POTSDAM -- Clarkson University is the top tier of national universities, in U.S. News & World Report’s 2018 rankings of "Best Colleges."

Clarkson's supply chain management program, highly acclaimed by employers of Clarkson graduates, was listed among the best in the nation, ranked number 17 in Supply Chain Management/Logistics. Clarkson is among only five private institutions in the ranking, which also includes MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Clarkson is also again on the U.S. News "Great Schools, Great Prices" list (Best Value Schools), which takes into account a school's academic quality, as indicated by its U.S. News Best Colleges ranking, and the 2016-2017 net cost of attendance for a student who received the average level of need-based financial aid.

The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included, because U.S. News considers the most significant values to be among colleges that perform well academically.

U.S. News also ranks Clarkson among its "Best Colleges for Veterans" in the National University category. The list provides military veterans and active-duty service members with data on which top-ranked schools offer benefits that can help them make pursuing a college education more affordable.

The survey editors also placed Clarkson University in the "A+ Options for B Students" list, which they identify as strongly rated schools that accept nonsuperstars who have potential and will work hard.

Clarkson is among the top 10 four-year colleges in the nation adding the most value to student earnings potential, according to value-added college rankings from the Brookings Institution, which look at colleges' direct contributions to alumni salaries. The report says that getting your degree from Clarkson University can increase your earnings by 42 percent, putting this research university in the top 10 ROIs nationwide.

Of students graduating in Clarkson’s Class of 2016 and using the campus Career Services Center, 95 percent reported being placed in their field of study in the first year after graduation.

Clarkson is in good company in the top tier undergraduate rankings as well as the Best Value Schools category, which it shares with schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Cal Tech and Duke.

Each year U.S. News surveys 1,388 accredited four-year institutions for their annual “Best Colleges” issue. Schools in the "National Universities" category, like Clarkson, offer a full range of undergraduate majors, master's, and Ph.D. programs and emphasize faculty research.