For the not preselected

You can contact the Traineeships Office and ask for your score, you will know where you lost the most points and why you weren't preselected, this way next year you can try to enhance your application file!

Do you have any idea if those who were preselected also have a right to ask about their scores?

Will we know have many candidates have applied this year?

Good luck to everybody for this year and for the next one if you are planning to try again!

If you are preselected you won't know your score. I was preselected last time and was curious about my points, however they refused to give it to me.

Perhaps it has changed this year because I was pre-selected and asked for my score and they gave it to me. They said the minimum required to be pre-selected is 13/20.

good to know:) thanks!

i asked them yesterday for my scores and they answered me today. i'm kinda disappointed with this.

Hi there,

I would really thank you if you could soothe me: it's not only that i was rejected, but my final score was 6/20. which for me, is pretty low. i'm PolSci graduated, with a Canadian exchange. i speak three official languages plus one co-official, and i'm mastering on European Studies. ok, no relevant working experience, that's a downside for sure, and i only picked up the foreign affairs dg as it was the only one that would have made sense. but i can't see how this app could have been that bad???? And worst, i don't see how to improve it, as really competition for recent graduate jobs here in Spain are virtually fierce (if not unabailable!).
btw, i wasn't even counting on the internship at the commission, as i thought i would never pass the second round... but being expeled at the first round? that was bad.

anyone having second thoughts about my case??? thank you

Hi Sylvia - did they tell you where you got he least points? I saw the score card once and they give your points for different things - for studies abroad, languages, post-graduade education (if you still study i think it doesnt count), grades during the studies, language knowledge, work experience (not thaaaat important), but I remember that the motivation was worth many points. So maybe you can ask for a detailed results, so that you know in which section you need to improve for the next time?
If it's education - next year you'll be a graduate, if it's motivation - you can work more on the letter of motivation next time, maybe consult it with more people, give to a native speaker to check for mistakes etc.

Hi Aneena,

they said they couldn't give me the details of my scores (it seems they are confidential). Actually my enquire to the office was to know the scores /ranking in order to improve my following candidacy.

I guess my week point then was my motivation letter? It wasn't brilliant, I had to apply in record time (I realized about the deadline the day before it closed!).

But, would you know, having got 6/20 this time doesn't give me much hopes for the next application..., even if in six months from now i have earned a master's program on EU studies and relevant experience (I finally got an internship as a consultant on the public sector for six months but I couldn't include it on my cv for the february application).


Thank you veyr much for your reply.

I 've got the answer also.
"Your total score was 12/20, whereas the minimum required to be pre-selected is 16/20."
I've got "just" 1 Bsc degree and I've finished the first year of the Msc... I'm sure about that I got less points for the studies, but I don't understand why it's so important...when I did my studies I worked in a full time job, it was not easy to manage them. I wrote 5 great motivation letter, I think it's more important than the marks...

Hi Kalin, they wouldn't give you any details on your score, would they? I guess they've changed their policy now (back to the dark ages???).

Unfortunately they didn't write me the detailed scores. So now I don't know what should I do, maybe I will try again when I will be finished with the master degree.

Hi,


They will not give your scores if you have been pre-selected. I know, I tried last time that I was pre-selected. They basically don't want you to email all of the HOU's and tell them your scores, since those are not posted in the VBB.

However, if you were pre-selected, then you should be able to get them, as I have seen others do it and there is no where in the rules that says you can't. However, it seems to depend on which desk you get your emails from, as to how detailed your scores are.

Also, it seems that this year the scoring is different. I can't recall specifically for the last sessions, but it seemed like the motivation was higher last time. This time the scoring is like this:

1. Academic profile (diplomas and marks obtained) - up to 6 points
2. Motivation (clear reasoning and expression, coherent choice for a Directorate General) - up to 2 points
3. Extra points (studies abroad, relevant work experience, linguistic knowledge, well documented application) - up to 2 points.


