TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2021-22 (#1)

[LegalAmin]

might be a silly q but what does PFO mean? I had my HSF Summer AC yesterday and haven't heard anything

PFO is Just a term this forum uses which is either “politely f*ck off” or “please f*ck off” to say that the firm rejected them.

 

[Abii]

might be a silly q but what does PFO mean? I had my HSF Summer AC yesterday and haven't heard anything

Please F$%£ Off. lighthearted way of saying you got a rejection.

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Of course, I wasn't commenting on the circumstances of anyone who fits into the groups Jaysen described, or the amount of support that should be provided to them. I was asserting that there are people who don't fit into those groups, and their existence should be acknowledged as well. Personally, I didn't love the post because I don't feel I fit into either category, and pretending those are the only categories at play seems a bit reductionist.

I think the point is that there are a lot of people who don't neatly fit either category, that differentials of advantage straddle an infinite gradient. I myself have been blessed with certain substantial privileges but also confronted with a number of unusual hardships. It's bizarre having a foot in both worlds but somehow in neither, and that experience is rarely, if ever, spoken to. Ultimately most people probably sit somewhere between the extremes of privation and privilege.

That said I quite liked Jaysen's commentary and yours, and it's not really feasible to address every possible circumstance and it's tidy when making a point to gesture towards broad categories. I'd certainly agree that making the point that all disadvantage should be accounted for is as good an argument as any that *any* disadvantage should be accounted for with a view to leveling the playing field.

@IRO I understand your point of view and see what you mean.

@Rob93 I love your reply you could have not said it any better.

 

[Asil Ahmad]

I want to thank everyone on the forum for the support they have provided over this cycle, especially @James Carrabino and @AvniD for the AC tips they gave me last week. Also, to the many people who have replied my DMs and quoted my posts with the most encouraging words, I really appreciate it. I heard back from Weil today and was offered a VS. I also heard back from Baker McKenzie last week with a Spring VS offer. This time last week, I was crying because I had been rejected from a final round interview (non-VS related) so things can always turnaround. That's the end of the application cycle for me! I applied to 6 firms, received 4 rejections and 2 ACs.

I'd appreciate if anyone can link me to any forums related to converting a VS to a TC. If anyone has an upcoming AC with Bakers for Summer VS or an AC with Weil, feel free to message me and I will do my best to help!

OMG congratulations this is amazing news well done you deserve it and luck with the VS. Also I suggest signing up for AS head start for VS it is really helpful as my friend attended that last year and got their TC when attending their VS because of AS.

Also, can I just say you deserve this and go and celebrate this week and this post made my day I am going to use it as motivation.

 

[Nicole15]

I want to thank everyone on the forum for the support they have provided over this cycle, especially @James Carrabino and @AvniD for the AC tips they gave me last week. Also, to the many people who have replied my DMs and quoted my posts with the most encouraging words, I really appreciate it. I heard back from Weil today and was offered a VS. I also heard back from Baker McKenzie last week with a Spring VS offer. This time last week, I was crying because I had been rejected from a final round interview (non-VS related) so things can always turnaround. That's the end of the application cycle for me! I applied to 6 firms, received 4 rejections and 2 ACs.

I'd appreciate if anyone can link me to any forums related to converting a VS to a TC. If anyone has an upcoming AC with Bakers for Summer VS or an AC with Weil, feel free to message me and I will do my best to help!

Wow, this is incredible!! Congratulations! Your resilience is commendable - thank you for sharing!

 

[John Travoni]

Is anyone still waiting to hear back from Mayer Brown post JS?

 

[James Carrabino]

I'd be a bit cautious as almost all dichotomies are false dichotomies. In general the two groups Jaysen mentions do have very different routes into law, but not everyone will fit in to one of those two groups.

Many people may have grown up in a mix of the two. So they might have had family dinners and supportive parents and still been bullied at school and had to deal with mental health difficulties. The simplified version makes a more compelling story, but in reality there's more nuance in people's individual circumstances.

This is a great point, although I am not sure that the point is to create a dichotomy or simply a more compelling story - it is more about illustrating for those who may not have thought about it before just how different people's routes can be!

There are countless different routes into law and many people will not appreciate that; in reality very few people will fall exactly into one of the two groups in the post/e-mail but these two groups help to show how broad the spectrum is!

 

[Green]

Is anyone still waiting to hear back from Mayer Brown post JS?

Yes, I’m still waiting. I submitted JS in early January

 

[GXA123]

did Taylor Wessing send any PFOs?

 

[James Carrabino]

lol just realised I got a nrf ti after calling them Fulbright the entire way through my application instead of Fulbright

Either I have been bamboozled or you just wrote 'Fulbright' the same way twice 🤣

 

[summer207]

OMG congratulations this is amazing news well done you deserve it and luck with the VS. Also I suggest signing up for AS head start for VS it is really helpful as my friend attended that last year and got their TC when attending their VS because of AS.

Also, can I just say you deserve this and go and celebrate this week and this post made my day I am going to use it as motivation.

Thank you for your kind words Asil! I've signed up to Headstart as well. I'm rooting for you and feel free to drop me a message on anything application or interview related, and I will do my best to help!

