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Best universities for Actuarial Science in UK?

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I have an offer from LSE and should be getting one from Cass. I'm an international student and prefer to stay in London so those are my two options currently. Now I just have to decide if I want the reputation or the better course... :confused:
Original post by Raymat
The best university for Actuarial Science; the London School of Economics and Political Science. You will have a good chance of getting into IB with an LSE Actuarial Science degree.


And Oxbridge/kings/ucl/imperial/Warwick

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Original post by Raymat
Well none of them offer Actuarial Science (N321). Cambridge and King's don't offer anything similar but Imperial offers Mathematics with Statistics (G1G3), Oxford/Warwick offers Mathematics and Statistics (GG13) and UCL offers Mathematics and Statistical Science (GG13) which are all the closest things you can get to Actuarial Science.
You forgot to mention Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Loughborough, Manchester, Newcastle, Queen's Belfast, Queen Mary, Reading, Southampton, Surrey and York who all offer similar courses to Actuarial Science.


All rusell group?

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Reply 43
My daughter is doing actuarial science at Herriot Watt and loves it
hello every, can any one advice me about this .
Im going to do Financial mathemaics degree at university because i think it offers me more options than Acturial Science degree on its own. My firm choice is Lancaster, but i also like Surrey, Loughbrough, Heriotwatt which i found they are the best uni that offer my degree base on the ranking table.
Is lancaster as good as their rankings? which one is the best from above do you think?
My predicted grades are AAAB for Maths, Futher maths, accouting and economics.
thanks guys!!
Reply 45
What about kent? I thought it was on par with heriot for actuarial science.
UEA does AS too
Reply 47
Hi guys

I am undecided as to whether to study at the University of Leicester this year or retake my exams and apply for MMORSE at the University of Warwick next year (both cover the Actuarial exams CT1-CT8). Currently, I am due to start at the Uni of Leicester this September and I got into the Uni through Clearing. I am worried that studying 'Mathematics and Actuarial Science' at the Uni of Leicester will severely lower my job prospects since it is not a Russell Group Uni (especially when I am looking to work in the competitive industry of an Actuary or work in Finance(Investment/Business)).

Whereas, I feel that going to Warwick will vastly improve my job prospects as it is a russell group uni, higher in the league table and, in general, more prestigious. I feel Warwick will give me a much better chance as to getting into one of the Big 4 Financial firms i.e. KPMG. Also, I think I will benefit from making friends with brighter students as more straight-A students go to Warwick. Maybe, the gap year in order to get to Warwick will will mature me as a person and I could perhaps get a job in the meantime whilst I retake my exams.

However, the grade requirements for MMORSE at Warwick is A*A*A*(including Maths). I achieved an A* in ICT, B in Maths, B in Economics and C in Chemistry. I realised I overloaded myself by doing Chemistry as an extra A-Level which is why I feel that I could achieve an A* in Maths and A*/A in Eco if I retook the exams. Although, I may not even achieve these grades next year and it could end up being a year wasted.

What if going to Leicester will put me at the bottom of the pile since there will be so many other candidates for jobs from better uni and this will result in me getting lower than expected salaries and less job offers? Or am I just over-reacting?

I'm not sure which to go with: Leicester this year or Warwick next year(that's even if i get in!)
Could someone please help me out? Does uni really make a big difference to my future job prospects and future salary? (Please reply asap because Im meant to be starting the uni of leicester next week)
I would email Warwick to see if they allow retake students. I emailed them last year, but this was for the business school. I was in a very similar position to you last year...I decided to retake and did much better and got into my firm uni.

My email to Warwick:
Would you look more harshly at a candidate if they retook their A-Levels?*

Warwick's response:
"Thank you for your email, unfortunately for our Warwick Business School courses applicants doing re-takes outside the standard two year AS/A Level cycle would be at a significant disadvantage,
Reply 49
Original post by PenguinPingu
I would email Warwick to see if they allow retake students. I emailed them last year, but this was for the business school. I was in a very similar position to you last year...I decided to retake and did much better and got into my firm uni.

My email to Warwick:
Would you look more harshly at a candidate if they retook their A-Levels?*

Warwick's response:
"Thank you for your email, unfortunately for our Warwick Business School courses applicants doing re-takes outside the standard two year AS/A Level cycle would be at a significant disadvantage,


Thank you for your reply :smile:

Yes. I did email Warwick asking if they would allow retake students and here is their response:

"Retakes are considered individually by the department. If you were to apply then they you would be required to retake your A levels in order to meet the essential subject requirements."
I was hoping Warwick would be more specific based on this response

Seeing the reply you received from WBS..it may not be a great idea for me to retake as Warwick don't seem fond of the idea

I could perhaps apply for the University of Manchester or Birmingham instead if all else backfires as they are in the Russell Group

Still not too sure what to do :/
Original post by lfc1234
Thank you for your reply :smile:

Yes. I did email Warwick asking if they would allow retake students and here is their response:

"Retakes are considered individually by the department. If you were to apply then they you would be required to retake your A levels in order to meet the essential subject requirements."
I was hoping Warwick would be more specific based on this response

Seeing the reply you received from WBS..it may not be a great idea for me to retake as Warwick don't seem fond of the idea

I could perhaps apply for the University of Manchester or Birmingham instead if all else backfires as they are in the Russell Group

Still not too sure what to do :/

Did you mention the course (MMORSE) you plan to apply to in the email? I'm not familiar with the course but judging by the grade requirements, the course looks very competitive.
If you only want to go to Warwick I would go to uni this year because they may not even give you a conditional offer/you may not get the grades if you do get an offer.