So you could write a killer motivation, but if they thought your marks weren't the best, then you could loose a lot of points!

I wouldn't be surprised if they changed this because of the ever increasing number of people that are applying. Just my opinion.

Well, all we can do is move on or apply for next year.

Hi there,
I have 15/20 and have not been preselected as the minimum required is 16 points. Unfortunately, I think that this time they don't tell the exact points you get for education/motivation etc. This is really bad as I don't know now what to improve for the next time. I speak three official languages , two of them working languages of the EU, have a Master's degree in European Integration with the highest possible grades and a Bcs degree in International Economic Relations. I have applied for DG Trade and Regional Policy. I have 5 years of working experience in the field of International Economic Relations and Foreign Trade. So, this rejection really came as a great surprise as I thought I would pass the preselection procedure

Hi Cutesushi,

I totally understand how you feel as I'm also in the same position. I got 9/20 and they replied that minimum score was 14. First thing I do not understand how you were not pre-selected when your score is 15. And why would they keep changing the minimum scores? what is it based on: nationality, DG selection? I think they really dropped the ball there..And the most unnoying thing that they are not accountable and do not give you any detailed feedback. Very unprofessional, period.

Considering the level they work at, instead of you I would request another explanation what is the minimum pre-selection criteria is based on. It looks that theywill receive a lot of complaints.

p.s. my profile is also icludes BA, MA and 3 years professional relevant experience.

As far as I understood, every different nationality has a different minimum threshold score, because of the quota applied for the different nationalities. Which is something I do not totally share, because it means very valuable applicants have been dropped out in favor or less prepared one, because of their nationality. Anyway, I should have imagined this. They said to me more than 2000 italians applied and I was 6 points under the threshold value (but not the actual scores). All of my friends without haven't passed the preselection, but none of us have a master nor a PhD yet, so I think that might be part of the reason.

Two question for all of you:
-I have the opportunity to spend five months as the assistant of an EU Member of Parliament, would this prevent me to apply again in the future for the traineeship? I asked, but they did not reply to this question.

-I should graduate in September and I have to decide what to after the graduation. What would help most to win the next application? Another internship? An intensive language course? (I am fluent in English and Italian, Good in French and Spanish, but still need to improve).

Hi Drioz,
with regard to your second question, I don't think an intensive language course would change much, because all the Commission wants is a proof of language knowledge - some kind of a certificate, however nobody really checks your level of fluency. So If your Spanish is good and you have a paper that says you speak Spanish nobody will care whether you're fluent or whether you make some mistakes - there is no interview and it will not influence the results of the future preselection.
When I was doing my internship I met some people with pretty poor academic and linguistic background, however they had many years of work experience, so I think this counts a lot.

i have 9/20. for me the limit was 15/20 because i'm not eu citizen but they basically told me that it depends on your competitions. one year you might have people with less points but the average wpuld be lower also. so i don't think that it has anything with you improvement but mostly luck because maybe with your 12/20 score, in march session 2010 or 2008 you would be preselected.

Drioz,

If you read section 2.3 of the rules, it states:

2.3. Prior employment:

"applications will not be accepted from candidates who – for more than six weeks:

– have already benefited or benefit from any kind of in-service training (formal
or informal, paid or unpaid) within a European institution or body2, or

– who have had or have any kind of employment within a European institution or
body2 ,

including anyone who is or has been an assistant to a Member of the European
Parliament..."

Btw, yes the minimum is different depending on country. They want to try to make it fair for at least all of the EU nations. If there are 2000 candidates from one country and only 10 from another, than they want to make sure those 10 have a decent shot to at least getting into the blue book. So they will create a higher minimum for the country with 2000 compared to the one with only 10.

I also heard that Italy had a high percentage of candidates.

Any idea on the Italian threshold? I enquired for my score, they just told me I was 7 points under the threshold but they didn't say anything about the minimum required to pass...