Kent State was recently named one of the best schools in the Midwest by the Princeton Review, a New York-based company known for its test preparation and admissions services.

This is the fourth year Kent State has been placed on the list, according to information in a release from Rachel Wenger, university public relations and marketing coordinator.

Michael Palumbo, editor at The Princeton Review, said the company’s editorial board picks colleges based on academic performance and student survey responses, rather than with a set formula.

“It’s not ‘plug in x, y, z, and you have a best Midwestern school,'” he said.

According to The Princeton Review’s Web site, Kent State was one of 158 schools in the 12-state region with this honor and one of 26 in Ohio. Other area universities included John Carroll and Case Western Reserve.

The Princeton Review looks for a wide variety of schools, from small to large and art-based to military to get the best representation of an area, Palumbo said. They usually begin their search with about 2,000 schools that regularly send statistics and figures.

Schools can only be included in the list if The Princeton Review gets enough student evaluations, Palumbo said. The survey is available year-round at survey.review.com.

The Princeton Review does not actively seek out people to take the survey, but they encourage universities to inform students about it, Palumbo said.

Contact administration reporter Rachel Abbey at [email protected].