After mulling it over for the last couple of weeks, I've decided to start a thread here to try and hold myself accountable and maybe get to know others in the TCLA community this way. I also want to share my experiences going down this challenging career path in the hopes that it might inspire others just as others' stories have inspired me. I did a wee introduction in the other sub-forum last week but I will share some extra, and I believe, relevant details here.
I graduated in 2020 with a 2:1 Scots Law degree, which is four years long and considered non-law in England & Wales. My university uses a unique grading system, and they've issued official guidance that it should not and cannot be adequately converted into a percentage scoring system, giving me plenty of headaches😄.
Anyway, only certain courses in 3rd and 4th Year counted for my degree classification, and, as far as I can reasonably convert my grades, I have several 2:2 modules and even two 3rd modules throughout the four years. It doesn't help that I had no awareness of the concept of extenuating circumstances back then either, and had always accepted that my grades were me reaping what I had sown, but I now know better and try to make points about extenuating circumstances in my applications.
This has been a source of frustration over concerns about my eligibility for many VSs and TCs, but I've finally accepted that I can't change these grades. I can only look ahead and sell my other experiences. I didn't do much in terms of extracurriculars during university either because I lived at home and had my main interests in cooperative online video games. Video games have given me invaluable transferable skills such as teamwork, organisation, resilience, communication, conflict resolution, and learning. I think it's always difficult to sell video games as a source of transferable skills but I'll break a glass ceiling here if I have to.
I have also since worked outside of law, volunteered locally, and tried to improve myself in other aspects since my last application cycle in 2019-20. It is now up to me to present the skills and experiences that I do have as best I can in my written applications.
As of today, I'm having some friends and family help review my cover letter for NRF's WVS ahead of tomorrow's deadline (thank god they're non-rolling), and I have attended a series of virtual events both open-access and through applications. As this will be my first VS/TC application of the cycle, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.
In the weeks ahead, I'm looking to apply for Open Days and VSs with mostly US firms as I sincerely believe deep down, after a lot of reflection, that they have the best cultural fit for me, in spite of my subpar grades and extracurriculars.
And just to end this post on a small win (I wouldn't have said this five years ago, but I think the small wins should be celebrated), my application for Skadden's Open Day was accepted and I'm actually quite excited for it!
Thank you for reading up to this point as it's a lot and please look forward to the next update!
I graduated in 2020 with a 2:1 Scots Law degree, which is four years long and considered non-law in England & Wales. My university uses a unique grading system, and they've issued official guidance that it should not and cannot be adequately converted into a percentage scoring system, giving me plenty of headaches😄.
Anyway, only certain courses in 3rd and 4th Year counted for my degree classification, and, as far as I can reasonably convert my grades, I have several 2:2 modules and even two 3rd modules throughout the four years. It doesn't help that I had no awareness of the concept of extenuating circumstances back then either, and had always accepted that my grades were me reaping what I had sown, but I now know better and try to make points about extenuating circumstances in my applications.
This has been a source of frustration over concerns about my eligibility for many VSs and TCs, but I've finally accepted that I can't change these grades. I can only look ahead and sell my other experiences. I didn't do much in terms of extracurriculars during university either because I lived at home and had my main interests in cooperative online video games. Video games have given me invaluable transferable skills such as teamwork, organisation, resilience, communication, conflict resolution, and learning. I think it's always difficult to sell video games as a source of transferable skills but I'll break a glass ceiling here if I have to.
I have also since worked outside of law, volunteered locally, and tried to improve myself in other aspects since my last application cycle in 2019-20. It is now up to me to present the skills and experiences that I do have as best I can in my written applications.
As of today, I'm having some friends and family help review my cover letter for NRF's WVS ahead of tomorrow's deadline (thank god they're non-rolling), and I have attended a series of virtual events both open-access and through applications. As this will be my first VS/TC application of the cycle, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for it.
In the weeks ahead, I'm looking to apply for Open Days and VSs with mostly US firms as I sincerely believe deep down, after a lot of reflection, that they have the best cultural fit for me, in spite of my subpar grades and extracurriculars.
And just to end this post on a small win (I wouldn't have said this five years ago, but I think the small wins should be celebrated), my application for Skadden's Open Day was accepted and I'm actually quite excited for it!
Thank you for reading up to this point as it's a lot and please look forward to the next update!
