I'm a student in my second year of VS applications, and have noticed the stark difference between applying for VS's this year vs last year.
For context I'm applying for a mix of national and silver circle firms. Last year I applied for about 8-10 firms and got through the first stage for all of them bar 1. This year I am struggling applying to a similar number but struggling to get past stage 1 for many firms. Since the last cycle my CV has greatly improved and my grades went from thirds/2:2s (mitigating circumstances) to high 2:1s at a RG uni. I recognise that I'm not entitled to a VS and the process is meant to be testing.
I am not looking for advice, since I have made it to third/fourth round for some even larger firms / grad schemes and still feel determined to push through the rejections, but I feel like the volume of competition is much more obvious this year, almost all rejection emails also stating they had an 'unprecedented level'of applications (of course this is most likely just corporate jargon). I applied for a local firm with one office and they had 500 applications for 45 places. Another firm with one office (althougth based in London) had a 50% yearly increase in applications.
I know that obviously the volume of VS/TC seekers naturally increases year upon year, but it seems to be more than I anticipated. Has anybody else noticed this, or was I just blissfully ignorant in my first cycle?
For context I'm applying for a mix of national and silver circle firms. Last year I applied for about 8-10 firms and got through the first stage for all of them bar 1. This year I am struggling applying to a similar number but struggling to get past stage 1 for many firms. Since the last cycle my CV has greatly improved and my grades went from thirds/2:2s (mitigating circumstances) to high 2:1s at a RG uni. I recognise that I'm not entitled to a VS and the process is meant to be testing.
I am not looking for advice, since I have made it to third/fourth round for some even larger firms / grad schemes and still feel determined to push through the rejections, but I feel like the volume of competition is much more obvious this year, almost all rejection emails also stating they had an 'unprecedented level'of applications (of course this is most likely just corporate jargon). I applied for a local firm with one office and they had 500 applications for 45 places. Another firm with one office (althougth based in London) had a 50% yearly increase in applications.
I know that obviously the volume of VS/TC seekers naturally increases year upon year, but it seems to be more than I anticipated. Has anybody else noticed this, or was I just blissfully ignorant in my first cycle?
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