Actuarial Studies (2 Viewers)

[nightfury]

Hey guys,

I'm considering doing Actuarial studies next year and it would be really helpful if you could answer the following questions and I would prefer if you actually do actuarial studies or have done actuarial studies.

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
How hard is it?
What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
Is it stressful?
What types of jobs can u do with the degree?

Thanks!

 

[photastic]

According to the uac guide, career opportunities includes asset management trainee, credit analyst, insurance analyst, superannuation advisor and wealth management analyst. My teacher said it was crazy when he completed it and most fail and drop out. I heard there are prerequisites to enter MQ though

 

[seremify007]

Hey guys,

I'm considering doing Actuarial studies next year and it would be really helpful if you could answer the following questions and I would prefer if you actually do actuarial studies or have done actuarial studies.

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
How hard is it?
What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
Is it stressful?
What types of jobs can u do with the degree?

Thanks!

I haven't done actuarial but from what I've heard it's very challenging and you need to have a very good sense of mathematics/numbers. There's a lot of people who struggle and drop out because it's intellectually challenging, and the market is competitive. You can work both in a company as in-house, or you can be in an external consulting firm. That being said if you do well, you could be well, an actuary. Actuaries are useful in lots of contexts whether it be insurance, risk management, forecasting, etc...

I'd say it's a stressful area but I've never worked in it. Purely based on my friends who do it. Pay is above average for commerce if you can land a grad role. Also good travel opportunities if you work in a large firm since it's quite transferrable internationally.

 

[cub3root]

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
comes down to preference. they are technically the same degree (IMO; UNSW )

How hard is it?
very

What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
very good

Is it stressful?
probably yes (i don't know)

What types of jobs can u do with the degree?
can become a lot of things

 

[seremify007]

Things might've changed in more recent years but I remember back when I was doing HSC, Actuarial was considered better at Macquarie than UNSW.

 

[cub3root]

Things might've changed in more recent years but I remember back when I was doing HSC, Actuarial was considered better at Macquarie than UNSW.

in terms of teaching, and all that, quite possibly but you learn the same things set out by the Institute of Actuaries of Australia (then you have to do a shitload of exams)

 

[emilios]

In terms of jobs you can expect to be involved in, the majority of it is for insurance companies ( while it may sound boring, apparently the job itself is quite easy for he pay you receive) or alternately you can be an actuary for a consulting company (much more stressful).

Lots of people with degrees in Act. Studies might not necessarily go on to pursue an actuarial career - many settle into general jobs that a Commerce of Finance grad might get into

 

[zhiying]

Hey there, I'm a 3rd year student in actuarial studies at UNSW with some industry experience, so I can probably give a reasonable go at your questions

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
If your choosing base on prestige/quality of degree, nowadays it is about the same. I wouldn't put one over the other really. Choose the one that is closer to you or what not, I chose UNSW because most of my friends went there and I liked the idea of going to uni in the city, also it was a bit more convenient. You come out with the same qualifications so there really isn't a difference. MAYBE, if working overseas is something you wanna do then I'd say UNSW since it is more well known internationally.

How hard is it?
Quite hard, you need to have very good at quantitative in general, much more than what is required for other commerce disciplines such as accounting or finance. Ideally you should have done 4 unit math at high school, and you will need to study consistently to keep up with the workload.

What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
Total grads from both mcq and UNSW combined is about 150 a year roughly, and there is maybe 60-80 actuarial grad jobs around Australia. Keep in mind that actuarial grads often go into other areas such as banking or data analytics. By actuarial jobs I mean insurance related work, so that is either working for a corporate insurer, or a consultant which is just doing insurance work for other companies. Pay is about 60-70k when you grad, 100k+ after 3-4 years when you have your full qualifications

Is it stressful?
For the level of pay you get, it isn't really that stressful. Just like any other finance related jobs, there are busy periods where you have to work overtime. When I worked in the industry everyone in my office pretty much went home by 7 latest even on a busy day, and I haven't seen much severe stress. Couple of friends at PwC Actuarial is working extremely long hours these days (10-12hr range sometimes) but that's a special circumstance going on at the moment. Generally expect 9-6 working hours.

