Yes, according to a contrarian ranking of schools at the Wall Street Journal.
If there is any merit to this ranking, then it’s a testament to the power of the rising tide of New York City, the greatest city in the world, which is even lifting up its Ivy League school.
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Lion of the Blogosphere 
Who in the right mind would opt for Columbia if admitted to HYP? Or which entrepreneur wanna-be would choose Columbia over Stanford? Which techie or math/science nerd would choose Columbia over MIT?
Zack
November 4, 2016 at 1:07 PM
Trump’s children chose Penn over HYP.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 4, 2016 at 1:19 PM
Did they really choose Penn over HYP? It’s more likely they got into Penn because they benefited from the legacy status and not into HYP.
Zack
November 4, 2016 at 1:28 PM
That’s possible. Just because the father is a billionaire doesn’t mean automatic acceptance to HYP.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 4, 2016 at 1:29 PM
Renault is probably gonna chime in.
Why would a dodo choose Columbia-NYC over bumblef#ckville of Harvard Yard?
A good question to ask…does NYC living enhance the college experience, not afforded to those who live in a campus environment surrounded by green grass and no tide?
A really good question…does Columbia and other prestigious institutions work wonders for NYC neighborhoods — an instant gentrification of NAM cleansing. Overweight, unattractive black and Hispanic women are replaced with young White women shooting for the Manhattan life!!!
JS
November 4, 2016 at 1:49 PM
LotB: Just because the father is a billionaire doesn’t mean automatic acceptance to HYP.
Tee hee.
E. Rekshun
November 5, 2016 at 3:00 PM
Cal Tech is maybe the top super brain school in the US but not Ivy League, so called.
Schools over all are overrated. What matters are particular students, teachers and departments.
I mean for the smartest kids. Obviously for the connections and networking among the mediocre higher than average IQ kids it helps to get these schools on your resume.
But for smart, serious kids a school like Univ of Cal, Davis in biology for instance is as good or better than any of these top schools in the survey. But it doesn’t have name recognition and status of these other scholls.
Rifleman
November 4, 2016 at 1:31 PM
“What matters are particular students, teachers and departments.”
You mean Obama was wrong to say “You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
Zack
November 4, 2016 at 1:42 PM
“Schools over all are overrated. What matters are particular students, teachers and departments.”
The competition is so high and acceptance rates so low that there are more top notch students and instructors than positions. If there are more top students and instructors to go around than there are positions then what’s the difference between one school and another? I don’t ask that assuming there is none. I would have no way of knowing.
destructure
November 4, 2016 at 2:44 PM
Ivy League schools were ground zero for the rot that’s infested Western civilization. Apart from a handful of departments (physics, chemistry, mathematics) and some maverick professors, these institutions are utterly worthless.
I do, however, have a soft spot for Columbia. During the turmoil of the late 1960s and early 70s, the Columbia football team demonstrated great character. They managed to rise above their brainwashing and repeatedly roughed up hippies, radicals and other assorted malcontents during campus protests..
Lewis Medlock
November 4, 2016 at 1:48 PM
All colleges are worthless, and value creation in America is worthless, unless one has intentions to become a value transference parasite.
Although I have to say, without a large contingent of filthy non-whites in America, the entire country’s social and power dynamics would be as different as night and day.
JS
November 4, 2016 at 2:26 PM
The admissions process for elite colleges selects exceptionally well for virtue-signalling personality types.
chairman
November 4, 2016 at 7:01 PM
It’s hard to feel that NYC is “the greatest city in the world” when you’re in the subway system or on the ferry or in buses or scooting/walking around Brooklyn or in the trash “colleges” or in supermarkets or pharmacies or even parks. This Sunday’s the SWPL Pride Parade, though; the participants will pretend that they represent the greatest city in the world. Have you noticed that 90% of the ads for it feature middle-aged SWPL women demonstrating how great they feel about themselves?
Garr
November 4, 2016 at 2:18 PM
Prestigious institutions in NYC are located in desirable neighborhoods with expensive rent. Columbia could do better, if it loses its stuffy Ivy League attitude and actually expand immensely, with more departments and student housing in Morningside Heights. It’s really the prole schools that are forever not dynamic.
In Brooklyn, NYU has their engineering school and some of its admin offices in the heights, which is SWPL territory.
NYC is expensive for one effing reason: NAMs and NAMs only. Only unaware, sick minded, liberals who would never live next to these animals, are in denial of this fact.
JS
November 4, 2016 at 5:07 PM
I studied stats about SAT and where the people in the 1 in 1000 in terms of SAT score, wich means 1 in 1500 in general population or > 155 IQ (with 16 sd, paretian distrubution) : that means 1600 people each year : 450 are in Harvard, 150 in Yale, 100 in Princeton and 50 in Caltech (even if Caltech has the higest average, not the highest 25 centile average and a small size) …. Elsewhere the number doesnt rich a percentage high enough of the intake to identify them, and numbers must be very small, because i’ve noticed that at all level, only 45% of the people get into the university. For example, the 50 000 best spots will be fulfilled with 45% of the top scorers, that means they will have 22 500 of the best scorers, and the average SAT will be 4th centile).
