• 📅 Vacation Scheme Applications 2025–26

    Planning to apply for winter, spring or summer vacation schemes? Join our dedicated threads for support, deadlines, and discussion:

    Let’s make this your strongest application season yet 💼

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  1. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    No worries Maya! I can definitely emphasize with how frustrating that must feel, but unfortunately it doesn't seem like there's much you can do about it. I would still provisionally accept the invitation to complete the assessment and then see if my relationship with the supervisor allows for a...
  2. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    In terms of culture, I will only recommend to you firms I have done vacation schemes with, as I feel open days/other firm events do not suffice to make a strong inference in this regard. I have done 4 VS and the two firms that stood out to me in terms of how friendly people there were are Davis...
  3. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    There is no agreed upon figure for what counts as a small, medium, or large trainee intake. These are ambiguous and relative concepts; which get even more fuzzy if you consider options such as describing certain intake numbers as 'small to medium' or 'medium to large' sizes. But if I were to...
  4. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Hi @MayaM0921, just before @Jessica Booker can come back to you on this with a more informed perspective, one idea that I would consider is choosing one of the time slots happening within the vacation scheme week. If the exercise is only one hour long, you could just do it in your lunch break...
  5. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    Hey @hmevey I can definitely emphasize with your struggles, but please try not to let the rejections dishearten you. In 2023, I was reject at first stage in every single one of my applications, and I begun wondering whether this may actually not be for me. Thoughts like "perhaps I am actually...
  6. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    Unfortunately I do not think all firms inform you whether you have passed or failed an SJT. Part of the reason for that, and to also complicate the matter further, is that not all firms have a strict benchmark for the SJT as most do for the WG. Since the SJT is also seen as a 'personality test'...
  7. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    Unfortunately I do not know a lot about this but I have heard anecdotally that HSF is quite amenable to accommodating earlier start dates.
  8. Andrei Radu

    Tips for Proofreading Applications Without External Help

    Hey @salari.sepideh I definitely empathize with your struggles. It is quite difficult to know when you have done enough proofreading, as even after 3-4 checks I would still sometimes find a typo after I submitted the application. Unfortunately, I think the only way to minimize the risk of any...
  9. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Hey @KBanana I think your approach is good but potentially not always optimal. As I see it, it works well as long as the firm you are currently applying to excels in the three practice areas you have identified to a greater or at least equal extent as all the other firms you end up mentioning...
  10. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    So the way I interpret this is as a normal 'Why you' question. As such, I would basically follow the same structure as in a written 'Why you' answer: In the introduction, state that there are X number of reasons the firm should hire me. State that Reason 1 is that you have Y relevant...
  11. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Hey @CarolineC just to add my thoughts to @Amma Usman's excellent response: I think you definitely can and in many cases should reduce the number of reasons you discuss - provided that the reasons that you do discuss, when taken into conjunction, suffice to the effect that they do not apply to...
  12. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Last year I addressed my cover letter to Davis Polk's training principal. The firm's current UK recruitment partner is Aaron Ferner, so you could address it to him. However, I do not think there will be an issue if you choose to use a more common form of address such as "Dear Graduate...
  13. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Just to add to @Ram Sabaratnam's great response here, I think a useful way to conceive of a positions of responsibility is as a role in which you are entrusted to do something which has an impact on others. This definitely captures society/club roles, but I think it goes beyond that. For...
  14. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I have not had any personal experience with this particular type of written assessment method, but I think it is quite likely the firm is looking to assess the same key competencies: time-management and resilience under pressure, ability to identify and summarize key issues in large bodies of...
  15. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    So just to add to @Ram Sabaratnam's excellent response, I think you have already identified quite well some of the firms that are great in PE and have smaller trainees intakes. Besides those, and the ones Ram mentioned, I would also take a look at: Paul, Weiss: though a new player in the London...
  16. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2024-5

    I would expect it will take longer than normal just because the firm is currently also doing VS interviews. Also, I think it is generally the case that Slaughter and May tends to take its time when getting back to candidates. When I interviewed for a VS, it took them around 1-1.5 months to get...
  17. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Unless (i) this is a quite important work experience and (ii) the description itself would not suffice for the graduate recruitment team to realise the error and still be able to understand your work experience, I would not email them. The only benefit of emailing them is clearing out any...
  18. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    I unfortunately do not know of any successful short video interview answer links (though I will tag @Amma Usman and @Ram Sabaratnam in case they do), but I completely emphasize with your struggles. Having to respond to "loaded" VI questions (which in fact include 2 or 3 broad sub-questions) is...
  19. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    Perhaps @Amma Usman or @Ram Sabaratnam will know more, but having had a quick look on their website and some other publications with applications information, I could not find any precise figures regarding the distribution of the TC offers across offices. All I could find is that CRS will offer...
  20. Andrei Radu

    TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

    This is just my personal view, but I would say to follow instructions and wait for the outcome until the last three-four days before the deadline. In the meanwhile, you can prepare the application and have it ready to go. If they do not respond before the very last few days then I would then...

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