Actuary?

[Deleted User]

Do you have to really like maths?

I really like the commerce-side of it (I'm extremely passionate about economics), but when it comes to maths, it's just meh to me. I mean, I'm not the worse at maths - probably above average - but I don't particularly enjoy doing it (hence why I'm not that great at it). The only area that I do like about maths, however, is probability, which is what actuarial studies is all about, right? 

[Greatness]

Yeah you do, if you don't you'll find a lot of it a bore. But I've only done the first year intro to actuarial unit so far. Give it a go in first year and see if you like it or not, then decide what you want to do afterwards that's what I'm doing
I found a lot of the insurance stuff a bit boring, 'calculate the premiums for a person aged 50, with a sum of $200,000 payable in 15 years'. I found the first half of the unit more interesting, it had more financial security calculations. I did finance 1 so I was familiar with a lot of the securities we talked about and we used formulas in finance where you plug in numbers, whereas in actuarial we derive formulas to calculate payments, interest rates etc I found this part pretty interesting - being able to turn a series of payments into a single formula then apply probabilities and what not to it. Overall, it's pretty interesting and gives you a taste of what actuarial studies is like - also you would have to put in a fair bit of work to do well in the unit, probably do more than the tute work and any extra questions he provides.

[Deleted User]

I don't really understand how transfers or switching courses work. Do you have to start all over everything again if you decide to switch courses? Like if I choose to study actuarial studies at Melbourne and I don't like it, is it easy to switch to ecofinance later on?

[Greatness]

Well, the thing with the Melbourne model is that they only offer general degrees: Science, Biomed, Commerce, Arts etc then you do postgraduate courses like honours/masters/MD/JD etc
If you want to do actuarial studies then you do Commerce and take the actuarial studies major. If at the end of first year you you decide to change majors, then you can easily transfer to Finance/Eco. You don't miss out on any prerequisite units if you want to take this pathway, although the only thing is you would now be doing the math stream for the quantitative requirements for the commerce course. That is, instead of doing QM1 and another quantitative unit in 2nd year, you would be doing 2 math units in 1st year and another 2 in 2nd year - you do these as breadth units too. It would only be a problem if you plan to do Accounting/Finance with accreditation since the pathway for that is pretty restricted, you would have to do extra units to satisfy the accreditation prerequisites I think.
Transferring is when you want to change from a Commerce degree to say Science. If you choose to do this then you can transfer internally at Melbourne or transfer out of Melbourne into another course at another university. It depends on the course, you can get some or all of your units credited so you wouldn't have to start from scratch.

[taiga]

In all honesty if you think you are going to get a 25 in specialist, unless you are willing to work extremely hard in university, I would not take up actuarial studies. It's incredibly difficult, and I've seen some of the brightest students get crushed by it and get to the point where they want to drop out.

Be careful of what TrueTears says, he is on a different level to us

I think you've really got to like your maths and be able to maintain a very good study ethic throughout university, particularly for your actuarial subjects.

[Jenny_2108]

Yeah you do, if you don't you'll find a lot of it a bore. But I've only done the first year intro to actuarial unit so far. Give it a go in first year and see if you like it or not, then decide what you want to do afterwards that's what I'm doing
I found a lot of the insurance stuff a bit boring, 'calculate the premiums for a person aged 50, with a sum of $200,000 payable in 15 years'. I found the first half of the unit more interesting, it had more financial security calculations. I did finance 1 so I was familiar with a lot of the securities we talked about and we used formulas in finance where you plug in numbers, whereas in actuarial we derive formulas to calculate payments, interest rates etc I found this part pretty interesting - being able to turn a series of payments into a single formula then apply probabilities and what not to it. Overall, it's pretty interesting and gives you a taste of what actuarial studies is like - also you would have to put in a fair bit of work to do well in the unit, probably do more than the tute work and any extra questions he provides.

I dunno about this course but reading your comment, all I understand is "interesting"

In all honesty if you think you are going to get a 25 in specialist, unless you are willing to work extremely hard in university, I would not take up actuarial studies. It's incredibly difficult, and I've seen some of the brightest students get crushed by it and get to the point where they want to drop out.

Be careful of what TrueTears says, he is on a different level to us

I think you've really got to like your maths and be able to maintain a very good study ethic throughout university, particularly for your actuarial subjects.

Yeah, thats why I decide to do double degree, in case its too hard for me, I just change to single degree BScience in 2nd yr
About SS in spesh for coping with actuarial studies, I asked my friend studying this course at UoM as well and she also advised to choose if spesh at least 45
Anyway, I just wanna give it a try first

[tram]

Do you have to really like maths?

