Dull Actuarial Studies (1 Viewer)

[Cleavage]

Talking to some former Actuarial Studies students (all UNSW), they've told me that they found the mathematics component of Actuarial very narrow and dull. As such, they've dropped from Actuarial/Econ to Science (adv maths)/Econ, and have since found their new degree a lot more enjoyable.

Has anybody else found this? What branches of mathematics does actuarial studies focus upon? How does this differ from the Advanced Maths degree?

 

[seanieg89]

The mathematics in actuarial science involves things like probability, statistics, risk analysis, etc.

This stuff is more interesting than you might guess from high school knowledge of probability and statistics, but I also find it rather boring by comparison to the purer fields. This is all a matter of preference though.

In answer to your last question, an advanced maths degree is more (obviously) maths centric and mathematically balanced. You can pursue whatever pure or applied fields tickle your fancy.

Sidebar: Like pretty much any kid with reasonable mathematical ability, I had a ton of people advising me to go into actuarial when I was in late high school. My MX2 teacher was one of the few who didn't, in his opinion (based on knowledge of my mathematical interests etc) I would find that career far too boring to persevere. When I finally got around to reading some of the maths involved, I was inclined to agree.

 

[zhiying]

If you just want to do math, go do a math degree not actuarial. Actuarial applies math/stats to business problems so it's probably never going to use like insane pure math stuff

 

[obliviousninja]

Zhiying laying down the law