If you're happy to go to Manchester/Birmingham then you should retake and see if Warwick give you an offer. If they don't then you'll have Manchester/Birmingham to be your backup options.

How sure are you that you can get the grades? How hard do you plan to work if you do retake? Are you motivated to retake?
Average salary for a Graduate training as an Actuary in the UK is 32k, average once qualified (would take a minimum of 3 years) is 50k and as a senior partner or a chief actuary the average is 200k .
Hi,
If you're looking for guidance on choosing a university, please see our page:
https://www.actuaries.org.uk/become-actuary/how-become-actuary/how-choose-university-course

Hope that helps
Reply 53
Original post by SueFaye
After long time reseach on universities that offer Actuarial Science, i still undecided on which university to go. I have a few choices here : LSE, City, Heriot Watt, Kent, Swansea, Southampton, Manchester. So, please give me some advice of which uni to go!




I am confused :frown:


The latest 2018/19 thread for best actuarial science universities can be found here:
https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5401608
I’m a biomedical scientist but I want to change my profession. What subjects r needed to do actuarial science and what passes?
Original post by MiriamMthembo
I’m a biomedical scientist but I want to change my profession. What subjects r needed to do actuarial science and what passes?


If you have a 2:1 degree at minimum, along with Maths A level grade A or B you will be able to apply for graduate trainee roles.
I'm looking for a scholarship for actuarial science
Original post by Jay92
I think city is the best university for actuarial science, as last year it was voted number 2nd in the world for actuarial science. Also, it prepares you more for as a professional as we start using VBA and doing presentation from the first year. It is also the only university(to my knowledge) that requires its students to do a dissertation in the final year which is a pain but does help once you graduate.


Also, dont be put off the rankings as city rankings are really bad but the actuarial science department is part of cass business school which is one of the best there is for finance.


What is number one then?
Original post by lazjb
Hi, I've applied for both LSE and City to do actuarial science this year. I did hear that the lecturers at City are all qualified actuary's compared to LSE who are just lecturers possibly without the experience. I also found out that the textbooks that the LSE lecturers use, were written by lecturers from City. I know that London School of Economics is an amazing school and quite high up alongside oxbridge, but it's worth noting that no university is great at everything? Lots of universities specialise, and personally I don't believe that LSE are that good with actuarial science, despite the popularity of their economics and politics degrees. Dependent on what your grades are, you're looking at AAA for LSE or A*AA for City... Good luck!

I am looking into applying to be an actuary my only problem with City is that it isnt a russel group uni. Because its so much lower down the league table as opposed to LSE I have been thinking LSE more but from what ive heard (like what you have said) CASS has a better actuarial science degree. what do you think? also what other unis are good for Actuarial science and what do you think about a maths degree?
Original post by Sugarnan
I am looking into applying to be an actuary my only problem with City is that it isnt a russel group uni. Because its so much lower down the league table as opposed to LSE I have been thinking LSE more but from what ive heard (like what you have said) CASS has a better actuarial science degree. what do you think? also what other unis are good for Actuarial science and what do you think about a maths degree?

Hey Sugarnan,

I have made responses to this on other threads on this very topic so feel free to check my post history to see a more in depth response.

In short, LSE has an incredibly strong brand name and will help enable you to explore more careers outside of insurance. If you wish to go into insurance and more specifically actuarial work, then Cass works out better. LSE's course is highly theoretical and there is little to no emphasis on programming and no research component to the degree,-- it is taught by statistics department and as a result is very abstract (Take a look at their Survival Models compared to the IFoA ones).

A majority of the LSE ActSci alum do not go into actuarial traineeships and also tend to move abroad leaving a very small network in London. From both my experience and my wider network, the number of graduates from Cass dwarfs LSE by a large margin for primary insurers/brokerages/syndicates. I actually saw more people from Warwick MORSE and Oxbridge Mathematics than LSE which was quite surprising given the proximity to the universities themselves. Lastly, having personally done events with the LSESU and career mentoring for a few of their members, there is definitely a lack of industry knowledge on the course.

I genuinely believe those at LSE are incredibly bright and motivated and you will definitely be challenged going there, but there are conflicting objectives in the course structure, student aims and practicality which need to be addressed. A lot of students apply to LSE Actuarial Science due to its relative easiness to get onto, and a majority of the people on that programme view Actuarial work as a 'safety' to their more desired job roles. If you want to get onto other roles in finance other than actuarial/risk modelling related then perhaps you would prefer LSE.

I would be more than happy to answer more questions via DM if you want a more detailed answer.

Kind regards,

Paragon

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