I really like the commerce-side of it (I'm extremely passionate about economics), but when it comes to maths, it's just meh to me. I mean, I'm not the worse at maths - probably above average - but I don't particularly enjoy doing it (hence why I'm not that great at it). The only area that I do like about maths, however, is probability, which is what actuarial studies is all about, right? 

The maths can get pretty tedious and hard, you've got to be motivated to get through it. If you're passionate about eco, do eco, you'll get your fair share of maths though eco.

I don't really understand how transfers or switching courses work. Do you have to start all over everything again if you decide to switch courses? Like if I choose to study actuarial studies at Melbourne and I don't like it, is it easy to switch to ecofinance later on?

Yes, if you plan your degree carefully you can switch to eco finance in third year if it's not for you (many people do this- i'm seriously considering it)

In all honesty if you think you are going to get a 25 in specialist, unless you are willing to work extremely hard in university, I would not take up actuarial studies. It's incredibly difficult, and I've seen some of the brightest students get crushed by it and get to the point where they want to drop out.

Be careful of what TrueTears says, he is on a different level to us

I think you've really got to like your maths and be able to maintain a very good study ethic throughout university, particularly for your actuarial subjects.

The actuarial course is pretty challenging, and you do have to work hard, without being arrogant i consider myself a strong maths student in high school (47 methods, 46 spech) and know that i'm struggling with the course, i.e. i am legitimately scarred i failed my exam two days ago (granted i didn't work as hard during semester as i should have been). Having said that, i know many people i outscored in VCE doing much better than me now, it's a very different study environment in uni, but you do have to enjoy maths and have the discipline to get through the stuff you don't like.

[Biceps]

What if i am a student that had potential in achieving 45+ in both but because of silly mistakes under exam conditions i don't?

[HighLatency]

Anyone know if you have to do accounting subjects like reports and analysis for first year? It was just on the sample course on the melbourne uni site

[vcestudent94]

What if i am a student that had potential in achieving 45+ in both but because of silly mistakes under exam conditions i don't?

Who cares. I won't even scrape a 40 in spesh due to silly errors but that's not gonna stop me from considering actuary. As long as your confident in your mathematical ability and have passion for maths, then by what I've heard from people on this forum, you can handle it.

[pi]

BTW, I'd recommend all actuarial-wannabees to have a look at BORED already? Want to learn a bit of maths? :P just to keep you mathematical throughout the holidays

[Greatness]

Anyone know if you have to do accounting subjects like reports and analysis for first year? It was just on the sample course on the melbourne uni site

Yep, Accounting Reports and Analysis and Accounting Transactions and Analysis are both prerequisite units! Whatever the sample course plan is, will pretty much be the route you will take no ifs, no buts. The only difference is which breadth units you take, but if you fail a unit and you can't do it during summer then your course may be extended another semester or two since a lot of units are prerequisites for following units - also, there are a couple of units that require a certain score in the previous unit to continue or an average across 2 prerequisite units so you have to keep that in mind! Also for accreditation purposes you will need to average a 73 or 75 across certain subjects as well. First year is alright to get done if you do the work required, however I imagine the workload and stress would increase by a lot in 2nd year - as that is where most of the accreditation and prerequisite units start.

[sheepgomoo]

I'm just going to throw in a few comments here..

My brother studied actuary at UoM and said that more than half the class dropped out after first year; more again after second year. I'm not saying that dropping out of the course is a bad decision, but please consider whether or not you'll be able to cope with the workload. From what I've heard, its on a totally different level to VCE.
My brothers working now at an insurance company whilst taking his exams and yes, the pass rate is quite low... But depending on which company you work at, they give you study leave and increased wages if you pass a paper.
All that said, even if you really are good at what you do, its a tough job, because everyone starts relying on you and your workload doesnt decrease. My bro complains all the time about how he has loads of study leave but cant take them because he has a responsibility to finish his projects at work whilst studying at the same time.

So like what everyone else has said, you have to be passionate for maths and have a definite goal if you want to do actuary, imo.

[spectroscopy]

does anyone know what sort of hours actuaries work and what they get paid? ive heard its a hard slog for decentish pay but you guys would know better than me

[Greatness]

does anyone know what sort of hours actuaries work and what they get paid? ive heard its a hard slog for decentish pay but you guys would know better than me

Not 100% sure, but it's not as hectic as other professions. From what I've read it's probably around 40-50 hours. If you're still studying to become fully qualified you will have to juggle study with work, so the workload will be fairly high. They get paid A LOT. Fully qualified actuaries can earn 150k+ a year, not including bonuses - I've seen charts where they show salaries hitting 400k+ but these guys have 20 years+ experience and are the big boys in the firms/companies. In the end, it depends on your qualifications, your role/job and where you work.