How to Become an Actuary
Actuaries are math majors who specialize in statistics and financial mathematics. At UC, students will follow the SA (statistics and actuarial science) track of either the BA or BS in Mathematics. Many classes associated with Actuarial fields are statistical in nature; however, actuaries are also required to complete coursework to satisfy the Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) requirements. The VEE covers the three topics of Economics, Corporate Finance, and Applied Statistical Methods (Applied Linear Regression and Time Series). Students who are interested in becoming an Actuary must also take and pass a series of exams administered by the SOA and CAS throughout the first part of their career.
Validation by Educational Experience (VEE)
The following UC courses are pre-approved to satisfy VEE requirements:
Approved for Applied Statistical Methods:
STAT5131/6031 Applied Statistics I, STAT5141/6041 Time Series
Alternate: BANA7041 Statistical Methods & BANA7042 Statistical Modeling, BANA7050 Forecasting and Time Series Methods
Approved for Economics:
ECON1001 Intro to Microeconomics, ECON1002 Intro to Macroeconomics
Approved for Corporate Finance:
FIN4001 Corporate Finance (prereq: FIN3080C)
SOA or CAS?
In the event you select a career in the Actuarial Sciences field, you will be in good company. Depending on your interests and career path, you will join either the Society of Actuaries (SOA), which represents over 22,000 actuarial members in the United States, Canada, and worldwide specializing in life, health, and long-term care insurance as well as pension plans and financial modeling, or the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), with over 5400 members, whose primary goal is to advance the body of knowledge of actuarial science applied to general insurance, to include property, casualty, and similar risk exposures. Please also keep in mind that memberships to the above organizations can be initiated prior to college graduation, due to the fact that both organizations exist to support and grow the Actuary field. The initial educational and testing requirements are the same for both branches of the field.
SOA: http://www.soa.org/
CAS: http://casact.org/