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Aspiring Lawyers - Applications & General Advice
Applications Discussion
TCLA Vacation Scheme Applications Discussion Thread 2025-26
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<blockquote data-quote="Andrei Radu" data-source="post: 222227" data-attributes="member: 36777"><p>Hi [USER=24616]@FutureTrainee100[/USER] I empathise with you and I know how disappointed and disheartened you must be feeling right now, having been in a somewhat similar position. As a fellow international student, I also completely "moved life" here and made a substantial investment in education in hopes of pursuing a successful career in commercial law. At the end of my first application cycle, I ended up with no progressions past the application stage. After also getting very strong academic results, my second cycle started off quite similar to yours, and I was also increasingly feeling like I had to come to terms with the fact that I may simply not be "good enough" or the "right type" for this career. Nonetheless, I persisted and ended up finishing the cycle with 3 TC and 4 VS offers from elite US/MC firms. </p><p></p><p>My story is also not at all a unique one or full of empty words of motivation - there are many people who have experienced a similar progression. A good friend of mine who I was guiding through the process last year was feeling like he was facing a similar problem, starting their 3rd application cycle worse than the previous two ones with several straight rejections. Of his first 10-15 applications they heard back from, only 2-3 were progressions, which was significantly bellow their prior rate. <strong>I advised them to persist, and within the space of a month or so they had several AC invites, while by the end of the cycle they received 7 VS offers. </strong></p><p></p><p>Now, besides wanting to inspire you not to lose heart and to keep pushing forward, I mentioned these stories because <strong>I wanted to give you two concrete pieces of advice, which I think could end up having a substantial impact on your chances of securing a TC:</strong></p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Firstly, you should submit many more high-quality applications</strong>: an AC progression rate of 3/7 is incredibly high, so the quality of your writing does not seem to be an issue. Nonetheless, in my opinion 7 applications is without any doubt too few to make given how competitive this job market is, even if you are a very qualified candidate. While it may end up working out for some, I would advise you not to go with the "quality over quantity" approach if you want to minimise the impact of luck and maximise success chances. Both me and the friend I mentioned were rejected in 15+ application during our incredibly successful cycles even though we made sure that the writing and research for every firm was high quality. Had we only applied to 7-10 firms, it could have easily been the case we would have ended the cycle with no VSs/TCs. I have written a significantly longer guide elaborating on the cost and benefits of the "numbers game" vs "quality over quantity" approaches and explained what I think is the ideal application strategy, which is to submit as many high quality (albeit perhaps somewhat imperfect) applications as possible (which should result in 15-20 on the lower end) - I would highly encourage you to take a look <a href="https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-guide-to-building-a-winning-application-strategy.9080/" target="_blank">here</a>. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Secondly, you may want to refresh your approach to AC preparation</strong>: while this is not an issue that you should be very concerned about right now, and while it is possible to have just been unlucky with your 3 prior ACs, my guess is that if there is any part of the application process for which you could improve quality-wise, it is this stage. I would highly encourage you to take a look at the <a href="https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-complete-guide-for-competency-interview-preparation.9380/" target="_blank">Complete Competency Interview Preparation Guide</a> I wrote <a href="https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-complete-guide-for-competency-interview-preparation.9380/" target="_blank">here</a>, as it explains in detail the step-by-step approach I took which was successful 4/4 times I implemented it. </li> </ol></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Andrei Radu, post: 222227, member: 36777"] Hi [USER=24616]@FutureTrainee100[/USER] I empathise with you and I know how disappointed and disheartened you must be feeling right now, having been in a somewhat similar position. As a fellow international student, I also completely "moved life" here and made a substantial investment in education in hopes of pursuing a successful career in commercial law. At the end of my first application cycle, I ended up with no progressions past the application stage. After also getting very strong academic results, my second cycle started off quite similar to yours, and I was also increasingly feeling like I had to come to terms with the fact that I may simply not be "good enough" or the "right type" for this career. Nonetheless, I persisted and ended up finishing the cycle with 3 TC and 4 VS offers from elite US/MC firms. My story is also not at all a unique one or full of empty words of motivation - there are many people who have experienced a similar progression. A good friend of mine who I was guiding through the process last year was feeling like he was facing a similar problem, starting their 3rd application cycle worse than the previous two ones with several straight rejections. Of his first 10-15 applications they heard back from, only 2-3 were progressions, which was significantly bellow their prior rate. [B]I advised them to persist, and within the space of a month or so they had several AC invites, while by the end of the cycle they received 7 VS offers. [/B] Now, besides wanting to inspire you not to lose heart and to keep pushing forward, I mentioned these stories because [B]I wanted to give you two concrete pieces of advice, which I think could end up having a substantial impact on your chances of securing a TC:[/B] [LIST=1] [*][B]Firstly, you should submit many more high-quality applications[/B]: an AC progression rate of 3/7 is incredibly high, so the quality of your writing does not seem to be an issue. Nonetheless, in my opinion 7 applications is without any doubt too few to make given how competitive this job market is, even if you are a very qualified candidate. While it may end up working out for some, I would advise you not to go with the "quality over quantity" approach if you want to minimise the impact of luck and maximise success chances. Both me and the friend I mentioned were rejected in 15+ application during our incredibly successful cycles even though we made sure that the writing and research for every firm was high quality. Had we only applied to 7-10 firms, it could have easily been the case we would have ended the cycle with no VSs/TCs. I have written a significantly longer guide elaborating on the cost and benefits of the "numbers game" vs "quality over quantity" approaches and explained what I think is the ideal application strategy, which is to submit as many high quality (albeit perhaps somewhat imperfect) applications as possible (which should result in 15-20 on the lower end) - I would highly encourage you to take a look [URL='https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-guide-to-building-a-winning-application-strategy.9080/']here[/URL]. [*][B]Secondly, you may want to refresh your approach to AC preparation[/B]: while this is not an issue that you should be very concerned about right now, and while it is possible to have just been unlucky with your 3 prior ACs, my guess is that if there is any part of the application process for which you could improve quality-wise, it is this stage. I would highly encourage you to take a look at the [URL='https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-complete-guide-for-competency-interview-preparation.9380/']Complete Competency Interview Preparation Guide[/URL] I wrote [URL='https://www.thecorporatelawacademy.com/forum/threads/a-complete-guide-for-competency-interview-preparation.9380/']here[/URL], as it explains in detail the step-by-step approach I took which was successful 4/4 times I implemented it. [/LIST] [/QUOTE]
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