—> That means that if you want to mix with lot of bright students : there is only one place, Harvard College. You can have the same proportion in Calltech, however a much smaller place. So genious land is really Harvard by far for college. That’s weird because they don’t like that tag.
Bruno from Paris
November 4, 2016 at 2:36 PM
Trump went to Penn himself (Wharton) so they were legacies. Also, you are not quite right, Lion, about HYP.
“That’s possible. Just because the father is a billionaire doesn’t mean automatic acceptance to HYP.”
-Lion
Sure, not automatic but with a 10 million dollar bribe..I mean…er… a donation to further diversity and excellence, the kid is in. And that’s chump change to a billionaire. And tax deductible as well.
JimBonobo
November 4, 2016 at 2:54 PM
I accepted Columbia over Harvard because they promised not to cancel the crew season over my measurements of girl cankles.
Marty
November 4, 2016 at 3:22 PM
Some readers here are missing Lion’s point. Columbia is more coveted than HYP, in part, because of its location in NYC. For one, the wages are higher in NYC, and there are more resources here (not just money, but a variety of many other things).
JS
November 4, 2016 at 5:17 PM
Harvard students and graduates can get summer internships and jobs in New York City. Also, Boston is hardly a cultural wasteland.
nebbish
November 4, 2016 at 6:10 PM
True, but NYC offers more social networking for the privileged than Bahston. Bean Town isn’t exactly known for its elitism.
JS
November 4, 2016 at 7:58 PM
“Bean Town isn’t exactly known for its elitism.”
Boston Brahmin families were among the high elite of American society at least through the early 20th century.
nebbish
November 4, 2016 at 9:31 PM
Modern Day Boston comes across as a working class town — LoftB’s term prole. No one associates Boston with prestige or remotely world class. Harvard Yard and MIT are actually located in Cambridge, which is a college town.
JS
November 4, 2016 at 11:50 PM
Cambridge is very close to Boston and has areas of similar population density. It’s not a 1950’s type suburb. Also, Harvard’s medical and business schools are located in Boston, The business school is a half-mile walk from Harvard Yard and even closer to the older Harvard residential Houses that are south of Harvard Yard.
nebbish
November 5, 2016 at 3:14 PM
From outside America, NY lost the title of the “greatest city in the world” long time ago, it died more or less with the last episode of sex and the city. The kids these days are much more excited about Berlin, Tokyo or Barcelona, even though those cities are also loosing a bit of their glamour or alternative chic. The thing is, with the internet advanced to what it is today, nothing is exciting anymore and NY is just another boring rich people suburb, but not as fun as having some Russians and Arabs driving around in lambos as in London.
Hashed
November 4, 2016 at 5:38 PM
Any anglo-sphere city is boring, and people are more shallow/superificial in those towns.
JS
November 4, 2016 at 8:00 PM
Berlin, Tokyo or Barcelona, even though those cities are also loosing a bit of their glamour or alternative chic.
Berlin is nice for native Germans and Western Europeans but it doesn’t have the cache of other cities. Barcelona is just an extended vacation for foreign college students while Tokyo is no better or worse than it was 20, 30, and 40 years ago.
London and Paris were the coolest urban areas in Western Europe until ISIS took them both over.
The Undiscovered Jew
November 4, 2016 at 8:37 PM
Penn is the coolest Ivy league school, followed by Dartmouth.
Daniel
November 4, 2016 at 7:37 PM
It’s less prestigious. On the other hand you could totally see some 18-year-old deciding they’d rather spend their time in New York than Boston, New Haven, or Princeton.
SFG
November 4, 2016 at 10:03 PM
Correct, yet Mitt Romney and his family appear less prestigious, more prolish than the Trumps, despite being associated with New England, and he himself being a Harvard Grad.
JS
November 5, 2016 at 12:56 AM
I’m surprised at your boosterism. I believe you were at one time considering pulling up stakes and relocating to another part of the country. Trumpism must’ve really taken hold. New York City is YUGE!!!, etc.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a greatest city in the world, any more than that there’s a most beautfiul woman in the world or a most interesting book in the world. Or for that matter, a best university in the world.
ice hole
November 5, 2016 at 11:15 AM
You misinterpret my remark as “boosterism”. It’s an observation that OTHER people view New York City as the greatest city in the world.
Lion of the Blogosphere
November 5, 2016 at 12:06 PM
There are some who consider Montréal, the greatest city of North America. It was and still is another NYC of the 1980s/early 90s, but without the crime.
You’re correct to say NYC is now a cultural desert, if you compare it to a city like Montréal, which has bookstores in every neighborhood and concerts of every type of music you can imagine.
JS
November 5, 2016 at 10:46 PM