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Actuaries design financially sound insurance and pension plans by assessing the risk of life events. To become an actuary, a university degree, internship experience, postgraduate work experience, and successful completion of professional exams are required. Actuarial internships and starting professional exams during college are recommended. Actuaries have various job options, and pursuing a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Actuarial Science can lead to management opportunities.
Actuaries help design insurance plans and pension plans so that the plans are financially sound. For example, their knowledge of statistics and business allows actuaries to assess the risk of various life events, such as death, injury, illness, disability or property loss, in order to develop insurance plans that minimize the cost of risk. The job may also involve creating new investment methods or helping manage government programs. To become an actuary, you will generally need a university degree, university internship experience, postgraduate work experience, and successful completion of the required professional exams.
In order to become an actuary, it is important to obtain a university degree in mathematics, economics, finance, statistics or actuarial science, because a degree in any of these areas will provide you with the academic background you need to succeed as an actuary. Pursuing the actuarial profession can be competitive. So getting good grades can be essential – a high grade point average (GPA) will be something that many potential employers will want to see.
During college, it may also be helpful for you to participate in an actuarial internship. The career services department should be able to help you apply for an internship. If you want to become an actuary, it’s important to do an internship, as it can provide you with valuable supervised experience to help complement your classroom learning.
It may also be essential to start taking the necessary actuarial professional exams during college. These exams, conducted by the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS), include topics such as probability, risk management, theories of interest, life contingency, and other topics relevant to the professional practice of actuarial science. The first two exams can be taken during undergraduate years, while the other exams are taken in subsequent years. If you want to become an actuary, passing your first two exams during college can be important as it increases your chances of being hired at a higher salary in your first actuarial job after college.
It is generally recommended that you apply for an actuarial job during your last semester of college. Your college’s career services department can usually provide job search assistance. Talking to your college internship supervisor and conducting online job searches can also be helpful in your job search. Remember that actuaries have a number of options in terms of job configuration. For example, actuaries may work in property, casualty, health insurance, life insurance, financial services, state or federal agencies.
You can also look for graduate opportunities once you complete your first two years of graduate actuarial experience. The Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Actuarial Science is generally recommended for anyone wanting to become an actuarial manager or actuarial executive, such as a chief risk officer, chief financial officer, vice president or chief executive officer of a company. Actuaries seeking management opportunities can also be promoted to managerial careers in underwriting, marketing or even advertising.
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