Gander AI releases The Canadian Business School Index, revealing how AI ranks the best Canadian MBAs

Gander's Business School Index index finds top schools appear in more than 93% of AI answers to common MBA applicant questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google.

TORONTO, Oct. 05, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As prospective students weigh their options for 2027, the AI Search Intelligence platform Gander today released The Canadian Business School Index, a quarterly report measuring how Canadian business schools are represented when prospective students ask AI where to do their MBA.

The Canadian Business School Index shows universities where they rank in AI search.

The index tracked seven questions prospective students commonly ask, including which Canadian MBA has the best alumni  network, which has the highest post-graduation salary and which offers the most scholarships. Gander tracked answers from across popular AI search platforms, like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews from May 1 to July 31. The report contains 25,676 citations across 1,250 distinct websites.

AI is now a primary research channel for graduate applicants. In Spark451's 2026 Graduate School Intenders Survey, roughly 76% of respondents said they used at least one AI tool to research graduate programs, up from 38% the year before. International students, a large share of Canadian MBA classes, are moving the same way: about 54% of students surveyed by IDP Education said they plan to use ChatGPT or similar tools to select their institution, up from 35% in 2024.

Key findings from the index:

1. Rotman (93.8%) and Ivey (93.2%) appear in nearly every AI answer. Smith is third at 73.5%, about 20 points back.
2. Schulich is the only school besides Rotman and Ivey to lead a question. It appears in every executive MBA answer and has the highest citation rate of any school on any question (87.4%).
3. Ivey is named first in every alumni-network answer it appears in, and takes 33% of all mentions, the largest share of answer that any school holds on any question.
4. Smaller schools can win specific questions. Telfer (31%) and Beedie (29%) appear in more executive MBA answers than Sauder (24%).
5. Reddit is the most-cited source, at about 9%, ahead of every school's own website.
6. Rankings publishers carry less weight than you might expect. QS's topuniversities.com accounts for about 2% of source-share, far behind Reddit and Wikipedia.

"The majority of students are using AI to decide which schools make their shortlist.” says Adam Malamis, Head of Product at Gander. “The more ambitious schools have spent months improving how AI describes their school and its programs. Most schools still aren’t seriously tracking AI answers, and have no idea what AI tells prospective students about them, which schools it recommends instead, or what’s shaping those recommendations.” 

Download the report

The full 41-page report, with school-by-school breakdowns, the sources behind each question, and verbatim AI excerpts, is available free at takeagander.ai/mba. 

Schools not included in the index, or that want to monitor their own AI visibility, reputation, and competitive standing, can contact Gander at honk [at] takeagander [dot] ai. 

About Gander AI Search Intelligence

Prospective students increasingly build their shortlists by asking AI, and a school that isn't in the answer may never make the list.

Gander, an AI search intelligence platform, shows colleges and universities if and where they rank, whether the school is recommended, how its programs are described, and why students are pointed to competing schools instead. Marketing, enrollment, and communications teams use Gander for their AI SEO and AI visibility work, with clear actions to improve visibility, fix inaccurate answers, and earn consideration over competing programs.

Gander also publishes quarterly indices benchmarking Canadian and American business, dental, medical and law schools. Contact for details.

Press Inquiries

Adam Malamis
honk [at] thebluegoose.co
https://takeagander.ai/