‘Is it a bad idea to chase grad rec about my vac scheme application?’

Chasing grad recruitment won’t change the outcome of your application. So you may as well if you feel they are taking too long to get back to you. It’s a good idea early on to ask them how long everything takes and when you can expect to hear back after each stage. That way at least you might feel you have more reason to chase.

Grad recruitment follow a very specific scoring framework so if you will either secure the role based on that or not, within the timeframes they set.

I also think putting your energy into other things helps in these scenarios. Sometimes a watched kettle never boils, so there’s no point in worrying and overthinking about the applications once you’ve completed the relevant steps. Unfortunately you’re just not the one in control and that’s fine!

Unfortunately, grad rec (and similar teams in general) are quite work shy so all you can do is just enjoy life and see what happens. There’s no point in chasing because they won’t read your emails anyway.