As Alison Augustine, AMBA '25, looked ahead at her career path at RBC, she realized she would be taking on more leadership roles and wanted to have the skills and confidence to lead in the best way.

“I saw that this promotion was on the horizon and that I needed a wider lens,” says Augustine, Generalist, RBC Wealth Management.

“As I moved to manage bigger teams, I wanted more experience and different perspectives of people management, and I felt the Ivey MBA would provide that.”

During the program, she found lessons from courses like Impact and Influence were immediately applicable, not only in the workplace but in her personal life as well.

“It gave me a lot more confidence. I could go in and do a presentation, or have different conversations with executives, and be mindful about the words that I used and how I walked into the room,” says Augustine, who was promoted to Senior Manager, Estates, during the AMBA, before securing another promotion to her current role.

Courses on subjects like finance and accounting helped sharpen some of her core skills, she says, adding that the Ivey faculty made all the subjects “engaging, challenging and thought-provoking.”

“You also have the perspectives of your peers who come from very different backgrounds, and I've really benefited from hearing my peers’ thought patterns and rationale for how they arrived at their conclusion when discussing cases,” she says.

“The program has also created some great opportunities for me to place myself in situations where I had to get uncomfortable, to get outside of my comfort zone and share my opinion or do public speaking. Everyone is approachable and encouraging, from the professors to your peers.”

The Case Method was something that drew Augustine to the Ivey AMBA, because she felt studying so many cases from various industries would give her a wealth of knowledge and examples to pull from if she came upon similar problems at work.

For prospective students considering an Ivey AMBA, Augustine’s advice is to “apply and see what happens.”

“You never know what you're capable of until you take that step forward and put yourself outside of your comfort zone,” she says.

“You probably can accomplish more than you think you can.”