificial and merely fearmongering. You're doing well. Keep it up.

Hey @ASullivanP, thanks for posting.

I can certainly empathise with the pressure of performance in your second year as a law student who went through the process recently. With law and other corporate careers, the narrative of getting your foot in the door early can be taken too far and make you feel inadequate.

However, objectively speaking, you are in a good position right now. As a non-law applicant, you will not likely lose any years if you were to secure your TC in your final year (I'm referring here to the potential gap year between graduation and the PGDL). Therefore, securing your TC in your third year is as good as your second - it does not change what happens after graduation! This is very important to recognise.

Additionally, having more time will allow you to improve your game with applications, interviews, and your experiences. Given that you have almost an entire year till third-year interviews, you have tremendous scope to grow. Even if you cannot secure legal experiences this summer, you have plenty of time to upskill, network, and master the application cycle, and TCLA is an excellent resource for this. With more time, you can become a better candidate, and apply to more places. This may lead you to get an even better TC offer.

Don't worry too much about the narrative amongst university students. A lot of pressure at uni is artificial and merely fearmongering. You're doing well. Keep it up.

Hey @ASullivanP, thanks for posting.

I can certainly empathise with the pressure of performance in your second year as a law student who went through the process recently. With law and other corporate careers, the narrative of getting your foot in the door early can be taken too far and make you feel inadequate.

However, objectively speaking, you are in a good position right now. As a non-law applicant, you will not likely lose any years if you were to secure your TC in your final year (I'm referring here to the potential gap year between graduation and the PGDL). Therefore, securing your TC in your third year is as good as your second - it does not change what happens after graduation! This is very important to recognise.

Additionally, having more time will allow you to improve your game with applications, interviews, and your experiences. Given that you have almost an entire year till third-year interviews, you have tremendous scope to grow. Even if you cannot secure legal experiences this summer, you have plenty of time to upskill, network, and master the application cycle, and TCLA is an excellent resource for this. With more time, you can become a better candidate, and apply to more places. This may lead you to get an even better TC offer.

Don't worry too much about the narrative amongst university students. A lot of pressure at uni is artificial and merely fearmongering. You're doing well. Keep it up.

Thanks so much for the reassurance. There's always the fear that as you progress in your degree the goalposts of what is considered competitive work experience get moved - i.e. that, although I may have been good enough to get an interview this year, I'll be expected to have a lot more under my belt by next year. Would you say that trying to get admin work at a high street firm is a good option? This might help insofar as demonstrating that I've considered other legal environments. Thanks again

 

[ASullivanP]

Most non law applicants don’t secure something until at least their final year.

It is only a small number of firms that take on non law students in their penultimate year, so if anything you are still super early in this process

That's certainly true, thank you. I was stressed by the rejection because it was for Freshfields' vac scheme, which is only open to penultimate years. I really like Freshfields and feel that I may have squandered the opportunity to work for them, especially since what let me down was a pretty disasterous commercial awareness conversation. I will chance my arm at applying to their direct TC but legal experience elsewhere is probably needed to stand a decent chance. It's a long road

 

[NotLord Denning]

Dude it's fine. I got rejected from FBD in my 1st and 2nd year. Applied for TC direct this year and got it. Just build experience - doesn't have to be at a firm. Go do 3 part time jobs at Citizens Advice or a law clinic or go search for Pro Bono work online. I promise you a year's worth of work doing stuff like this and you'll be fine.

 

[ASullivanP]

Dude it's fine. I got rejected from FBD in my 1st and 2nd year. Applied for TC direct this year and got it. Just build experience - doesn't have to be at a firm. Go do 3 part time jobs at Citizens Advice or a law clinic or go search for Pro Bono work online. I promise you a year's worth of work doing stuff like this and you'll be fine.

Thanks for this. It's good to know that pro bono/citizens advice work is highly valued. Do you mind me asking whether you were rejected from FBD in 2nd year at the interview stage or earlier?