Tompkins Table

The Tompkins Table is an annual ranking that lists the colleges of the University of Cambridge in order of their undergraduate students' performances in that year's examinations. It was created in 1981 by Peter Tompkins, an undergraduate mathematics student, and is compiled exclusively for the newspaper The Independent.1

Contents

The rankings

Initially, it only included final year exams but since 1997 has covered all exams for which grades are allocated. The table allocates 5 points for a First Class degree, 3 points for an Upper Second (known also as a 2-1), 2 points for a Lower Second (a 2-2), 1 point for a Third and no points for someone only granted an allowance towards an Ordinary Degree. The scores in each subject are then weighted to a common average, to avoid the bias towards colleges with higher proportions of students entered for subjects which receive higher average grades. The result is expressed as a percentage of the total number of points available. It should be noted that the differences between the highest places on the table are usually very slight. Over the twenty-eight years that this table has been running, Christ's College has averaged to be the top College for academic excellence, however, in recent years Emmanuel College lays claim to consistently having the best results, topping the table in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007, as well as being second in 2001, 2002 and 2008. The rankings are not officially endorsed by the University. Since Darwin College and Clare Hall admit only graduate students, they do not feature in this undergraduate ranking. Some of the mature colleges, including St. Edmund's College, Hughes Hall, Lucy Cavendish College, and Wolfson College, have significantly more graduate students than undergraduate students, so the results here are not representative of the majority of the student population of each these colleges.

Below is the table for 2008 :

Position College Tompkins Score (%) Firsts (%)
1 Selwyn College 68.47 29.9
2 Emmanuel College 68.30 30.6
3 Trinity College 68.27 31.4
4 Gonville & Caius College 67.33 27.9
5 Magdalene College 65.97 24.5
6 Churchill College 65.72 27.1
7 Jesus College 65.60 25.2
8 Christ's College 65.27 25.7
9 Corpus Christi College 65.24 24.1
10 Pembroke College 64.96 24.5
11 St. Catharine's College 64.63 23.5
12 Downing College 64.47 22.8
13 Clare College 64.44 22.5
14 Sidney Sussex College 64.21 20.9
15 Trinity Hall 63.76 19.3
16 Queens' College 63.58 22.3
17 Robinson College 63.32 20.6
18 Peterhouse 63.21 22.9
19 King's College 63.07 22.5
20 St. John's College 62.48 20.5
21 Fitzwilliam College 61.08 18.2
22 Girton College 60.84 15.3
23 Murray Edwards College 60.02 13.9
24 Newnham College 59.96 13.3
25 Homerton College 58.62 13.0
26 Hughes Hall 56.36 20.8
27 Wolfson College 55.13 7.4
28 Lucy Cavendish College 52.60 8.7
29 St Edmund's College 51.55 11.2


College 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Christ's College 1 1 4 2 2 4 6 2 8
Churchill College 15 9 10 9 19 18 13 15 6
Clare College 9 6 3 6 4 9 12 17 13
Corpus Christi College 10 20 18 7 10 16 8 8 9
Downing College 8 10 8 12 17 15 11 3 12
Emmanuel College 3 2 2 1 1 5 1 1 2
Fitzwilliam College 21 13 20 20 15 13 19 14 21
Girton College 18 17 16 17 25 24 22 21 22
Gonville & Caius College 12 8 7 4 5 2 2 10 4
Homerton College 25 24 26 25 26 25
Hughes Hall 27 27 29 29 29 26
Jesus College 13 11 9 10 9 7 10 9 7
King's College 20 21 14 16 20 10 17 18 19
Lucy Cavendish College 26 26 27 26 24 28
Magdalene College 22 22 15 18 22 20 20 13 5
New Hall 16 23 24 24 23 25 24 23 23
Newnham College 24 24 22 21 13 21 23 22 24
Pembroke College 6 7 1 3 6 6 4 7 10
Peterhouse 14 19 23 22 21 22 21 25 18
Queens' College 5 5 5 5 8 8 14 11 16
Robinson College 19 14 21 23 16 11 18 20 17
St. Catharine's College 11 18 12 11 7 1 3 5 11
St Edmund's College 29 29 28 28 28 29
St. John's College 4 4 11 13 14 12 15 19 20
Selwyn College 7 12 13 14 11 19 7 4 1
Sidney Sussex College 23 16 19 15 18 14 9 12 14
Trinity College 2 3 6 8 3 3 5 6 3
Trinity Hall 17 15 17 19 12 17 16 16 15
Wolfson College 28 28 23 27 27 27

2

Past Rankings

Consecutive yearly rankings since 2000:3

Norrington Table

The corresponding ranking for the Oxford colleges is the Norrington Table. Since Oxford adopted split second-class degrees in 1986, the Norrington Table has adopted the Tompkins Table method of scoring, but without the weighting attached to individual subject scores.

References

  1. ^ Garner, Richard (2008-07-28), "'Poorer' college tops Cambridge degree table", The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/poorer-college-tops-cambridge-degree-table-878699.html, retrieved on 31 July 2008 
  2. ^ Tompkins Table 2000-2007
  3. ^ Matt Mayer's Tompkins Table listings

External links

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