The Student Room Group

What is prejudicing my vac scheme applications?

Hi there,

I have applied to five vac schemes this year, and have been rejected from all of them.

To summarise, I applied with the following:

5 GCSEs
No A-Levels (I took the Open University equivalent of A-level Spanish and a couple of first year English linguistics modules in lieu of A-Levels to get to University)
A high 2.1 from a Russell Group Uni in languages.
Work experience in retail.

I was wondering whether I could be given some tips as to what might be counting against me, I haven't applied for the GDL yet, does this indicate a lack of seriousness? Is my lack of A-Levels or poor GCSEs the main problem? Lack of relevant work experience?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Original post by zterpzterp
Hi there,

I have applied to five vac schemes this year, and have been rejected from all of them.

To summarise, I applied with the following:

5 GCSEs
No A-Levels (I took the Open University equivalent of A-level Spanish and a couple of first year English linguistics modules in lieu of A-Levels to get to University)
A high 2.1 from a Russell Group Uni in languages.
Work experience in retail.

I was wondering whether I could be given some tips as to what might be counting against me, I haven't applied for the GDL yet, does this indicate a lack of seriousness? Is my lack of A-Levels or poor GCSEs the main problem? Lack of relevant work experience?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.


Hi there,

It is really difficult to say why your applications have been unsuccessful going by this information alone.

If you do not have any exposure to the legal sector at all (e.g. no work experience, workshops, insight days etc) and you are not explaining your motivations for the career and the firm well, then the combination of both are likely to be influencing your application.

It could be something as simple as you are not eligible for the scheme (as someone who has graduated, many firms would say you are not eligible) or if you have completed any psychometric tests, you could have fallen down there.

At Freshfields, many applications for our summer vacation scheme fall down because of the following reasons:

* The written style and accuracy of the form could have been stronger
* They do not demonstrate a wide variety of interests in their extra-curricular activities
* They do not explain in enough detail why a career in international law at Freshfields would be right for them

I recommend having a look at the following article on Legal Week that was written by one of our partner. It gives some useful hints and tips about how to approach application forms.

http://www.legalweek.com/legal-week/analysis/2045327/perfect-application-masterclass-applying-bombing

Kind Regards

Jess

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