CAPE GIRARDEAU - For the fourth straight year, Southeast Missouri State University is one of the best colleges and universities in the Midwest, according to The Princeton Review.

The education services company, widely known for its test prep programs and college and graduate school guides, included Southeast as one of 153 institutions it profiled in its "Best in the Midwest" section of its website feature, "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region," posted earlier this month on the company's website.

“We are pleased to once again be recognized as one of the “Best in the Midwest” by the Princeton Review,” said Kenneth W. Dobbins, president of Southeast. “Our University’s outstanding faculty, academic programs and accreditations make us ‘The University of First Choice,’ and we are proud to be recognized as one of the best by Princeton Review."

Robert Franek, Princeton Review senior vice president and publisher, said the Princeton Review chose the 'regional best' colleges “mainly for their excellent academic programs. From several hundred schools in each region, we winnowed our list based on institutional data we collected directly from the schools, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of our staff, plus college counselors and advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us. Only schools that permit us to independently survey their students are eligible to be considered for our regional 'best' lists."

For this project, The Princeton Review asks students attending the schools to rate their own schools on several issues -- from the accessibility of their professors to quality of the campus food -- and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students, and their campus life. Comments from surveyed students are quoted in the school profiles on The Princeton Review site. The profiles also have a "Survey Says" list that reveals topics about which students surveyed at the school were in highest agreement.

The schools in The Princeton Review’s "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region" website section are also rated in six categories by The Princeton Review. The ratings, which appear on the school profiles, are scores on a scale of 60 to 99. The Princeton Review tallied these scores based on institutional data it obtained from the colleges in 2010-2011 and/or student survey data. The rating score categories include: Academics, Admissions Selectivity, Financial Aid, Fire Safety, Quality of Life, and Green.

The Princeton Review does not rank the 629 colleges in its "2012 Best Colleges: Region by Region" list hierarchically or by region or in various categories. Rather, the Princeton Review surveys students, asking them to rate their own schools on several issues – their school’s academics, administration, campus life, student body and themselves.