LAST EVER TOMPKINS’ TABLE

Peter Tompkins has released what may well be – if CUSU has its way – the last ever Tompkins Table, ending a 30-year-old tradition of being precious about what grades your college gets.

The full rankings are as follows:

Tompkins Table 2016  (Score – Firsts (%) (change in rank))

1. Trinity 75.6 – 45.1
2. Pembroke 70.6 – 32.7 (3)
3. Christ’s 70.1 – 31.6 (11)
4. Emmanuel 69.8 – 30.9
5. St John’s 69.4 – 29.8 (5)
6. Queens’ 69.3 – 30.1 (1)
7. Jesus 69.1 – 29.3 (4)
8. Peterhouse 68.9 – 31.8 (–2)
9. Magdalene 68.8 – 28.4 (–7)
10. Corpus Christi 68.6 –28.9 (12)
11. Churchill 68.5 – 30.5 (–8)
12. Downing 68.4 – 29.2 (–3)
13. Trinity Hall 68.2 – 29.2 (– 5)
14. King’s 68.2 – 30.3 (4)
15. Selwyn 67.4  – 28 (–3)
16. Sidney Sussex 67.2– 25.5 (1)
17. St Catharine’s 67.2 –24.6 (–4)
18. Clare 67.1 –25.9 (–3)
19. Gonville and Caius 66.9– 26.2
20. Wolfson 65.5 – 21.6 (6)
21. Newnham 65.5 – 21.9
22. Robinson 65.3 –22.2 (–6)
23. Fitzwilliam 65.2 –23 (–3)
24. Homerton 64.2 –20.8 (3)
25. Murray Edwards 64 – 18.2 (–2)
26. Lucy Cavendish 63.3 –13.8 (3)
27. Girton 3 –19 (–3)
28. St Edmund’s 62.7 – 19.8
29. Hughes Hall 61.7 – 14.1 (–4)

Trinity once more tops the Table, increasing their lead. In last year’s iteration of the Tompkins Table, Trinity trounced the other colleges with a healthy 41.0% of firsts. This year, Trinity’s 45.1% of firsts is followed by Pembroke, with just under 33%.

An anonymous Trinitarian said “It’s consoling to know that there’s at least one good thing about Trinity to make up for all its terrible aspects. Suck on that Pembroke.”

Christ’s – rising a stunning ELEVEN places – rounds out the top three with 31.6% of firsts. The Tab was told by a proud Christ’s student “Hopefully the Tompkins Table success will mean the Senior Tutor will be pleased and relax the rules of quiet period next year which made me too paranoid to even cough in the library in exam term.”

Other colleges who’ve moved up in the world are John’s (5 ranks), Corpus (12 ranks) and Wolfson (6 ranks). Magdalene – after an impressive second place finish last year – has dropped back to 9. Churchill, too, fell 8 places, Robinson fell 6 and Tit Hall 5. At the bottom of the table is Hughes’ Hall in 29th place, just below St Edmund’s and Girton.

aka: current centre of anti-Table sentiment

The results are based on publicly-displayed class lists, which the University releases to him in advance of their publication in the University Reporter. The Table relies on the proportion of class marks gained by undergraduate candidates for each college in ranking each one – meaning graduate colleges Clare Hall and Darwin don’t appear. Traditionally, the results are published in The Independent – although this year, they were published by Varsity

At a CUSU Council in Michaelmas 2015, President Priscilla Mensah proposed a motion to “eradicate” all ranking tables between colleges, after controversial Trinity JCR President Cornelius Roemer made a comment to her about students at his college being better. The abolition of class lists has hit a snag, with enough Fellows signing a letter to send the proposal to a Regent House vote. Students, too, will get their say, with a petition for a CUSU Referendum gaining at least 700 signatures.

So who knows whether we’ll be back in 2017 for an annual addition to the timeless ritual of whose-college-is-better.