- Sep 9, 2024
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- 1,437
Hi @Adithi I completely understand how disappointing, disheartening, and anxiety-inducing it is to end up rejected everywhere as an international student - I have been in the exact same position only two years back. It is a difficult mental state to be in; and I think you should go easy on yourself and take your time to get through it. That said, you should also be conscious of a number of important facts that will make you understand your situation is nowhere near as desperate as you may think:
- It is extremely rare for anyone to be successful in securing a VS/TC during their first applications cycle. Learning how to research firms, to write in the appropriate style, to sell your skills and experiences, to perform well in tests and interviews, etc all take time and experience. Throughout this cycle you have definitely improved greatly in all those regards. That is why when you apply again next year you will start from a much stronger position than this cycle, and your success chances will thus be substantially higher.
- You already have clear proof you have what it takes to succeed. Believe it or not, getting to two final stages in your first application cycle is absolutely incredible, and easily places you among at least the top 5% candidates. I know many extremely talented people who have not even gotten one final stage over multiple application cycles. In my own case, I was rejected at the first stage in every single one of my applications. If I was able to turn it around and end up with 4 VS offers, believe me that so can you.
- There are many things you can do during the summer break to improve your chances for next year. This is an aspect that I think is ignored by way too many candidates, who tend to concentrate all their commercial-law related efforts during the autumn-spring application cycle. Firstly, there are quite a few firms who have direct TC applications open in the summer, and I know a couple of people who secured their offers in that way after an unsuccessful VS cycle. Secondly, you can do many things to improve your candidate profile that you may not have time for during the academic year, from Forage Virtual Work Experiences to working intensely on bettering your commercial awareness. Thirdly, you can start working on your next cycle's VS applications a lot sooner than you would think. A decent number of firms already open applications in August, and for the ones that do not you can pre-prepare answers (assuming their questions are quite constant historically) or at least do the relevant research. This should also give you a lot more time to focus on getting to the very highest quality of writing. A friend of mine who was rejected at a final stage last year and got no offers followed this exact approach; by the start of term time had already completed around 30 applications. He now has just received his 5th VS offer of the year.
- Even if you are not successful in getting a TC next year, this does not have to be the end of the road. Firstly, you can get a graduate visa, which will extend your right of stay and right of work in the UK for two years. Secondly, you can apply for a variety of other jobs that would perhaps make your path into getting a TC easier, particularly paralegal roles. Thirdly, if neither of the above works, you can still apply from abroad - I know of a couple of cases of people who ended up being successful that way.
