How We Rank Supply Chain Programs
Where the program list comes from, how each program is checked, and exactly how a ranking score is computed.
Which Programs We List
We list supply chain management programs that appear in two accreditors’ records. AACSB publishes, for each accredited US business school, the programs it offers by field; 199 schools list a supply chain, transportation or logistics program area, with 302 programs between them. ACBSP publishes a list of the individual programs it accredits, and 53 of them are supply chain or logistics programs at US schools. Together that is 355 programs, and all of them are in the A to Z directory.
A program outside both lists can still be a good program. It just isn’t one we can tie to an outside quality check, so it isn’t ranked here.
Why The List Does Not Start From The Federal Program Codes
Most education directories build their lists from IPEDS, the federal college database, where every program carries a six-digit field code. Supply chain management has one: 52.0203, “Logistics, Materials, and Supply Chain Management.” The problem is that a large share of supply chain master’s programs aren’t filed under it.
The reason is visa rules. International graduates of STEM-designated degrees can work in the US for up to 24 more months under the STEM OPT extension, and the Department of Homeland Security decides what counts as STEM by field code. Its list includes the management science codes (52.1301 and 52.1399) and does not include 52.0203. So schools that want their supply chain master’s to be STEM-designated report it under management science, where it sits beside business analytics and other quantitative programs and can’t be picked out by code. When we checked the AACSB schools that list a master of science in supply chain management against IPEDS, fewer than half reported a master’s under 52.0203.
A list built on that code would leave out many of the programs people search for by name. The accreditors list programs by what they are called, so we start there and use IPEDS only for facts about the institution.
How We Verify A Program
Before a program appears in a ranking, we read the school’s own page for it and record each fact with the sentence it came from and the date it was read. We record how the program is delivered, how many credits it takes, what it costs per credit or in total, how long it runs, and its GMAT/GRE policy. When the school states that a program is STEM-designated or built around a professional certification such as ASCM’s CSCP or ISM’s CPSM, we record that too, but only when the school says it.
“Online” means the school says you can complete the degree online. A program that is online but requires time on campus, such as a residency or immersion week, is listed with that requirement stated on its card. A program the school presents without saying it can be completed online is listed as on campus.
Tuition is the figure on the school’s page on the date shown, and schools change it every year. Fees are listed separately where the school lists them separately. We don’t use the tuition figures schools report to AACSB, because the basis of that field isn’t stated and it differs from school to school.
How The Ranking Score Works
Each ranked list is scored on the factors that fit what it ranks. A graduate degree is priced per program, so the master’s and MBA lists lead with the tuition the school states for the degree. A bachelor’s major isn’t priced separately from the school, so the bachelor’s list uses the school’s federal tuition and graduation figures. The online bachelor’s list uses the school’s own online rate, because online undergraduate tuition is usually a flat per-credit price that differs from campus tuition. The weights:
| Ranked List | Factors And Weights |
|---|---|
| Master’s | Total tuition 50%, Admissions testing 25%, Supply chain depth 25% |
| Online master’s | Total tuition 50%, Admissions testing 25%, Supply chain depth 25% |
| MBA | Total tuition 50%, Admissions testing 25%, Supply chain depth 25% |
| Bachelor’s | Supply chain depth 20%, In-state tuition and fees 40%, Graduation rate 40% |
| Online bachelor’s | Total tuition 50%, Graduation rate 25%, Transfer credit 25% |
| Affordable online bachelor’s | Total tuition 70%, Graduation rate 15%, Transfer credit 15% |
| Affordable online master’s | Total tuition 70%, Admissions testing 15%, Supply chain depth 15% |
| Bachelor’s for military and veterans | In-state tuition and fees 25%, Yellow Ribbon contribution 30%, Credit for military training 20%, Veteran support 25% |
| Master’s and MBA for military and veterans | Total tuition 25%, Yellow Ribbon contribution 30%, Credit for military training 20%, Veteran support 25% |
What each factor measures:
| Factor | What It Measures |
|---|---|
| Total tuition | Tuition for the whole degree as the school states it, or its per-credit rate times its credit count, at the nonresident rate where the school charges two. Lower scores higher, as a percentile within this list. |
| Admissions testing | The GMAT/GRE policy the program states: not required scores 100, waivable on stated conditions 50, required 0. |
