GVSU named a top Midwestern university by Princeton Review

Grand Valley State University is one of the best universities in the Midwest according to The Princeton Review. The New York City-based education services company selected the school as one of 159 institutions it recommends in its "Best in the Midwest" section on its Web site feature 2009 Best Colleges: Region by Region .

Robert Franek, Princeton Review's vice president of publishing, said: "We commend all of the schools we name this year as our 'regional best' colleges primarily for their excellent academic programs. We selected them based on institutional data we collected from several hundred schools in each region, our visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of independent and high school-based college advisors whose recommendations we invite. We also take into account what each school's customers — their students — report to us about their campus experiences at their schools on our 80-question student survey. Finally, we work to have our annual roster of 'regional best' colleges present a range of institutions in each region that varies by size, selectivity, character and locale."

The 159 colleges The Princeton Review chose for this year's "Best in the Midwest" designations are located in 12 states: Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The Princeton Review also designated 212 colleges in the Northeast, 120 in the West, and 139 in the Southeast as best in their locales on the company's 2009 Best Colleges: Region by Region section on its site. The 630 colleges named "regional best(s)" represent only about 25 percent (one out of four) of the nation's 2,500 four-year colleges.

The Princeton Review survey for this project asks students 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. Actual comments from surveyed students pepper each Princeton Review college profile on its site.

The Princeton Review (www.PrincetonReview.com ) is a New York-based company known for its test preparation courses, books, and college admission and other education services. It is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.