Actuarial Studies/Finance/Accounting/Marketing/Management (1 Viewer)

[indigoflamingo]

Hi guys,

As a recent graduate planning out and admittedly, still a little confused as to what I want to do in the future...I just thought I might start a thread to get a broader picture on what type of opportunities are available for someone who might be doing commerce in the future. I would love to hear from both those contemplating which area they would like to major in as well as those who are already sure of what they want to do.

As a 4U maths student who's enjoying the course, I feel that actuarial studies might be an interesting challenge. However, the thing which is keeping me from putting it down is the fact that people have said the drop-out rate is quite high and the course becomes increasingly more difficult in the 2nd-3rd years. I'm not quite sure whether there's any support out there...but if that's the case...I certainly wouldn't feel confident without having anyone to guide me...

I've applied for the co-op program as it sounded like a great opportunity to meet different people but as of yet...I still don't know too many people currently doing it...so I'd love to hear from people in the program to get a feel of whether it'll be the right path for me! I'd like to know what people like about the program and (if there's anything not so cool), what you guys dislike.

When I first heard about cadetships (only recently), the applications had already closed. :/ If I make it into law...I might be doing combined law but at the same time...I'm unsure of whether it'll be possible juggling cadetship commitments with a double degree. I'm thinking of applying for it next year (if I don't get co-op) but I'm not sure...would it be worth it?

I would like to find out as much as I possibly can about each of the areas...finance/ accounting/marketing/management. hm...I'm not sure of which areas will be both interesting and open up career doors.
Any advice would be very much appreciated! ^_^

 

[seremify007]

Hi

Just to clarify, you're a high school graduate right (as opposed to a university graduate)? Are you in year 12 still or already in first year uni? Your post is a tad ambiguous!

Either way, you've picked quite a few different fields within Commerce which all sit at different points in the quantitative spectrum (i.e. how much numbers is involved) with actuarial at one extreme. I think to do well in either the cadetship or coop programs you typically need to be able to demonstrate a passion for a particular path or field so it might be a blessing in disguise that you didn't commit too early to something you aren't sure of.

I've moved this thread to the Commerce board where it's more likely to get relevant responses from people who study each of those disciplines.

 

[indigoflamingo]

Hahaha thank you for your reply! Yep. I'm a highschool graduate. Thanks too for moving the thread.

 

[seremify007]

Well I think you need to focus your thoughts on where you might want to head. So far you've dabbled in everything. If you had to pick just two right now- which would it be?

 

[zhiying]

There's plenty of support if you do actuarial at either UNSW or Macq, they have very active student societies for actuarial students, plus you can always go to your tutor or lecturer.

Drop out rate alone isn't a reflection of how hard the course is, although it is hard. If you can put in the same amount of effort as you did for 4U, and preferably you got 90+, then you will have no trouble keeping up with actuarial studies even in 3rd year. It's hard for everyone, so as long as you stay above average compared to the cohort you'll be fine, everything gets scaled anyway.