• Get Everything You Need to Secure a Training Contract
    Now half the price. Join TCLA Premium for £30/month and get step-by-step application support, daily commercial awareness practice, and 700+ successful examples of past applications and interview experiences. Plus so much more.
    Join Premium →

TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

ninarosee

Distinguished Member
Dec 18, 2023
52
212
I second that. I dont know about you but I also permanently delete it from the "deleted" folder so I won't accidently come across those emails and be sad again.
Not a single unique experience 😂, but soo trueee I sometimes archive a few as a reminder, the rest delete nuh uh I ain't seeing that on my inbox
I’m loving the dedication to deleting rejection emails 😍
 

floral.tcla

Legendary Member
Premium Member
Aug 15, 2024
192
260
hey girl this is what I would do, hopefully it helps you with getting those first words down on the page (since that is the hardest part)

- I would leave the "yourself" bit either interweaved throughout the other sections, or as a tiny extra-curriculars bit at the end
- I'd start with why am I interested in commercial law very briefly and link it into the reasons I'm applying to this firm + location
- Then I would potentially link the "why me" and "why do these things about the firm resonate with you" together - as you can easily state something about the firm, e.g. culture and then link it back to why you (I work best in this culture as demonstrated through working as Y at Z ...blah blah which would make me a strong addition to the firm) or something like that.
- The main goal (since there isn't too much word count for you to play with) is to make the reader feel like you've covered all the points asked in one way or another. I think splitting the word count and addressing each topic individually would leave you struggling to add detail to your answer.

hope that helps? that's just how I would approach it! other people may have different approaches - find what works best for you and your writing style!
hey!! ah thank you so much, this helps a lot!
 
  • Like
Reactions: elle woods

floral.tcla

Legendary Member
Premium Member
Aug 15, 2024
192
260
if you search 'cover letter' and look around on the website I'm sure you can piece together information for quite a few of those factors. I doubt they're that fussed about splitting the word count evenly and lots of the questions should probably interlink (e.g. you're interested in law because X which is complemented really well by A practice area that is especially strong in their B office. you also want to apply because Y element of their culture links well with Z characteristic that you have etc)
good idea, thank you!
 
for a firm with an average finish time of 9pm, the references to ‘protecting healthy work life balance’ and ‘preventing overworking’ within my white&case feedback report feel a little ironic 😅
Mildly unrelated but feels relevant, I remember when I got an insane jumpscare by getting a PFO from A&O on a Saturday. I'm not even working for you and yet you're still trying to ruin my weekend??? Not very healthy work life balance
What The Hell Wtf GIF
 

sbbusybee

Standard Member
Nov 14, 2025
9
8
Heyy sorry for asking but what did they mean by missed out two questions? Like just didn’t answer what was being asked?
No I did answer them, however it was my first interview with a firm like W&C so I was super nervous and didn’t answer those two as well as the other questions I had (out of about 20 questions). My feedback was that the rest of my interview and WE was perfect, it was literally just those two questions that stopped me from getting the VS. It was heartbreaking as the rest of the interview and WE went brilliantly and they confirmed that too :/
 

About Us

The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) was founded in 2018 because we wanted to improve the legal journey. We wanted more transparency and better training. We wanted to form a community of aspiring lawyers who care about becoming the best version of themselves.

Get Our 2026 Vacation Scheme Guide

Nail your vacation scheme applications this year with our latest guide, with sample answers to law firm questions.