 

[Asil Ahmad]

Thank you for your kind words Asil! I've signed up to Headstart as well. I'm rooting for you and feel free to drop me a message on anything application or interview related, and I will do my best to help!

Thank you very much for this and will do.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I want to thank everyone on the forum for the support they have provided over this cycle, especially @James Carrabino and @AvniD for the AC tips they gave me last week. Also, to the many people who have replied my DMs and quoted my posts with the most encouraging words, I really appreciate it. I heard back from Weil today and was offered a VS. I also heard back from Baker McKenzie last week with a Spring VS offer. This time last week, I was crying because I had been rejected from a final round interview (non-VS related) so things can always turnaround. That's the end of the application cycle for me! I applied to 6 firms, received 4 rejections and 2 ACs.

I'd appreciate if anyone can link me to any forums related to converting a VS to a TC. If anyone has an upcoming AC with Bakers for Summer VS or an AC with Weil, feel free to message me and I will do my best to help!

Amazing news - here is a useful thread with lots of advice on converting VS to TCs

Converting your vacation scheme into a training contract - top tips in 2021 | The Corporate Law Academy Forum

 

[Jaysen]

I'd be a bit cautious as almost all dichotomies are false dichotomies. In general the two groups Jaysen mentions do have very different routes into law, but not everyone will fit in to one of those two groups.

Many people may have grown up in a mix of the two. So they might have had family dinners and supportive parents and still been bullied at school and had to deal with mental health difficulties. The simplified version makes a more compelling story, but in reality there's more nuance in people's individual circumstances.

You are absolutely right here. It's my mistake if the presentation of groups suggests that some people fit into one and other people fit into another as this was not my intention. The second group will only apply to a small subset of people because it’s written based on my journey.

The goal was to present one way of thinking about how life circumstances, background and upbringing (among so many other things) impact the ability to pursue a career in law. I always find it hard to present these points in a short written form in an easy-to-understand manner because I am only able to discuss a very incomplete picture - but I can see why comparing two groups comes across as reductionist. The reality is far more complex than the post suggests.

 

[James Carrabino]

Just got a post AC rejection… I feel sooo gutted and I love the firm I found the interview extremely hard as it was strengths based and very ridged. I have another AC next week and feel like this has really knocked my confidence

Hi @manchester12,

I am going to write a post along the lines of what I wrote to @lawful_neutral216 yesterday not out of laziness but because my heart goes out to anyone suffering from a post-AC or VS rejection and I spent a long time drafting this with the same exact scenario in mind from my own experiences. To make a long story short, you should not let your confidence get knocked at all - post-AC rejections from a dream firm are a rite of passage en route to almost every candidate's Training Contract offer. I know that in your AC next week you will be an absolutely exceptional candidate! My earlier post was as follows (and I sincerely intend it to relate here as well):


I want to start by saying how sorry I am to hear that you have found yourself in this position. Rejection is incredibly painful, especially in the later stages of a firm's application process.

I was rejected from three vacation schemes in the space of three months and every single one was brutal. Spending an entire application cycle building up to those schemes, with confidence that I would be able to convert at least one of them, meant that I just felt completely hopeless when I realised that I had failed to do so. The latter two post-vac scheme rejections came on the same day no less!! I moped around for about 24 hours before I sat down and started looking at upcoming direct TC deadlines.

The day after I received both of those two rejections, I sent off an app that ended up in a TC offer less than a month later. The day after that I sent off another app that ended up in another TC offer! This was all in July right at the end of my first cycle. The learning process of getting ACs and vac schemes and subsequently being rejected from them was invaluable in ultimately getting me to a firm that I love. I also got a genuinely interesting and varied perspective of the kind of work that City lawyers do, so I have no regrets about any of these experiences.

Take time to reflect and then realise that you have a huge amount of time remaining this cycle. I submitted a lot of direct Training Contract applications and that is how I received the offer for the firm I am going to. Of course it would be great to have a VS or TC offer at this stage, but I sincerely think that the more work one puts into researching and applying to firms now pays dividends in the long run. You do not necessarily want to default into the first firm that offered you an AC - it is great to have the opportunity to learn from that experience what areas of law you are interested in and which firms you should be looking at going forward.

It is an incredible feat that you got to two ACs in the first place, so congratulations!!! Do not worry about whether or not you prepared enough - I am sure you did everything you intended to with the right approach and intentions, but no-one is fully prepared for a law firm AC until they have done several previously. The real preparation required to ultimately obtain a Training Contract involves the lessons you learn from your unsuccessful ACs and how you take that insight into your future ACs. You will continue to develop confidence in your interview ability and you will find yourself in a pretty good position if you draw upon your resilience and keep moving forward

 

[Parsorandini]

Anyone else still waiting for Akin Gump post WG?

 

[James Carrabino]

ME, inhabiting both worlds:


View attachment 3855

Is this implying that Taco Bell is not fine dining?

 

[Adrian_S]

Is this implying that Taco Bell is not fine dining?

¡Sí!

 

[S87]

Sky training contract test invite. Just depressed because it is a verbal reasoning test and my dyslexic brain can’t take it:

 

[Adrian_S]

Sky training contract test invite. Just depressed because it is a verbal reasoning test and my dyslexic brain can’t take it:

you GOT this.