TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2024-25

[Tcvspfo]

My advice is, not that it is necessarily right, not to give an opinion on Trump/Labour or any political stuff. Base everything you say in fact, if everything you say is substantiated it shows your ability to analyse information and, more importantly, lets you seem bit more impartial about stuff.

Thank you and appreciate and yh I get you.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Just received a pfo from eversheds, but I submitted my application on Saturday and I thought it was non-rolling. No idea how they could review my 2000 word application in that time? I used grammarly as a spellchecker - does any know if this counts as AI?

It would be pretty easy to review applications within a couple of days if they did have capacity.

Technically any spell checker (even on Word) is AI, which is why the idea of not using AI in applications is particularly bizarre. I don’t think a firm would pick up on the use of Grammarly though.

 

[Aspiringsolicitor01]

It would be pretty easy to review applications within a couple of days if they did have capacity.

Technically any spell checker (even on Word) is AI, which is why the idea of not using AI in applications is particularly bizarre. I don’t think a firm would pick up on the use of Grammarly though.

Really? I can tell when I use grammarly because it hyphenates a lot of things it shouldn’t and puts too many commas in a sentence. It’s great for concise writing and spelling but I feel it hinders an application overall.

 

[James Wakefield]

Just received a pfo from eversheds, but I submitted my application on Saturday and I thought it was non-rolling. No idea how they could review my 2000 word application in that time? I used grammarly as a spellchecker - does any know if this counts as AI?

There are a range of free tools on the internet that will ‘scan’ your application answers for ‘AI’. One is GPTZero. I don’t know how accurate/reliable these are but you could always run future answers through one of these to check its not flagging AI material.

 

[lolololol]

Eversheds vi any tips for the strengths based interview would be appreciated!!! really stressed since i have never passed a vi before

 

[Andrei Radu]

I’m so annoyed with myself. The internet kept coming in and out so I’ve missed some of an app that I submitted. I also made a mistake on two of the dates of employment. It’s only an insight evening but I was hoping to use that to get info for the vac scheme. Just have to email HR acknowledging the mistakes and provide the missing information I guess and hope they don’t remember my open day application when looking at my vac scheme application. Oh well

If the rest of the application is strong enough I don't think a few errors of this nature should be a big issue, especially when partially caused by tech problems. Furthermore, emailing HR about this shows a number of positive qualities, like proactivity and an ability to take responsibility for your mistakes. Regardless, I would definitely not expect this to be of any relevance when applying for a VS. It is not common practice for firms to look at past insight events applications when assessing you for a VS, and even if they did I would be surprised if they placed any weigh on these errors.

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

Reed Smith VI invite!!

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Really? I can tell when I use grammarly because it hyphenates a lot of things it shouldn’t and puts too many commas in a sentence. It’s great for concise writing and spelling but I feel it hinders an application overall.

Like any AI (even spellcheck) use it as a guide rather than absolute. If you take that approach and only use what you are happy to integrate rather than any suggestion, it usually works quite well.

 

[BillSikes]

Eversheds VI received today for regional

Now I can say this without it appearing to be cope - last few years Eversheds have seemingly sent VI to those who applied latest and worked backwards.

 

[James Wakefield]

Eversheds vi any tips for the strengths based interview would be appreciated!!! really stressed since i have never passed a vi before

Congrats! Is this for London?

 

[lolololol]

Congrats! Is this for London?

regional!

 

[RonRod13]

Reed Smith VI invite!!

Was this after the test?

 

[Tintin06]

I don’t think a firm would pick up on the use of Grammarly though.

Thank goodness for that.

 

[Andrei Radu]

Who are the remaining 2? just to have an idea

Very difficult to say, because different firms assess candidates on different criteria. Slaughter and May may be very competitive if you do not have a first, while Kirkland might be very competitive if you do not have substantial PE/M&A related work experience. Chambers published an article on law firm application statistics a few years back (which you can access here), but I am not sure how representative that still is. To the extent it is still illustrative, it seems like US firms with small trainee intakes who are nonetheless active on the recruitment front have the highest applicant/offer ratios. However, I think the most common 1st choice firms for the really successful candidates I have spoken with tend to be the larger (and more full service) US firms like Latham or Skadden.

However, I do not think this should be a major factor in your applications decision-making. Besides some outliers like Paul, Weiss who will benefit a lot from their constant recent headlines, the level of competition at SC, MC, and 'elite' US firms (which as a rule of thumb you can take to mean the firms paying Cravath or near-Cravath scale salaries) will be very similar. I would just apply to whichever firms I liked most within this group, as genuine interest will allow you to write better applications which will in turn increase your success chances. Besides this however I would advise you to also write at least a few applications for firms outside this group, as they are definitely the most targeted. Just as you would for actual capital, when it comes to the choice of where to invest your labour and your time you want to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket.

 

[TCLA Community Assistant]

Thank goodness for that.

I don’t know enough about AI to be 100% certain on this.

I think being restrictive on using AI is absurd though. I suspect it feels like when firms wouldn’t let people write typed answers to applications and made them still submit handwritten application forms

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

Was this after the test?

After the application, the test and VI are part of the same stage

 

[legal18]

Is there a recording of Willkie's interview event tonight?

 

[RonRod13]

After the application, the test and VI are part of the same stage

I didnt get any test or VI after submitting and a few others i know didnt either

 

[Andrei Radu]

is it too late to apply for rolling deadlines (esp ones in december or even early jan) like weil, bird & bird, hogan lovells etc? wouldn't wanna hurt my chances in the future by sending off an application that won't even be looked at...
also is davis polk rolling?

Besides a few firms that are known to emphasize early submission as a really important criterion, if you can write a strong application I would say it is worth submitting even very close to the deadline. For instance, I progressed past the application stage with two firms who were recruiting on an a rolling basis despite the fact that I only submitted my application on the last day.

Moreover, you still have the opportunity to set yourself apart from the crowd. Anecdotally, even for rolling applications the vast majority of submissions only happen in the last 2-3 days, so if you can send yours before that it's likely it will still be seriously considered.

 

[hfbjsdhfbhf]

I didnt get any test or VI after submitting and a few others i know didnt either

It's not automatic! I sent my application in at the start of October, they probably haven't reviewed your application yet