advanced mathematics course (1 Viewer)

[emeka]

anyone else wanting to do this course or have any info on it? yeh jst wondering what jobs u could ge with this degree. is it like actuary? cos ive applied for it not knowing wat it really is, jst that its got maths in it hehe. ta

 

[xiao1985]

anyone else wanting to do this course or have any info on it? yeh jst wondering what jobs u could ge with this degree. is it like actuary? cos ive applied for it not knowing wat it really is, jst that its got maths in it hehe. ta

not actuary definitely.... actuary belongs to the commerce faculty... advance maths belongs the science faculty...

adv maths u get to major two maths majors in advance level...
jobs well, u can be statistican, mathematician, mathematical modeller... etc...

when i have time, i'd post a list of possible job opporutnity out....

 

[Slidey]

Needless to say, you won't go hungry regarding jobs.

 

[xiao1985]

yes but stereotypically, general public (including my parents, and a half of me, sadly) still believes that u become a scientist, and scientist (or for that regard, mathematicians) live a poor life...

 

[mathock]

ive put it down as 1st preference, but doubt ill get the required uai... is it possible to transfer into this course from the b of science or the b of science (advanced) courses??

can i become an actuary by doing this course??

 

[xiao1985]

no mathock... to become an actuary, u need to do a b commerce majorin in actuary @ macq u or unsw....

tho i THINK (from last year open days) that u will need to do like 8 exams to qualify as a pracitin actuary... up on completion of ur b comm (actuary) u'd have done like 3 or so already...

b sci (adv maths) does not give u a job in actuary... tho there are maths subjects like financial mathematics in b sci (adv maths) which u can choose to take...

if u didn't get the required uai, u can still get offered (i did, my uai was 98.25, but cut off was 98.65 or something) dependin on ur me2 mark...

if u didn't get offered, u know wut??? in first year, the stuff u do in b sci (adv) or b sci (adv maths) or b sci / any combine is not much different...

i enrolled in b sci (adv math) in main round... in late round i enrolled in b sci/ b comm, but apparently the subjects i was doin in first sem is exactly the same...

as regardin to transfer to b sci (adv maths), u dont' even have to... when u graduate, if they realise u have fulfilled criteria for b sci (adv maths), they will give u the stream or title or wut eva.... . neat =)

 

[CrashOveride]

so whats the point of having b sci (adv maths) then ?

 

[Bob.J]

The reason they have the adv math degree is to attract more people to do it. That's the basic reason. The adv science (majoring in adv maths) is the exact same, but will a lot more flexibility.
As for jobs, I was asking myself all the time about it last year.

There's plenty of jobs for maths ppl. So many i'm not gonna even list em
I'll just give you the urls
http://www.maths.usyd.edu.au:8000/u/PS/careers.html
http://www.austms.org.au/Jobs/
http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/students/future/futureugcareers.html

Some jobs
Mar 2004: Quantitative Credit Risk Analyst - major bank: to $130K
Mar 2004: Predictive Modelling Analyst - marketing, $90-110K
I saw ,on careerone.com.au a few SENIOR postions offering over $150k. Of course the salary is negotiable depending on your experience etc.

A thing that most people don't realise is that they think their uni degree will be the only decision maker in what their future will be like. They're wrong. If you want a job in the financial world etc. you'll need alot more with whatever degree you've got. Experience is one key factor and other things i cbb thinking about.

Also if you did a major in stats or applied maths, you could always still apply for an actuary job. It's just that most of your competition will be commerce(actuarial) students. But if you have say, an honours or a masters in maths, you'll have a good, if not better chance than an actuary grad. Depends on the job, employer and most of all YOU.

 

[xiao1985]

agreed on most of the stuff...

apart from the actuary part... to actually become a qualified actuary, i am pretty sure u gotta obtain certificate of some sort which involves a hell alot of exams... (much like cpa or ca for accounting)

but yea, fully agree on the previous bit =)

 

[nit]

Yeh to become a qualified actuary you need to past 3 stages (well 2 really - the 3rd is optional, but rewarding financially if you do it) and this involves becoming accepted by the Institute of Austrlian Actuaries or something like that. Even if you do Actuarial Studies you won't pass those exemptions (I think that's what the stages and the criteria are called) without doing some extra material besides normal uni time. I am personally weighing up doing med, adv sci tsp (and later med)against actuarial, and I guess my UAI and offers will play a big part in decisions. Random place to post this, I know, but the whole Actuarial thing got me going in the first place

 

[Bob.J]

nice target uai Nit
But yeah, I was completely against doing commerce or comm/sci when i had to choose. Pretty much coz there were too many people doing it. But I'll consider it when I've done my sci course.
One way to get the best of 2 worlds (doing actuary) for my situation would be to finish my science degree, do an honours, then do a commerce masters at UNSW in actuarial studies. It think it's a 1.5 year course (like $15k or something), but yeah, all options are still open.

