Revealed: These are the top 10 UK unis where the most students get firsts

Have you ever felt like getting a first was impossible? Surely you’re not hitting that golden 70 per cent on your assignments because the whole higher education system is rigged against you! It definitely can’t be because you spend all your time in the pub or watching MAFS! As part of the Daily Mail’s new uni league tables, it figured out what percentage of students get firsts at different UK unis in 2024. So, you can determine once and for all whether the odds are stacked against you, or whether you just haven’t done enough work.

The only unis on this list which aren’t Russell Group unis are the University of Bath and the University of St Andrews, where a huge 46.1 per cent of students are getting firsts in 2024.

Oxbridge don’t reward students for going through the pain of their admissions process. You’re much less likely to get a first at the University of Cambridge or the University of Oxford than you are at several other leading UK unis in 2024. The Uni of Cambridge is only seventh on this list. 38.7 per cent of Cantabs get firsts. The Uni of Oxford is just behind it on the list. Just 36.0 per cent of people graduate Oxford with a first.

Imperial College London seems to hand out firsts almost as much as Domino’s hands out freebies in Freshers’ Week. A massive 54.4 per cent of students get firsts there.

So, here are the top ten UK unis where students get the most firsts in 2024. We’ve also added the amount that get 2:1s for comparison purposes.

10. University of Exeter – 35.9 per cent get firsts, 53.6 per cent get 2:1s

9. University of Bath – 36.0 per cent get firsts, 54.8 per cent get 2:1s

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8. University of Oxford – 36.8 per cent get firsts, 57.2 per cent get 2:1s

7. University of Cambridge – 38.7 per cent get firsts, 52.9 per cent get 2:1s

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6. Durham University – 40.4 per cent get firsts, 51.5 per cent get 2:1s

5. London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) – 44.0 per cent get firsts, 49.9 per cent get 2:1s

4. University of Edinburgh – 42.2 per cent get firsts, 49.9 per cent got 2:1s

3. University of St Andrews – 46.1 per cent get firsts, 47 per cent get 2:1s

2. University College London – 49.8 per cent get firsts, 42.9 per cent get 2:1s

1. Imperial College London – 54.4 per cent get firsts, 38.8 per cent get 2:1s

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