Actuarial Option

This option offers you some of the basic mathematics and statistics necessary for a successful career in actuarial science, and it provides some of the academic background needed to pass the first few actuarial exams.

Actuaries use mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to analyze future events, especially those related to insurance and pension programs. They may work for insurance companies, consulting firms, government, employee benefits departments of large organizations, banks, investment firms, or more generally, in businesses that need to assess the financial consequences of risk.

To become an actuary, you must pass a series of examinations administered by the professional actuarial societies: the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). The first few exams are jointly administered. Exams which correspond to various courses are indicated below.

The program consists of nine courses as follows:

MATH 225 (Ordinary Differential Equations) [part of exam 100, offered jointly by the SOA and CAS]

MATH 311 (Introduction to Mathematical Probability) [exam 110, offered jointly by the SOA and CAS]

MATH 312 (Introduction to Mathematical Statistics) [exam 110, offered jointly by the SOA and CAS]

MATH 331 (Basic Real Analysis)

MATH 351 (Elementary Linear Algebra)

MATH 354 (Survey of Algebra)

and either

both STAT 515 (Actuarial Statistics) [required SOA exams 140, 150/CAS exam 4A] and STAT 599 (Topics in Statistics: Actuarial Risk Theory) [required SOA exam 151/CAS exam 5A] and one elective from the list below,

or

one of either STAT 515 or STAT 599 and two electives from the list below

Electives (all strongly recommended)

MATH 408 (Operations Research) [elective SOA exam 130]

MATH 414 (Mathematics of Derivative Securities)

MATH 430 (Elementary Numerical Analysis) [elective SOA exam 135/required CAS exam 3C]

MATH 511 (Introduction to Stochastic Processes)

STAT 512 (Applied Linear Models) [this is 1/3 of the required SOA exam 120/CAS exam 3A]

STAT 517 (Applied Time Series) [this is 2/3 of the required SOA exam 120/CAS exam 3A]

It is highly advantageous for students interested in this option to take both MATH 311 and MATH 312 in their second year. Actuarial Statistics (STAT 515) and Actuarial Risk Theory (STAT 599) form the core of the actuarial program and should both be taken in the third year if at all possible. These courses will both be offered every year if there is sufficient student interest and otherwise in alternate years. With sufficient early course preparation, a summer internship after the third year has been an integral part of the program for those students who wanted to intern.

Other courses which are recommended but not required are:

ECON 201--202 (Principles of Economics: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics) and/or ECON 301--302 (Intermediate Microeconomics and Macroeconomics)

ECON 434 (Theory of Financial Markets) and/or ECON 435 (Corporate Finance) [required SOA exam 230/required CAS exam 5A]

STAT 514 (Survival Analysis and Reliability Theory) [SOA exam 160]