Merton has re-established its reputation as Oxford’s brainiest college by taking the top spot in this year’s Norrington Table. St John’s moved into second up from third last year and Worcester jumped eight places from 11th to third. New College, last year’s table toppers, were demoted to fourth.
At the bottom of the table Somerville, Teddy Hall and Queen’s came 27th, 28h and 29th respectively and Pembroke dropped a shocking 17 places to rock bottom 30th.
Other big moves included Trinity’s drop from second to 11th and Wadham’s jump from 19th to fifth.
According to the university website, “the Norrington score is calculated by attaching a score of 5 to a 1st class degree, 3 to a 2:1 degree, 2 to a 2:2 degree, 1 to a 3rd class degree and 0 to a pass, Honours Pass and Unclassified Honours. The percentage expressed is calculated by dividing the total college score by the total possible score the college could attain”.
This system has been criticised in recent years as “one-dimensional”, although seems to be influential, with Norrington results frequently correlating with volume of applicants to any given college.
| College | Rank | Score |
| Merton | 1 | 74.70% |
| St John’s | 2 | 74.56% |
| Worcester | 3 | 73.98% |
| New | 4 | 73.96% |
| Wadham | 5 | 73.79% |
| Jesus | 6 | 73.76% |
| Hertford | 7 | 73.33% |
| Harris Manchester | 8 | 72.59% |
| Magdalen | 9 | 72.18% |
| Lincoln | 10 | 72.13% |
| Trinity | 11 | 71.94% |
| St Catherine’s | 12 | 71.73% |
| St Anne’s | 13 | 71.58% |
| Corpus Christi | 14 | 71.52% |
| Exeter | 15 | 71.29% |
| Christ Church | 16 | 71.11% |
| St Hugh’s | 17 | 70.99% |
| Keble | 18 | 70.53% |
| Brasenose | 19 | 70.09% |
| Balliol | 20 | 70.09% |
| St Hilda’s | 21 | 69.75% |
| St Peter’s | 23 | 69.48% |
| Oriel | 24 | 69.02% |
| University | 25 | 68.85% |
| Mansfield | 26 | 68.47% |
| Lady Margaret Hall | 27 | 68.32% |
| Somerville | 28 | 68.22% |
| St Edmund Hall | 29 | 68.13% |
| Queen’s | 30 | 68.00% |
| Pembroke | 31 | 63.14% |