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Cleveland Institute of Art is one of the best colleges in the Midwest, and one of only two colleges of art and design to achieve this designation from The Princeton Review, an education services company widely known for its test preparation programs and college and graduate school guides.

The Princeton Review named 155 institutions to the “Best in the Midwest” section of its website feature, “2014 Best Colleges: Region by Region.” The CIA entry is viewable by logging into the company’s website. The company’s regional best colleges constitute only 25% of the nation's four-year colleges. The Princeton Review does not rank the schools on its regional best lists.

“I'm very proud that, out of hundreds of colleges in the Midwest, CIA is included among the best by The Princeton Review,” said CIA President Grafton J. Nunes. “In addition, CIA is one of only two colleges on this list that is a member of AICAD, the prestigious Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design."

Robert Franek, The Princeton Review's senior vice president and publisher, said, “We're pleased to recommend these colleges to users of our site as the best schools to earn their undergrad degrees. We chose these as our 'regional best' colleges mainly for their excellent academic programs.”

From several hundred schools in each region, The Princeton Review winnowed its list based on institutional data collected directly from the schools, visits to schools over the years, and the opinions of the company’s staff, college counselors and advisors. “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,” Franek said.

For this project, The Princeton Review asks students attending the schools to rate their own schools on several issues 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. For example, one CIA student is quoted as saying, “The student to faculty ratio is surprisingly low, which allows for a large amount of input from staff… Discussion is always encouraged.”