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TCLA Direct Training Contract Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
- Thread starter Ram Sabaratnam
- Start date
I applied the day of the deadline and received the link yesterday
So I applied for the Dubai TC. I'm a bit scared though since it's been a week and I haven't heard anything back yet.
Any Freshfields AC invites for DTC?
- Sep 9, 2024
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No worries, glad I could help! For M&A resources, I would recommend the following:
does anyone have any advice with regards to Freshfields stage 2? anything would be much appreciated!
Also joined the CC PFO club yesterday even though I felt it was one of my strongest applications I've ever submitted. I think I'm gonna give up on MC firms after this cycle.
I have some doubts about whether they're necessarily the best fit for me anyway and considering they regularly get 7-10k+ apps, make you jump through hoops and hurdles (yes, jump through hurdles, not over them) and can't provide more than generic "everyone already knows this if they've genuinely and seriously engaged with any TC app process for more than 30 mins" feedback, I think it's just becoming a waste of time that could be diverted to other firms.
On a strict % basis and seeing as I've heard CC have quietly reduced their trainee intakes to compensate for their post-COVID overhiring, they're probably the most competitive firm anyway in terms of % of participants actually getting a TC, it would also explain why the SPARK scheme operates the way it does now instead of the previous SPARK + Spring/Summer VSs.
Also looking forward to the incoming A&OS rejection at this point 🤣
I have some doubts about whether they're necessarily the best fit for me anyway and considering they regularly get 7-10k+ apps, make you jump through hoops and hurdles (yes, jump through hurdles, not over them) and can't provide more than generic "everyone already knows this if they've genuinely and seriously engaged with any TC app process for more than 30 mins" feedback, I think it's just becoming a waste of time that could be diverted to other firms.
On a strict % basis and seeing as I've heard CC have quietly reduced their trainee intakes to compensate for their post-COVID overhiring, they're probably the most competitive firm anyway in terms of % of participants actually getting a TC, it would also explain why the SPARK scheme operates the way it does now instead of the previous SPARK + Spring/Summer VSs.
Also looking forward to the incoming A&OS rejection at this point 🤣
They don’t pay enough to be asking that many questions😭
mate, I applied to Fieldfisher 19 days ago and still no test invite, this is looking like a straight pfo
They do it in batches, you probs won't get PFO'd until after the VI , unless you flunk the WG.
- Sep 9, 2024
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While I cannot make any decent estimation of your overall success chances at this stage (as that depends on a huge number of variables and unknowns), I would advise you to try to make more applications if you have the available time. Generally, to maximise chances of securing a TC, I think the best strategy is to seek to make as many high quality applications as possible - this is the best (and, arguably, only) way to reduce the importance of the luck factor.
Because of how competitive applications at top firms are, even if you are an incredibly strong candidate and have written a brilliant application, you can never have a very high credence you will succeed in any individual application, simply because recruiters have to constantly make difficult choices between great candidates. Nonetheless, if this is the case and you have submitted 30 applications, even if you only had a say approx. 10-20% success chance with every individual application, your overall odds of getting a TC will be much higher.
- Sep 9, 2024
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Hi @elle woods I really sympathise with how disappointed you must be feeling right now - it is completely normal, and I would argue healthy, as such emotions should be expressed and felt rather than repressed. I remember going through a similar thing in my last application cycle when I failed to pass my HSF application. I had attended 3 competitive open days at the firm and several other events over the course of two years, spent weeks researching the firm and refining my application, only to then be rejected at the first stage. This was incredibly disappointing firstly because of how certain I was at that stage that this is "the" firm for me, and secondly because it made me wonder: "If I get rejected at the first stage for a firm I have invested so much in and where I think I did everything right, what are my chances of success with the others?".
Nonetheless, within less than a month, I had received 4 AC invites at MC/elite US firms, and within two months I had several VS offers. After finalising the process and learning a lot more about different firms during my VSs, I actually realised that HSF was not at all the ideal law firm for me for a number of reasons, and that, as cliche as it sounds, it was all for the best that I had not progressed with them. As such, I wanted to share the following two takeaways from this experience that may be helpful for you to see:
- There is only so much you can do to succeed with any given firm and you should be focused on overall success in getting a TC instead - as I just mentioned to another user, simply because of how competitive applications are, recruiters often have to make choices between really strong applicants, and sometimes those choices will be made based on highly subjective preferences you cannot anticipate or control (eg when having to choose between two similarly strong applicants, a given recruiter may choose to place more weigh on academic accomplishment, another may place more emphasis on extracurriculars, while yet another may care more about work experience). As such, you should not beat yourself up and look for mistakes in your application that likely do not exist, but instead be conscious of the fact that there may simply be no real reason why you were rejected, and that you should therefore focus on general success in terms of getting a TC from a firm you like rather than succeeding with any individual firm in particular.
- While it may be hard to believe now, in a couple of years and with the benefit of more knowledge about your own preference and interests but also about the different firms and their market positions, you may realise CC was not actually the one ideal firm for you that was heads and shoulders above all others in terms of how good of a fit it is. Instead, you may find that there are other firms that are even better for you, or, if not, at any rate, that differences between doing a TC at firms of a similar calibre may be less stark than you could have anticipated. Finally, should you want to work at CC so much even after all this time, it is infinitely easier to move there as an associate laterally than to get a TC, so the door is certainly not closed to you ever working at the firm.
nope, just refreshing the portal and my inbox like a melon 🫠
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