TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26

[ACHat8r]

Honestly girl, I don't know if you've been here when I kept failing cappfinities, but yea, I'm honestly not the best person to turn to for advice as I literally failed the ones for FF, Latham, Hogan etc. haha

But for this one, I felt the sliders and ranking exercises were pretty obvious in terms of what skill or agility they're testing - I didn't really find it hard to know which answers worked best at the top etc. The only tough bit for me was the critical thinking exercise. I said in an earlier post that they defo picked the toughest ones out of the batch to use haha (I know this because I did a cappfinity for another firm recently and they had the exact same statements, but had the batch of 4 questions per statement, whereas W&C just had 1 question per statement [aka, the hardest one out of the 4]).

Hope that makes sense! So I guess having had practice (I did the Gibson Dunn one yesterday), and having come across some of the WG questions before definitely helped?

Just keep the skills of work ethic, adaptability, taking ownership, credibility, and collaboration in mind when doing the SJT - that's what I did! Hopefully this helps? Best of luck!

can i ask what your strengths were and development area

 

[ACHat8r]

Hey do you know what the interview to vs conversion rates are?

No clue. Honestly PW scares me idk why but I'm very interested in PE

 

[Suii]

WAIT LOVEEE THAT!!

HSF Kramer/CC/FF/CMS and the rest if you’re reading this, I’ll take you back with open arms if you wanted to do the same 😘

This was their words in the email.....

We apologise for our previous communication regarding your recent online assessment.



It was incorrectly stated that your scores did not meet our benchmark. Upon further review, we can confirm that this action was made in error.



We are pleased to confirm that your application has been reinstated, and you will be invited shortly to the next stage of our process, which is the Video Interview.

 

[Rosie_Kitten]

how are people only just receiving clyde VI invites now? I did my VI on 2 dec and still haven't heard back... good sign or bad? 😬

I applied two days ago and did the initial test yesterday

 

[floral.tcla]

Hi TCLA! I was wondering how you might go about structuring a response for this cover letter, please (what to avoid, what to do, ways to stand out)? Should you split the word count evenly or not?


The covering letter is an opportunity for you to tell us about: 1) yourself; 2) why you are interested in a career in law; 3) the office location you are applying for and why; 4) your reasons for applying to [this firm] and why they resonate with you personally. (Max. 500 words)

pls help it's due later today 💔

 

[elle woods]

Is this for summer?? I haven't heard anything since doing the online test in early October haha, feels like a PFO 😭

no it's for spring - i would say not to worry, they need to process all the spring ppl first since the scheme is pretty soon haha

 

[llblawstudent]

Anyone still not PFOd or not been offered an AC from Freshfields svs post stage 2? Feels like we’re in limbo here, curious to see what’s going on haha

 

[sbbusybee]

Is this for summer?? I haven't heard anything since doing the online test in early October haha, feels like a PFO 😭

Just saying last year I had a final round interview with them for a spring vs, they didn’t get back to me for nearly 2 months after, and then gave me a PFO after the vs ended. I had really liked them up until then, I attended their OD and built a great relationship with the rec team and trainees at the firm. The feedback I eventually got was that I missed out over two questions during the interview, the entire experience shook me lol.

Edit - doesn’t mean this will be the same for pre interview!

 

[kelsworking]

clyde vi invitation 15 minutes after submitting the test 🤯🤯
was not expecting it and wished i submitted it later since ive got sqe next week...
any tips or insights on the vi? happy to exchange with eversheds ac (did it last year)

 

[Heartofglass]

am I the only one who deletes rejection emails like they never existed..?

like yes you rejected me but no I won't be internalising that today sorry

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.

 

[llblawstudent]

Just saying last year I had a final round interview with them for a spring vs, they didn’t get back to me for nearly 2 months after, and then gave me a PFO after the vs ended. I had really liked them up until then, I attended their OD and built a great relationship with the rec team and trainees at the firm. The feedback I eventually got was that I missed out over two questions during the interview, the entire experience shook me lol.

Edit - doesn’t mean this will be the same for pre interview!

Heyy sorry for asking but what did they mean by missed out two questions? Like just didn’t answer what was being asked?

 

[elle woods]

Hi TCLA! I was wondering how you might go about structuring a response for this cover letter, please (what to avoid, what to do, ways to stand out)? Should you split the word count evenly or not?


The covering letter is an opportunity for you to tell us about: 1) yourself; 2) why you are interested in a career in law; 3) the office location you are applying for and why; 4) your reasons for applying to [this firm] and why they resonate with you personally. (Max. 500 words)

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 I am 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!

 

[Novaa]

This was their words in the email.....

We apologise for our previous communication regarding your recent online assessment.



It was incorrectly stated that your scores did not meet our benchmark. Upon further review, we can confirm that this action was made in error.



We are pleased to confirm that your application has been reinstated, and you will be invited shortly to the next stage of our process, which is the Video Interview.

How do you incorrectly state that? 🤨

Just causing unnecessary shock!

 

[jamsparkle]

pls help it's due later today 💔

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)

 

[BatmanBeyond]

am I the only one who deletes rejection emails like they never existed..?

like yes you rejected me but no I won't be internalising that today sorry

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

 

[elle woods]

can i ask what your strengths were and development area

ya sure, I didn't think they were good but apparently it was fine lol

I got adaptable, credible, and resilient as strengths and work ethic as a weakness. (i was crying because work ethic is super important) but there is the possibility that the overall profile was good enough - hope that helps!

 

[oliviabeijing]

What are the actual dates for the Spring VS for Clyde & Co? As the website has some discrepancies on dates? (e.g. referring to the current year as 2025)

 

[ninarosee]

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]

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!

 

[floral.tcla]

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!