For the sixth year in a row, Shepherd University has been named one of the best colleges and universities in the Southeast, according to the Princeton Review’s website.

The New York City-based education services company selected Shepherd as one of 133 institutions it recommends in its “Best in the Southeast” section on its website feature 2011 Best Colleges: Region by Region.

The 133 colleges the Princeton Review chose for its Best in the Southeast designation are located in 12 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

“We’re pleased to recommend Shepherd to users of our site as one of the best schools to earn their undergrad degree. We chose it and the other institutions we name as regional best colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs,” said Robert Franek, the Princeton Review’s senior vice president of publishing.

“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,” he said. “We also take into account what students at the schools reported to us about their campus experiences at them on our 80-question student survey for this project.”

The Princeton Review also designated 218 colleges in the Northeast, 120 in the West, and 152 in the Midwest as best in their locales on the company’s 2011 Best Colleges: Region by Region section on its website.

The 623 colleges named regional bests represent about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges.

The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in its 2010 Best Colleges: Region by Region website. The Princeton Review survey asks students to rate their own schools on several issues, from accessibility of their professors to the quality of the campus food, and answer questions about themselves, their fellow students and their campus life.