TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[uhfwejdj]

Good morning all,

I take a glance at the forum here and there nowadays and it’s so nice to see how supportive everyone’s being!

Time for my quarterly (or monthly??!) update:

PFOs so far:

• Reed Smith post app
• Taylor Wessing post SJT
• HSF Kramer even after passing SJT
• Skadden post app (today)
• NRF post VI but I’ve reapplied for summer lmao
• Paul, Weiss post app
• Hogan Lovells post 1st test
• Covington post app
• Willkie post VI
• Bird & Bird post VI
• CMS post WG
• WFW post app

Waiting to hear back from:
• Clyde & Co VI (pleaseeee give me an AC )
• Goodwin post app
• Cooley post app
• Mishcon post chat interview
• Withers post SJT (assuming PFO)
• Hill Dickinson post app
• Stephenson Harwood post app
• Travers Smith post app
• NRF post Arctic Shores (recycled my score lmao please gimme another VI)
• Ropes & Gray post app
• Farrer & Co post app (got to 1st stage interview for DTC last year, hopefully I progress)
• HFW post app

Will do Womble Bond Dickinson and other DTC apps from next month… planning my wedding is a delight compared to this and that’s saying something !!!

Paul, Weiss isn’t rolling and doesn't close until the 21st how have you already been PFO?

 

[abc124]

Skadden PFO

Same

 

[Deleted member 43292]

Why are the slots so early i barley wake up at 12:30

 

[TortillaTC]

I don't want to sound like a doomer, but I've recently come to the realisation that the content of our application answers doesn't matter. These answers often just act as a filter for the other parts of your candidate profile.

Obviously I can't share these but, I have an old friend's successful applications from his second year of university. Trust me when I tell you that he essentially copy/pasted the exact same application for every firm he applied to – even down to using the same adjective for each of these firm's cultures. They were absolutely indistinguishable. However, this guy was on track to getting a first, he held multiple executive (society) positions, and he had also secured a large number of first-year schemes. If anybody else had written those applications, they would have been binned. But, his candidate profile was genuinely so impressive that (in my opinion) firms were willing to look past the lack of substance in his application answers.

This is definitely a tendency at firms like Skadden or to some extent, maybe even all firms. Sometimes application answers don’t get much attention or their flaws are overlooked because a candidate is so impressive that grad rec just doesn’t care (tbf I wouldn’t care about your alternative career choice if you graduated top of your cohort in Cambridge law either…) - but based on my personal experience, this is not the rule and tailoring answers still matters a lot in general. I’ve gone through a whole cycle of applying to 30+ firms with untailored, generic answers and barely progressed post application stage, while this year I have a strategy, understand how firms are different, submit extremely tailored application, and already see success.

This said, firms are soo random sometimes, I’ve made it to interview with SC and US firms with applications that were retrospectively, mid at best, probably cause the person reading mine saw something that other firms didn’t. Or that specific firm was looking for my kind of profile more than other firms. Or it was pure luck. The point is we can never know for sure but as long as you try your best and put in the effort you know you have to, and you have a clear strategy and idea of where you want to work, you’ll succeed! (Provided that you meet minimum academic criteria)

 

[SamiyaJ]

Sorry to hear that! Was this for the winter vac or one of the spring or summer ones?

Was for winter!

 

[Harvey Specter - Presiding Partner]

Why are the slots so early i barley wake up at 12:30

The last time I woke up that early was for school and that was like pre Covid lmao. ​

 

[yk1906]

I need a Freshfields PFO to hit me like a rock now

 

[badmintonflyinginsect]

Haven't heard from Latham at all after getting a feedback report post stage 1 - when can I expect to hear back?

 

[SamiyaJ]

Paul, Weiss isn’t rolling and doesn't close until the 21st how have you already been PFO?

My app must’ve been really bad I guess I applied for both winter and spring on 4 Sept, got PFO on 31 Oct

 

[RJ Ruban]

HSF PFO after passing the benchmark, lol, when it rains it pours doesn't it?

Sorry to hear this, was this for the summer or spring VS? We

 

[TortillaTC]

My app must’ve been really bad I guess I applied for both winter and spring on 4 Sept, got PFO on 31 Oct

I believe you can only apply to one vac scheme per cycle, so your PFO was probably for the winter one and your spring application was invalid anyways.

 

[SamiyaJ]

I believe you can only apply to one vac scheme per cycle, so your PFO was probably for the winter one and your spring application was invalid anyways.

Probably! The form allowed me to select multiple so I thought why not haha

 

[TortillaTC]

Probably! The form allowed me to select multiple so I thought why not haha

I knoow it’s super confusing, I’m doing mine atm and I double checked a hundred times if I only selected one ahaha

 

[johnsmith]

Why are the slots so early i barley wake up at 12:30

I'm up, on average, 7 hours before you part of being old and a part-time athlete

 

[opticskibidi]

I don't want to sound like a doomer, but I've recently come to the realisation that the content of our application answers doesn't matter. These answers often just act as a filter for the other parts of your candidate profile.

Obviously I can't share these but, I have an old friend's successful applications from his second year of university. Trust me when I tell you that he essentially copy/pasted the exact same application for every firm he applied to – even down to using the same adjective for each of these firm's cultures. They were absolutely indistinguishable. However, this guy was on track to getting a first, he held multiple executive (society) positions, and he had also secured a large number of first-year schemes. If anybody else had written those applications, they would have been binned. But, his candidate profile was genuinely so impressive that (in my opinion) firms were willing to look past the lack of substance in his application answers.

I disagree with this. I have had roughly the same experiences and extracurriculars as in my previous cycles. What truly made the difference for me was sitting down and telling a story in my applications. I gave recruiters a break from all the AI-generated content they read and showed them who I am through my experiences, and why those make me a strong fit.


I do think it’s crucial to gain experiences and participate in extracurriculars to a certain extent, but mainly to help you answer questions like ‘why commercial law?’, or ‘what do you bring to x firm?’ on the application form.


Changing my style led to a considerable shift: I went from 26 straight first-stage rejections to, so far this cycle, progressing in 6 out of 8 applications and even reaching an assessment centre at a US firm. It’s all about mentality. Once you change the way you approach applications, that’s when you start progressing.

Keep it up, we’re all in this together!

P.S. I’m not an Oxbridge student with 10 first-year schemes; I go to a non-target RG and did one first-year scheme. I have worked in fast food and retail since I was 16, though.

 

[Harvey Specter - Presiding Partner]

LMAO I'm flying the night before (like the night of the 17th) so I'm gonna be abslutely wrecked haha - I'm not too sure what to expect with this either? I thought they'd give some more information in the email but apparently not

Me neither tbh I’ve not done one of these before and the time to prep for it is baso non-existent so I’m just gna hope n pray for the best atp. ​

 

[futuretrainee22]

congrats! did you get the invite yesterday?

thank you! Yes I did

 

[a0]

skadden literally count your days omg

 

[Harvey Specter - Presiding Partner]

yep... let's just hope pure talent and rawdogging it gets us through best of luck harvey specter​

Likewise best of luck elle woods!

 

[johnsmith]

LMAO that's impressive wow what's that, like 5am?? whattt

I go to sleep at 4am so I go to bed when you wake up HAHA

Yes! 5/5:30am, train before work, then all on all law apps at night before bed at 11.