Actuarial student AMA

Hi all, I'm an Actuarial student, I'm happy to answer almost any questions about my job, application processes or anything else anyone would like to know about being an Actuary.

What subjects have you studied to help you, and what steps need to be taken after uni in order to become an actuary?

Did you do any relevant placements before getting the job?

I have an Assessment Centre coming up with Mercer for an Actuarial Trainee role. I studied Geography at Uni (but A* in Maths A level), which did have stats in it. They might be slightly concerned about my mathematical ability. Any idea how I could impress at AC?

Thanks

I did an internship between my second and third year of university at the company I now work for. I had no other relevant work experience. My jobs before becoming an actuary included working in a shop, support work for disabled people and teaching first year maths to a small class.

I studied A levels maths, further maths and physics and then studied a maths degree. I took a few probability and statistics modules at university which have helped with some of the actuary exams, but they weren't necessary.

To become an actuary I didn't really take any specific steps. I had past work experience which helped show that I could manage responsibilities. I applied for an internship in my second year of university and worked for 8 weeks over the summer. They then offered me a graduate position and here I am!

I have an Assessment Centre coming up with Mercer for an Actuarial Trainee role. I studied Geography at Uni (but A* in Maths A level), which did have stats in it. They might be slightly concerned about my mathematical ability. Any idea how I could impress at AC?

Thanks

I see, thanks!

Are you specialising in a particular area at the moment?

No problem!

Yes, I work in pensions. As far as I'm aware you pretty much have to specialise, for the exams if nothing else.

Wow, that's great! I don't know what to do in the future, and being an actuary is a possibility I'm looking into atm. I'm not a fan of probability tbh though. What kind of field are you in?

1. What uni are you at
2. What is the starting salary you expect when you graduate

Thanks for ignoring me(:

I too am not a fan of probability! I hated it at A level, I hated it at degree, but somehow I really enjoy the job and I find the probability in the actuarial exams more enjoyable than I have found probability before. So don't let a disliking for probability rule it out as a career choice!

I work in pensions, so most of my job revolves around valuing pensions and other various calculations.

One project I have worked on recently (obviously I can say no names whatsoever of clients) is a pension scheme is considering giving people RPI increases on their pension every year until the last person in the scheme dies and they wanted to know how much this would could in today's money compared to having pension which doesn't increase at all. It's an interesting problem because you have to make assumptions about when people retire and die and then model the cash flows and increases for approximately the next 100 years until everyone dies, then discount each of these increases back to today to get the cost.

Why Actuarial Science?

I'm incredibly sorry I didn't see your message there! It wasn't intentional at all!

I studied at Warwick university, I graduated last year and started work in September 2015. The starting salary for the firm I work at is £29,500 p.a.

I'm trying to be slightly careful about what I say about myself/company I work for in case I could be recognised. I hope this answers your question sufficiently

No problem. I'm going university this year and just looking for some information about actuary?

Has your salary been increased since you started working? How is the progression of salary with experience? Also how much bonus did you get?

Thanks