Tennessee Tech University has been named one of the “Best in the Southeast” by The Princeton Review.

According to rankings released last week, the goal of the list is to “identify some of the colleges and universities that we feel stand out within each region and, in particular, to raise public awareness of many schools that may not be as well known as they should be.”

Tennessee Tech was among 136 institutions that made the list for the Southeast. Only 13 Tennessee schools made the “Best in the Southeast” list, and of those, only four were public universities. Along with TTU, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, UT-Martin and East Tennessee State were listed.

Each of the regional listings contains a variety of colleges, including public and private. The Review based its listings on standards for academic excellence and surveys of current students.

Tennessee Tech is known for its top ratings, including consistent first-place rankings in the Tennessee Board of Regents' annual report card. Academic quality and student satisfaction are among our bragging points.

The Princeton Review is a New York City-based company known for its test prep courses, education services, and books. It has conducted the survey since 1992, when it first published its annual "Best Colleges" rankings based on student ratings of their schools and reports of their experiences at them.

"All of the schools in this book are academically outstanding," says Princeton Review's Robert Franek, the book's lead author. "We report ranking lists in many categories to help college applicants and their parents decide which of these very different, but all great, colleges is best for them."

The listings are available on the company’s web site located at www.princetonreview.com/college/research/regional/region_southeast.asp.