 

[emeka]

much appreciated xiao and BobJ. yeh i might do b comm/sci at NSW for actuary cos i put it b4 advanced maths.
but yeh so wat u guys are saying is that an advanced maths degree gives u a broader range of jobs than actuary?? cos wat would you be called? a mathematician as opposed to an actuary?
still i dont c much of a diff btween actuary and ad maths cos the jobs seem the same. like with actuary i read u use models to predict shares, life insurance, health insurance and stuff. and with mahts 'Quantitative Credit Risk Analyst - major bank: to $130K, Predictive Modelling Analyst - marketing, $90-110K'. jobs seem the same???
cos i wanna do something mathematical and if advanced maths is jst as good id rather do it than actuary. dunno y actuary is so popular when its got a high drop out rate.
and xiao watcha think of ad maths so far? it jst as riveting as 4unit hehe?

 

[Bob.J]

I'm currently studying advanced maths subs and adv physics at usyd
Having a maths degree will give you a broader range of jobs. Actuary is concentrating on the financial/statistical aspects of it all. With a science/maths degree you can choose to major in pure/applied or statistics.
I think you only call someone a mathematician when they're researching/ or they're an academic, or they've done a phD in maths.
If you really know what you're going to do with actuary and all then go ahead and do that. But if you want a degree that will give you all the options you can ever ask for (in maths that is) then do the science degree majoring in maths.

There are plenty of sites you can find that will show what people are doing now and what degree they completed. Most people with maths degrees work in all sorts of areas. Doesn't really matter which maths they studied, just the fact that they have the sought after qualities of a person with a maths degree. What else can I say, hmm, if it is really bothering you just do both adv maths and actuary!

 

[Bob.J]

oh in regard to being a qualified actuary as opposed ot someone with a maths degree, I think it'll depend on the job really. Jobs are very competitive for actuary grads, well the highly paid ones anyway. I know someone who came out with commerce (actuary) from UNSW but he couldn't find a proper job so had to work in some dodgy clerical position. He went back to uni to get a masters and got a job in actuary i think.

If you don't really know what you want to do, then I suggest you shouldn't jump straight into actuarial studies. If you end up not liking the course you'll have to transfer or stick it out til the end.
Hope any of this helps.

 

[Bob.J]

to actually get the adv maths you'd have to a minimum number of advanced units of maths in each year. In senior year i think its 16 of the 24 (or maybe all) units has to be at the advanced level. But most people who are in adv maths/adv sci do all advanced units anyway. If you do adv sci/maths in first year, you can always transfer into it.

 

[xiao1985]

agreed, aprt from, u dun even haf to transfer... if u qualify they will award u with the stream...

 

[Ultimate]

so doing BScience and choosing maths electives wherever possible is the same as BScience (adv maths)? Because that's what I got from the Usyd Open day.

Yes its exactly the same thing. Usually for first year science you complete 2 3 credit point maths subjects each semester. And if u choose enough maths subjects and obtain a weighted average mark (WAM) of 65 or greater you can transfer to the advanced maths stream (that's if u weren't in it initially).

 

[xiao1985]

wam of 65 only???

credit average gets u a b sci (adv math)???
hm... but that means fully maths (with maybe 1-2 elective) for the next 2 years =p

 

[Super Pig]

You need 75 average to transfer into BSc(Adv Maths). In fact that's what you need in order to transfer into any advanced-flavour degree. But you only need 65 average to keep your advanced title (otherwise you got kicked back into the normal degree).

Actually BSc(Adv Maths) is indifferent to a maths major in BSc(Adv). It's there just for marketing purposes I guess. I am doing BSc(Adv) with double majors in maths and stats, but I am too lazy to transfer into BSc(Adv Maths). No point really.

As for actuary vs adv maths, I've heard some personal comments from the maths academics. To summarise, the only benefit of being an actuary is the high pay. It's a highly specialised discipline, so the job prospect is quite narrow. Due to the size of the Australian economy, the demand for actuaries is not high. There are only just over 1000 fully qualified actuaries in the whole country, and that's already sufficient to meet the demand of the market.

I've heard a story from a friend. A guy ranked 2nd in Macquarie actuarial studies failed to get a job after graduation due to lack of experience. The point from that is you need subtantial experience to gain the trust from your boss to handle the job.

Maths/stats on the other hand, gives a much broader view. In essence actuarial is probability theory (which is part of stats) focusing heavily on insurance and finance. Whereas in maths/stats, you learn all the genearl stuff so that you have the choice of getting into other directions as well (e.g. biostats and the biotech industry for that matter).

And of course you can go into the finance field with maths/stats. There is a new major at usyd called "financial maths/stats", which is offered entirely within the school of maths and stats. The maths taught in finance courses in the commerce faculty are essentially naive versions of the maths courses. They only tell you "what" and the some basic "how", whereas in maths you get the whole picture - the "how" and "why".

I've got another little fact that makes my point. An actuary lecturer at Macquarie uni is currently doing a maths PhD under the supervision of the head of the financial maths program at usyd school of maths. Actuarial is relying heavily on the maths/stats expertise. Hope that helps.

 

[Ultimate]

You need 75 average to transfer into BSc(Adv Maths). In fact that's what you need in order to transfer into any advanced-flavour degree. But you only need 65 average to keep your advanced title (otherwise you got kicked back into the normal degree).

Actually BSc(Adv Maths) is indifferent to a maths major in BSc(Adv). It's there just for marketing purposes I guess. I am doing BSc(Adv) with double majors in maths and stats, but I am too lazy to transfer into BSc(Adv Maths). No point really.

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yeah that's right..........i just got my wording wrong.