Cambridge colleges - Tompkins table?

[suzannesoranges]

DD applying to Cambridge and is trying to decide between colleges. A teacher told us that the colleges that rank in the top 5 on the Tompkins table traditionally get the most applicants - and therefore tend to become the most competitive.

I know that everyone says not to overthink this - however, I've just looked at the applicant stats for one of the colleges dd likes. In 2022 that college's positioning on the table plummeted down a long way that particular year...and so did the number of applicants the following year (for entry in 2023). It was a significant change, so it obviously can make a difference.

I've been looking for the 2024 table online (the latest one) and can't seem to find anything official - in fact I've got two websites saying different things 😖 does anyone know where we might be able to find reliable stats? Thanks so much in advance x

I'm not convinced that the Tomkins is all that important in terms of applications, at least not for the top 2/3rds, but here is the 2024 version anyway: https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/28202

Thank you for this. Obviously all the colleges are amazing and dd wouldn't be concerned with which is the top of the league...but it's interesting to dig into a bit - if she can't decide between two, for example, she might as well apply for the one that's less competitive!

Does anyone know which way you should go re the ratio of independent school intake? There are a few outliers that are have a much higher proportion of independent school students - would a state school student have a bit of an advantage applying to one of those - on the assumption those colleges are trying to up their number of state school students?