What types of jobs can u do with the degree?
I mentioned actuarial jobs above, but a lot go into other fields, from what I know these range from superannuation & wealth management, data analytics, management consulting, corporate banking and investment banking. Pretty much any job that a finance grad can do, actuarial grads can probably apply for too. Most people who drop out of actuarial turn to finance/accounting, and they say it becomes a lot easier.

 

[v1]

Hey guys,

I'm considering doing Actuarial studies next year and it would be really helpful if you could answer the following questions and I would prefer if you actually do actuarial studies or have done actuarial studies.

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
How hard is it?
What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
Is it stressful?
What types of jobs can u do with the degree?

Thanks!

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
macq because i live closer (so good)

How hard is it?
every semester it feels like it can't get any worse... but it does (until 4th year i hear)

What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
getting better for general insurance - its growing especially big data

Is it stressful?
depends if you want to do well, if so then yes

What types of jobs can u do with the degree?
most of what commerce finance majors can do, risk (better if u combine with maths/stat), consulting, general insurance, life insurance, super, trading, IB etc

 

[nightfury]

Hey there, I'm a 3rd year student in actuarial studies at UNSW with some industry experience, so I can probably give a reasonable go at your questions

Macquarie vs UNSW? and reasons
If your choosing base on prestige/quality of degree, nowadays it is about the same. I wouldn't put one over the other really. Choose the one that is closer to you or what not, I chose UNSW because most of my friends went there and I liked the idea of going to uni in the city, also it was a bit more convenient. You come out with the same qualifications so there really isn't a difference. MAYBE, if working overseas is something you wanna do then I'd say UNSW since it is more well known internationally.

How hard is it?
Quite hard, you need to have very good at quantitative in general, much more than what is required for other commerce disciplines such as accounting or finance. Ideally you should have done 4 unit math at high school, and you will need to study consistently to keep up with the workload.

What are the job prospects like? (not necessarily the pay)
Total grads from both mcq and UNSW combined is about 150 a year roughly, and there is maybe 60-80 actuarial grad jobs around Australia. Keep in mind that actuarial grads often go into other areas such as banking or data analytics. By actuarial jobs I mean insurance related work, so that is either working for a corporate insurer, or a consultant which is just doing insurance work for other companies. Pay is about 60-70k when you grad, 100k+ after 3-4 years when you have your full qualifications

Is it stressful?
For the level of pay you get, it isn't really that stressful. Just like any other finance related jobs, there are busy periods where you have to work overtime. When I worked in the industry everyone in my office pretty much went home by 7 latest even on a busy day, and I haven't seen much severe stress. Couple of friends at PwC Actuarial is working extremely long hours these days (10-12hr range sometimes) but that's a special circumstance going on at the moment. Generally expect 9-6 working hours.

What types of jobs can u do with the degree?
I mentioned actuarial jobs above, but a lot go into other fields, from what I know these range from superannuation & wealth management, data analytics, management consulting, corporate banking and investment banking. Pretty much any job that a finance grad can do, actuarial grads can probably apply for too. Most people who drop out of actuarial turn to finance/accounting, and they say it becomes a lot easier.

Thanks bro. You preety much answered everything. I was just wondering what you meant by having full qualifications. Is that completing part III of the exam or something?

 

[zhiying]

Thanks bro. You preety much answered everything. I was just wondering what you meant by having full qualifications. Is that completing part III of the exam or something?

Full qualifications is completing your Part IIIs. A standard 3 year degree lets you complete Part Is. You need another year to do Part IIs, which can be done while you work, or if you do a double degree/honors which gives you a 4th year (at an accredited uni, which both macq and unsw are). Part IIIs you do while you work, only done through the Actuaries Institute, and that is where you have to do actual exams, and you need to pass 4 of them in total.

