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Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

bloomberg.com

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Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#41

Post by nateburke »

One thing missing from this discussion is the effect of the well-established exam-based credentialing system on the profession as a barrier to entry.

Does it counterbalance at all the kind of ageism that folks working as 45+ software engineers sometimes encounter?

This is a sincere question, as I can also would not be surprised if insurance companies' CFOs would be the _first_ people to recognize the additional costs associated with insuring older workers with families, especially in the post-demutualization era.

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#42

Post by mr_overalls »

dv_dt wrote: post #39
randomstring wrote: post #32

Having done my BS in Match and CS at a school with a parallel Actuarial program, I got a good look at what being an actuary is about. If you're good at math, and really good at standardized math exams you can advance through the various levels and work your way up the pay-scale ladder. I think this really appeals to people who are good at math, but maybe don't want to go into academia. That said of all the actuaries…

What do actuaries do from day to day? Are they old-school original data scientists, or something else?

A day in the life of an actuary:

https://www.beanactuary.org/what/do/?fa=day-in-the-life

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#43

Post by wcfields »

pkaye wrote: post #13
aphextron wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the number one undergrad degree for veterinarians. Private vet practices in upscale areas are insanely profitable.

I also heard vet school is pretty expensive.

I've also heard that it's even more competitive than human medical schools.

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#44

Post by microcolonel »

randomstring wrote: post #32

Having done my BS in Match and CS at a school with a parallel Actuarial program, I got a good look at what being an actuary is about. If you're good at math, and really good at standardized math exams you can advance through the various levels and work your way up the pay-scale ladder. I think this really appeals to people who are good at math, but maybe don't want to go into academia. That said of all the actuaries…

> That said of all the actuaries I went to school with, none liked their jobs and all eventually moved on to do something else.

Part of that, from my perspective, involves the slow pace imposed by overbroad regulations on the applications of actuarial science.

I personally think that a diverse market of specialized insurance products would be an immense moral good, but in the established jurisdictions where demand for such a thing is high, it is hard to gauge whether your novel insurance products are even legal to sell. My (admittedly anecdotal) impression is that this contributes a great deal to the drudgery and stagnancy of actuarial work.

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#45

Post by creaghpatr »

harshreality wrote: post #30
grouseway wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for some it is a very stressful job. They have a very high suicide rate: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4266064/ "The rate of suicide in the veterinary profession has been pegged as close to twice that of the dental profession, more than twice that of the medical profession (2), and 4 times the rate in the general population (3)."

correlation or causation? I could easily imagine that more depressed people pursue veterinary jobs because being around animals makes them less depressed.

I imagine vets have to frequently put animals down and have those talks with the owners, I could see that being a huge buzzkill

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#46

Post by DylanDmitri »

This is partially a reporting bias issue, because these are average values across all colleges. The actuarial exams set the bar high for everyone regardless of college. Looking at degrees only across top colleges would paint a different picture, probably with law and business jumping significantly. Ivy Leagues don't offer act sci majors, students just take economics instead.

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#47

Post by stochastastic »

bitxbit wrote: post #29
user1324345 wrote: post #18

these metrics are always pure garbage. Someone comes up with an equation like: (start salary) + (median salary) + .5 * (job availablilty) + .75 * (growth) ... etc then they rank everything, tweek it, make an article. The scary part is people will read this and parrot this information for potentially years, "did you know actuary is the best job???" This is actually how misinformation spreads.

Bingo. They've been saying this about actuarial science for a very long time. But they fail to mention that (1) there aren't that many positions available, (2) for students smart enough to qualify for the positions (passing the CAS etc) you are far better off going into finance or economics as an undergraduate, and (3) most importantly, actuarial science sets you up for a very specialized and narrow career path.

FWIW, I think there is a risk-reward trade off involved for many of us that end up going the actuarial route. I was broke coming out of college, without much of a network or pedigree to fall back on and the prospect of a solidly middle-to-upper class income drew me in. No regrets (other than no multimillion dollar startup exit), but I wouldn’t recommend it for most people.

Re: Actuarial science ranked as most valuable college major

#48

Post by fnayr »

randomstring wrote: post #32

Having done my BS in Match and CS at a school with a parallel Actuarial program, I got a good look at what being an actuary is about. If you're good at math, and really good at standardized math exams you can advance through the various levels and work your way up the pay-scale ladder. I think this really appeals to people who are good at math, but maybe don't want to go into academia. That said of all the actuaries…

Anecdotally, I just came back from New Zealand and was staying at a farm house rented out on Airbnb. The owner was previously an actuary in Sydney, and hated his job so switched mid career to farmer. Pretty large change.
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