lots of questions

hi, i'm going to apply for the march stage and i've got lots of questions... maybe there's somebody who already knows more than i do

- language skills. - i've been studying in the uk for an erasmus term, obviously in english, but i however do not have any official document stating my english skills, never did the toefl test or obtained a camebridge certificate -so is the proof of studying at an uk university for one term enough proof for my english skills?

-i'd estimate my french skills currently to be at b2-c1 level... as i've recently spendt quite some time in quebec and france... the last course certificate i however obtained some time ago states level b1 - which level should i state in the application?

- as i studied law i'm applying for "legal", however does that still mean i could be used in all directorate-generals? does anybody knows something specific about applying for the legal stuff, - i assume every department needs legal advice from time to time but is there some information available where they actually use legal stagiaires?
anyhow are the units we're interested in still relevant as we do not have to give priorities in the online application? should we still mention them in the motivation letter?

-are you going to include reference letters?

thanks a lot for your answers and good luck to all of you with your applications

Hi ukrt13,

First question... absolutely YES!

Second... B1. (no use if you state B2 or C1, they will count the level on the document)

Third... I don't know... That is problem for me too. Choose one area now and try to be specific in motivation latter, as much space allow to be. And if your are preselected than you can contact units and ask them... but that after, because I think it's more useful to be specific in motivation latter.

Fourth.... I am, but I don't think they make much contribution, but they don't hurt.

Ad. 1
Last time I indicated in my application that my English is C2 and in order to prove I attached the Cambridge certificate FCE which proves B1 and also a proof of studying in Finland where I did Erasmus in English. I think it worked out, though I wasn’t eventually selected but only pre-selected. :-)

Ad. 2
Based on the above I assume that guys who handle the pre-selection are not as strict in verifying application as one may think and therefore I would say that you can indicate at least B1 with your French certificate. If you have any other documentation which may prove that you stayed for a while in France / Canada (e.g. proof of employment?), then attach it and see what happen.

Of course, I can be wrong at that point so you take your own risk :-)

Ad. 3
When I was applying for October 2012 I examined carefully all units of each DG to determine which deals with legal matters. Usually, name of the unit give you some tips e.g. in DG EMPL there is a unit B/2 Labor law. In case of DG JUST it seems that each unit deals with law. :-)
On the other hand, it is possible that some units search for lawyers, while their core activity is not of legal character.

As with everything in this program, you know nothing before you are selected and all that people say is just speculation. :-)

Ad. 4
Yeah, this time I will include some.

Hope it helps you somehow. :-)

thanks a lot for your answers to both of you, that actually does help! :-)