To counter the glut of 2:1s, Mr Thomas recommends sub-dividing that class of degree even further, to recognise the "very good but not quite first-class" students.
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He has formidable intellectual powers: possessor of a first-class degree, ex-president of the Oxford Union, and an ex-consultant with McKinsey.
Boyle, who was accused of dumbing down Radio 4, attended a comprehensive school in Glasgow before gaining a first class degree in English at the University of Strathclyde, and then completing an MA on Charles Dickens.
Roughly 6% of black British students got a first class honours degree at UK universities in 2011-12, compared with nearly 19% of white British students, data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) shows.
About 83% of history trainees and 77% of those planning to teach English had a first class degree or a 2:1, compared with 52% of those wanting to teach maths and 54% of science trainees.
She graduated near the top of her class, with a degree in systems engineering.
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There was Lord Jenkins himself, then plain Woy, in possession of a first-class degree from Balliol College, Oxford, like his colleague Denis Healey.
"It's a possibility that some people might not want to go because Messi is not there but they have a degree of top class players, " added Smith.
Among members of the creative class with no college degree, the post-recession unemployment rate was 5.7%, compared to 10% among service sector workers and 15.1% among counterparts who also had no college degree and had previously been employed in working class jobs.
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She was in the 2nd class at Morehouse School of Medicine and received her MD degree from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, as well as an MBA from Tulane University.
At central Missouri's Columbia College, the hunt for students on the verge of graduating worked so well that the school plans to broaden its efforts to find bachelor's degree candidates who are just one class shy of donning the cap and gown.
Getting a college degree is a traditional mark of middle-class respectability.
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The Salt Lake Tribune reports the man was charged Tuesday with two third-degree felony charges of child endangerment and one class B misdemeanor accusing him of possession of a controlled substance.
Born in 1957, the eldest of seven children, Mr Hayward gained a first class geology degree from Aston University in Birmingham, and a PhD from Edinburgh University at the age 22.
The other three scenarios include: going over the fiscal cliff with no compromise, going over the cliff with some middle-class tax cuts, or an agreement with a high degree of partisan divide but some compromise.
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In 2000 and 2004, Mr Bush got the vote of a majority of the white working class (here defined as whites without a college degree).
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Miss Blackman completed a first-class honours degree in education studies shortly before she died, and had spent much of her spare time caring for autistic children.
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William's 2:1 class degree beats his father's 2:2 from Cambridge, making him one of the most academically successful royals.
He stayed through college but earned a second undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati, where he was a varsity cheerleader, senior class president and valedictorian.
By and large, for-profit education firms like Apollo Group (APOL) have been taking advantage of new trends in education by providing class structures that suit working adults who want to get a degree.
Born in 1968 in the town of Hisar in the northern state of Haryana to middle-class parents, Mr Kejriwal graduated from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kharagpur with a degree in mechanical engineering.
The programs all have one thing in common: Managers from across the globe come together to study and earn a degree, putting in contact executives from a variety of backgrounds more diverse than a typical class cohorts.
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