U.S. News and World Report names the A.B. Freeman School of Business the No. 1 school in job placement rates for full-time 2011 Master of Business Adminstration graduates.

Within three months after graduating, 98.1 percent of Tulane M.B.A. graduates find employment.

“It’s impressive when students do well when given the chance to present their credentials to prospective employers,” Business School Dean Ira Solomon said. “It doesn’t surprise me the rankings would be high. The fact that it’s the highest in the country is surprising, but I’ll take it.”

U.S. News surveyed more than 400 schools about their business programs. All the schools surveyed self-reported data and statistics regarding their academic programs and information about their student body.

Solomon said he sees his first year serving as dean as an opportunity to learn and make connections. He constantly meets with faculty, alumni, current students and employers to plan for the future of Freeman graduates, which he believes leads to the high employment rate.

“Our curriculum is state of the art, the faculty is outstanding, and we try to help our students go out into the world of work as prepared as possible,” Solomon said. “We always look to see if there’s opportunities to do anything better, since we have more students than we used to have prior to Hurricane Katrina. In fact Masters of Accounting, placement is virtually 100 percent.”

Senior Brittany Rosen said she felt prepared to apply for jobs through the business school’s training.

“The business school joint Masters of Accounting program is amazing,” Rosen said. “From the beginning, you are on the track where you have the opportunity to intern at accounting firm during your eighth semester of school. Though applying during second semester of your junior year does get stressful, it’s a great feeling to go into your fifth year of school knowing a job is waiting for you.”