How does this work for University rankings?

[DasEnglischesWetter]

At Universities like Oxbridge, they tell you what rank you came in your cohort ie if you came 15th/250 for a certain module or overall.

But, some other Universities seem to only tell you if you come 1st in your cohort but don’t tell anyone else.

Do you know how this works?

How to find out your relative rank?

Do non-Oxbridge universities tell you your relative rank?

Firstly Oxbridge is not a university. Oxford and Cambridge are not the same place and implying that they are in an OP like this really gets my goat (I don't mind it so much as shorthand when discussion uni applications for some reason!).

"Universities like Oxbridge" – what do you mean? Do you mean "the universities Oxford and Cambridge"? say that then. Or do you mean "higher ranking UK universities"? well, say that.

Secondly why on earth would you be bothered about this? honestly? Are you thinking of a specific subject like medicine? even then tbh why does it matter? One of my DC came top in their final year for their subject and the only reason they even found out was bc they won a prize.

Honestly I cannot see why it would matter. Are you doing your best? are you achieving the grade you deserve? If you put in more targeted work on xx or yy, would that see an increase in grade ? That's all that matters IMHO.

We had DD at Bath who didn't really know where in the class she was.

She won a cash prize for having the best lab project of her year, so she felt she did well.
She is a teacher and has never been asked where she came in her year.

I have never heard this. I know it is an American thing, but I don't think it is done here, not in the universities or courses my dd's did anyway, and that includes Oxbridge and RG's

Occasionally one of my personal tutees has asked me about this. I think about what their ranking is, and how they are likely to react to knowing it.

I would never reveal a low ranking, but the degree classification or module mark would give a strong clue and I would expand on that constructively if I thought it would be helpful. If the ranking is pretty good (or better) and the student seems to have a good reason for wanting to know, I tell them.

I thought it would be good knowing so someone can put on their CV or LinkedIn that they ranked top of their cohort or something like that

Ah is that the reason? What if you were not top though? tbh if I were appointing a recent graduate that would not really impress me that much. Pretty sure DD has never mentioned her top mark in an interview or on her CV. Other things would be more important such as work ethic, experience, examples of what you could do for my company.

For PG studies the referee is usually asked to place the student in a percentile grouping ( eg Top 10%, Top 25%, and sometimes to give an actual ranking). Occasionally I have been asked to do the same by employers.

Yes, occasionally I'm asked this as well. But I have to work it out manually, our system doesn't tell us.

I was asking about UG

I was referring to UG students applying for PG study or, sometimes, employment.

Not really a thing in most universities in UK HE other than for purposes of individual prize giving. There's module marks and programme marks which depend on university regulations (so different 'rankings' that could be applied (and university regulations/calculations can vary a little not really comparable in a pure maths sense from one institution to another). I also know of many staff who wouldn't independently take this on because they only see their module's mark and if students are doing resits or defer an assessment you don't get them all in one go to be sure, the rank could change in theory. There's also the associated data concern that by telling a student you could be implying info a out other student's marks depending on the size of the cohort. Employers are much more keen on students/graduates evidencing skills than comparing them to a class who won't be representative of their recruitment field.

I remember for maths at Cambridge, they all
seemed to know what order they were all ranked in from end year exams. I don’t remember any other sets of people knowing this. Seemed to be a particular maths thing.

Agree with the generic “at oxbridge” usage being weird and annoying - first, it persists in the lumping together of just these top two places when there are a small number of also super top tier places. And secondly they’re not the same. Not generic. Especially on a thread the other day where someone said her daughter was “at Oxbridge” - no she isn’t. It’s not a place that exists. Harrumph.

It’s not really a thing in the UK, more a US thing I believe, so would be odd if you put this on a LI profile - and can’t be evidenced. So it won’t make any difference when applying for jobs. As @poetryandwine says if an employer asks for it, they’ll get it, but employers generally only want the degree class.

I agree, @titchy. Usually it’s all about the degree class.

hahah yes @TallagallaPenguin I saw that the other say that a student was “at Oxbridge” I mean how? Also “my DC applied to Oxbridge” I mean they could only have applied to Oxford or Cambs tbh.

Anyway. I agree btw that the degree class is the main thing anyone will look at. Top of the group is all relative anyway. What if it was a very small cohort, or a not especially strong one?

Which university and degree course is it? Do you realise that future employers are far more interested in your skills and behaviours than whether you came 17th in your module on the royal family or 2nd in tort.

Ranking is only ever useful if you are top 5 of 50+students.
Unis (and sponsors) use their prize-giving to give to the top skills... lab work, project work, essay work, best of year. A CV looks good with 2024 winner of the "ABC" prize for "XYZ"

My School is very large, so a student outside of the top five can still be quite distinguished.

I agree prizes always look good on a CV!

At risk of being annoying, I have one YP at Oxbridge (deliberately obscure because wish to remain anonymous). They know exactly their place per exam as are told where they sit in the cohort. I agree that Oxford and Cambridge are not the same and structure their degrees quite differently.
Also have one at a RG uni - they get given much more detailed data on distribution of results per exam, median, mean etc so can establish the percentile they are in.
Neither use their position in the year but rather the classification of results on applications. This seems to be enough to secure internships etc.

It's good for those who are top of cohort.

Otherwise it introduces another layer of pressure and competition. ("We accept students with a 1st or who were in the top 10 of their cohort" ... coming soon to job adverts)

Seems normal to me. Our (handwritten) degree results were posted as a ranked list on the department notice board for everyone to see. We were also ranked every year on our end of year exams at my very ordinary comp. This was a very long time ago though.

GDPR put an end to posting results on a noticeboard.

At Imperial College they have a Deans List each year which has the top 10% of the cohort on it.

Knowing your position in your university cohort is a bit meaningless in my opinion, because all universities set their own exams so it's still not comparable to someone else at a different university.

Is this really a thing at Oxford? I didn’t know this. My dd is off there on Monday and already has imposter syndrome so not sure this will be a good thing for her if she doesn’t do well!