The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business is the top U.S. business school in the eyes of MBA recruiters, according to a survey by The Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive. The recruiters like the ability of Ross's students to work effectively as team members, are impressed by their analytical and problem-solving skills, as well as their well-roundedness.

Ranking just behind Ross are the business schools of Dartmouth, Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, and Berkeley.

Among 24 international schools ESADE, based in Barcelona, Spain, ranked first. Recruiters said the school also stood out for its student’s ability to work well within teams, their analytical and problem-solving skills, and student chemistry.

Thunderbird's Garvin School of Management - in Glendale, Ariz. - was considered the leader among 51 regional schools in the U.S. Ranking behind Thunderbird are Ohio State University, Brigham Young University, Purdue University and Michigan State.

The survey found recruiters continue to place tremendous value on MBA programs and are less likely to recruit from part-time programs. While most believe their corporate recruiting strategies will not change this year, they will either recruit at more schools or re-evaluate their core list of schools during 2007.