If you want more details, here's an article I wrote for the Actuarial Society of UNSW
http://asoc.unsw.edu.au/about/exemptions

 

[Miss_Sara]

Hi,

I am a 3rd year Actuarial Studies student in UNSW. It is a extremely difficult course to take and very stressful with large amount of material cover everything single week. My suggestion is you have to think clearly whether or not you want to do it. Let me ask you a few questions. 1) Are you good at Maths? If yes, 2) It is not enough that you are good at Maths, you have to enjoy Maths and overcome the pressure and be very organised with your time management.
In terms of Job prospect, you can basically get into any job in financial field, i.e. Consultant (risk, actuarial), Investment Banking, Trading..etc
Both Macquarie and UNSW actuarial course are quite good. There aren't that much differences. However, you must be aware that a lot of student drop out since you have to pass a certain marks very semester in order to remain in the course.

I hope this is helpful with your decision making.

 

[gahyunkk]

Full qualifications is completing your Part IIIs. A standard 3 year degree lets you complete Part Is. You need another year to do Part IIs, which can be done while you work, or if you do a double degree/honors which gives you a 4th year (at an accredited uni, which both macq and unsw are). Part IIIs you do while you work, only done through the Actuaries Institute, and that is where you have to do actual exams, and you need to pass 4 of them in total.

If you want more details, here's an article I wrote for the Actuarial Society of UNSW
http://asoc.unsw.edu.au/about/exemptions

If i do double degree of actuarial and something else (lets say accounting) and get 4th year, what do i do for the 4th year?
do i use that year for partII? Or accounting courses?

 

[zhiying]

Yes there's 3 4th-year level courses you need to do in order to get your Part IIs, so you'd do them in the 4th year. The rest will probably be accounting courses.

 

[gahyunkk]

Yes there's 3 4th-year level courses you need to do in order to get your Part IIs, so you'd do them in the 4th year. The rest will probably be accounting courses.

Which degree do u think it's good to combine with actuarials?

 

[obliviousninja]

Commerce obvs

 

[zhiying]

Which degree do u think it's good to combine with actuarials?

Tbh nothing LOL. I started in actuarial/advanced math (5 years), dropped to actuarial/statistics (4 years), dropped to actuarial/economics (4 years), now just doing actuarial (double major, 3 years), but underloading so I spread it out across 4 years to get my Part IIs. It hasn't impeded me getting a job at all, but this is just because I'm lazy and don't want to rack up HECS debt for irrelevant courses when I know I want to be an actuary. Seriously, if you want to be an actuary you don't need a second degree, but it's good if you are not sure and you want a second degree in case to broaden your options.

That being said, most common combination is actuarial/statistics or actuarial/finance. Statistics is self explanatory, it's done by combining with a Science degree. Finance is done by combining with commerce degree, although you can just do a single actuarial degree and double major in finance. Most people who do actuarial combined with commerce go for triple majors, for which economics is a good choice for 3rd option.

 

[mreditor16]

Tbh nothing LOL. I started in actuarial/advanced math (5 years), dropped to actuarial/statistics (4 years), dropped to actuarial/economics (4 years), now just doing actuarial (double major, 3 years), but underloading so I spread it out across 4 years to get my Part IIs. It hasn't impeded me getting a job at all, but this is just because I'm lazy and don't want to rack up HECS debt for irrelevant courses when I know I want to be an actuary. Seriously, if you want to be an actuary you don't need a second degree, but it's good if you are not sure and you want a second degree in case to broaden your options.

That being said, most common combination is actuarial/statistics or actuarial/finance. Statistics is self explanatory, it's done by combining with a Science degree. Finance is done by combining with commerce degree, although you can just do a single actuarial degree and double major in finance. Most people who do actuarial combined with commerce go for triple majors, for which economics is a good choice for 3rd option.

does unsw offer economics as a major for bcomm? website of unsw says otherwise.... if it can be done, then that'll be awesome!

 

[zhiying]

They offer a financial economics major. Economics is a very broad term, in UNSW its split into economics (mostly theoretical about policies etc), financial economics (time series stuff, forecasting models etc), and econometrics major (modelling).

 

[mreditor16]

They offer a financial economics major. Economics is a very broad term, in UNSW its split into economics (mostly theoretical about policies etc), financial economics (time series stuff, forecasting models etc), and econometrics major (modelling).

okay cool. what are some good majors to do in Bcomm that work/link well into BActuarial?