| Supply chain depth | Levels of accredited supply chain study the school offers (bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate), from AACSB and ACBSP records. Three levels scores 100. |
| In-state tuition and fees | Annual in-state tuition and required fees for full-time undergraduates at the school, from federal IPEDS data for 2023-24. It describes the school, not the major. Lower scores higher, as a percentile within this list. |
| Graduation rate | Share of the school’s bachelor’s students who finish within six years, from federal IPEDS data. It describes the school, not the major. Higher scores higher, as a percentile within this list. |
| Transfer credit | The most credits the online program says you can transfer in. Higher scores higher, as a percentile within this list. |
| Yellow Ribbon contribution | Dollars per student the school’s Yellow Ribbon agreement with the VA pays at the program’s degree level; an agreement with no cap scores highest. Higher scores higher, as a percentile within this list. |
| Credit for military training | Whether the school tells the VA it awards academic credit for military training: yes scores 100, no 0. |
| Veteran support | How many of five VA-recorded commitments the school holds: 8 Keys to Veterans’ Success, Principles of Excellence, the DoD Tuition Assistance agreement, a student veterans group and a VetSuccess on Campus counselor. All five scores 100. |
A program is scored on the factors it has figures for. If a school doesn’t state one of them, that factor is left out and the other weights are scaled up to fill its share, so a program is never marked down for a figure we would otherwise have to guess. Two conditions apply before a program is ranked. It needs a figure for the list’s lead factor, which is tuition on every list: a price list that ranked an unpriced program would be ranking it on everything but price. And it needs figures for at least 2 factors, because a score built on one number is really a sort on that number. A program that misses either is still listed, after the ranked programs and without a rank. Ties go to the lower tuition.
Percentile scores are within the list you’re reading. A program’s tuition score on the online master’s list compares it with the other online master’s programs on that list, not with every program on the site.
The Shorter Lists On Each Ranking Page
Some ranking pages also carry short lists for a single question, such as which programs skip the GMAT. Each one is ordered by the one thing it answers, not by the ranking score:
- No GMAT or GRE (admissions-led): only programs whose own page says neither test is required, ordered by total tuition, lowest first. Programs that waive the test on a stated condition are counted in the section’s total, and the list itself holds only the no-test programs.
- Lowest tuition and most affordable (cost-led): the programs with the lowest total tuition the school states, by tuition alone, with how the total was worked out.
- STEM-designated: only programs whose own page says the degree is STEM-designated, in alphabetical order. We don’t infer designation from a field code.
- One-year and accelerated: programs whose page says you can finish in 12 months or less, shortest first.
- Online MBA: MBA programs whose school says the whole degree, concentration included, can be completed online, in ranked order.
What Accreditation Means On This Site
There is no accreditor for supply chain programs specifically. The three business accreditors each accredit something different, and the cards say which:
- AACSB accredits a business school as a whole. A program listed from AACSB is offered by an AACSB-accredited business school.
- ACBSP accredits individual business programs. A program listed from ACBSP is itself on ACBSP’s accredited list.
- IACBE accredits a school’s business unit. Its member directory names the business unit, not the programs, so no program here is labeled with it.
All three are separate from the regional or national accreditation that makes a school eligible for federal financial aid.
Where The Salary Figures Come From
Wages come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 release, and growth figures from BLS Employment Projections for 2025 to 2035. BLS reports pay by occupation, not by job title or degree. Supply chain managers, for example, are counted inside transportation, storage and distribution managers, so every salary page names the occupation its figures describe.
Corrections
If a figure on this site is wrong or out of date, email hello@savomediagroup.com with the page and the source that shows the correct figure. We check it against the school’s page and update the page and its date.
Methodology last reviewed .
Sources
- 1 AACSB International, Accredited Schools directory Read .
- 2 ACBSP, list of accredited programs (CHEA Standard 2-B), as of December 9, 2024 Read .
- 3 IACBE, member status information Read .
- 4 U.S. Department of Homeland Security, STEM Designated Degree Program List (updated July 22, 2024) Read .
- 5 NCES, Classification of Instructional Programs 2020 Read .
- 6 BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- 7 BLS Employment Projections, 2025-35