2020-21 Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion

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law2021

Star Member
Dec 1, 2020
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General question for anyone who went through the anglo-Canadian or American school systems - what do you include for the GCSE/A-levels sections? I put in grade 11 results for GCSE and 12 academics (I took some lower-year classes for fun in my final years and leave those out) for A-levels as this is what university recruiters look at, but I'm not sure if this is correct.

@Jessica Booker do you have thoughts on this?
Hi Rob - I went to an American school but I took the IB so I typically write in those results in the A-level section and leave the GCSE section blank. However, in the 'Other Education' section, I explain that my school didn't have any equivalent exams at the GCSE level, and instead include my overall GPA for the 4 years. Not sure if this is 100% correct, but it's worked for me on a couple apps :)
 

eveh1784

Star Member
Jan 21, 2020
38
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I'm telling you categorically everyone will hear back today.

I'm not sure how that will make people very anxious, I think your comment will make people more anxious given you have no idea what the timelines are.
You are misleading people and I'm trying to help.

Everyone is under a lot of pressure at the moment with just days left of application season. It is understandable that you may be trying to help but the dialogue is becoming quite abrasive. You may indeed be right, but that tone of conversation isn't really appropriate for this forum.
 

ManifestingTC

Active Member
Jan 20, 2021
11
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I'm not sure it is the best idea to comment what you have on here, when no one has any idea if this is true. You could make some people very anxious by saying they will be unsuccessful if they don't hear anything by 5pm today. I haven't heard anything from PM yet, but I also haven't seen anyone on here get any news who applied to the Manchester office like me. Those applying to London and Scotland seem to have received rejections and invites to the next stage, so it seems unlikely that other offices will automatically be unsuccessful if they haven't heard back by 5pm when not many applying to the regional offices seem to have heard anything yet.

Graduate Recruitment are probably just beginning to go through the applications for the regional offices so try not to worry if you haven't heard anything yet, no news is good news and it is not a rejection until you actually receive the rejection email! Stay positive everyone! 🙂
I got rejected by PM Birmingham office at 11am today having applied quite a bit before deadline, so I think the previous comment might have been accurate but I don’t know if everyone else has heard. It went to my junk inbox btw so check that if you haven’t heard maybe.
 
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cem

Standard Member
Jan 26, 2021
9
15
Has everyone heard back already for London and Scotland? How do we know this is true?
I think so for Scotland, I also heard back for Scotland on Tuesday and they gave two AC dates if successful in the test. I'm not sure if it's batches though either, as each office only had one AC date and you were to contact GR if you couldn't make it.
 

Celestie

Legendary Member
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  • Nov 14, 2020
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    PFO Pinsent Masons London VS

    Considering starting my own thread: “I’m a 47 time failed applicant, ask me anything!” :D
    The wait goes on.
    Don't say failed, don't be so negative to yourself. Let me edit that for you:

    "I'm a resilient person who tried 47 times to apply for an overly competitive scheme, and I am still going. Ask me anything!"
     

    Hazza hana

    Active Member
    Jan 29, 2021
    13
    28
    Everyone is under a lot of pressure at the moment with just days left of application season. It is understandable that you may be trying to help but the dialogue is becoming quite abrasive. You may indeed be right, but that tone of conversation isn't really appropriate for this forum.
    I can only apologise, no tone intended.

    (English isn't my first language)
     

    NikkiT

    Legendary Member
    Oct 2, 2020
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    I think so for Scotland, I also heard back for Scotland on Tuesday and they gave two AC dates if successful in the test. I'm not sure if it's batches though either, as each office only had one AC date and you were to contact GR if you couldn't make it.

    Thanks for your reply. How do you know that everyone has heard back who is successful though?
     

    Rob93

    Legendary Member
    Dec 29, 2020
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    Hi Rob - I went to an American school but I took the IB so I typically write in those results in the A-level section and leave the GCSE section blank. However, in the 'Other Education' section, I explain that my school didn't have any equivalent exams at the GCSE level, and instead include my overall GPA for the 4 years. Not sure if this is 100% correct, but it's worked for me on a couple apps :)
    Interesting, it never occurred to me to just omit that section.
     

    Jessica Booker

    Legendary Member
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    Aug 1, 2019
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    So personally, I never did this just because by the time I started hearing back with VS offers, I had already progressed past the app stage for other firms/simply been rejected. But I don't think there is any harm in doing it, and it could possibly tip the scales in your favour (although I'm not entirely sure that the offer alone will do the trick considering it doesn't add substantive experience to your app)

    Maybe @Jessica Booker can advise better on whether you should do this or not.
    If you haven’t submitted your application, then fine to mention it in an application. Probably most suited to an extra information section or cover letter though. If you have already applied, then only do this if you can personally updated your submitted application. It isn’t worthwhile asking Grad Rec to update it for you or take the additional information into consideration if you can’t update it.
     
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    Dheepa

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  • Jan 20, 2019
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    So I asked for feedback on my interview and they said: "we don't have any constructive feedback for you" and then said where I went well etc - how am I meant to improve ahead of the TC interview in the future?

    (Im not blowing my own trumpet here, genuinely stuck as I wanna make sure I improve for the next interview but I have nothing to go off)

    Maybe you really just were the perfect candidate! Don't fix something if it's not broken right? ;)

    In all seriousness, I do agree that it is a bit unhelpful. Maybe you could try booking a mock interview with your careers service or with TCLA, use similar answers and hopefully that would give you some pointers for future VS interviews?

    I also want to flag up that what firms want from TC interviews tend to be very different from VS interviews anyway. They really want to see that you've been able to reflect on your experiences during the vacation scheme and incorporate that into your motivations for wanting to pursue the career and of course for wanting to train with them. So sometimes the best thing you can do is wait for the VS, make sure that during it you're making really detailed notes on your day to day work/experiences/conversations and constantly keep the "Why law" "Why this firm question" answers developing in your notes.
     
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