Actuarial Career Information

Some useful links
Be An Actuary
The Society of Actuaries
Casualty Actuarial Society
Life on the Job

If you are interested in a career as an actuary, you may find more information from the web sites operated by the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) and the The Society of Actuaries (SOA). In particular look at What is an Actuary? for profiles of actuaries.

Another place to get information is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Undergraduate Program Secretary also has some general-interest brochures describing the actuarial profession as well as literature on summer internship programs.

To achieve professional status in this profession, students have to pass a series of exams.  These exams will be administered jointly by CAS and SOA through 2013. Exam 1/P-Probability covers calculus, probability and statistics. Exam 2/FM-Financial Mathematics covers economics, finance and interest theory. Further information about these exams, sample questions and exam dates are available from CAS/SOA.

In terms of starting salary, graduates who have passed Exam 2 are usually offered another $4K-$7K than those who have passed Exam 1. Some firms do not require an intern to have passed any exam, but they should have a strong background in mathematics, computer science, economics and good communication skills. Obviously, passing one or more professional exams puts more muster on your resume. More details about salaries can be found at this page.

UD Courses Recommended for Actuarial Careers

Exam 1/P

Any math major at University of Delaware should have no trouble passing the probability exam (called Exam P or Exam 1) after taking MATH243, MATH349, MATH350, MATH450, and doing some limited additional reading on actuarial terminology.  To access this reading material, download the most recent syllabus from the probability exam web page.  Scroll to the bottom and there will be a link to additional material to download (usually called "Risk and Insurance" or something like that).  If you are NOT a math major, you may take STAT 470/471 in place of MATH 350/450, but the STAT courses do NOT count towards a math degree.

Exam 2/MF

The financial mathematics exam (called Exam MF or Exam 2) can be taken by our undergraduates majoring in Math/Economics or BA students who have taken the following optional courses, together with some reading on the theory of interest on their own.

  1. ECON151, Introduction to Microeconomics: Prices and Markets, ECON152, Introduction to Macroeconomics: The National Economy, and ECON301, Quantitative Microeconomic Theory. These courses fulfill 9 of the 12 credits required for Group C.

    We also suggest ECON303, Intermediate Macroeconomics Theory, ECON415, Economic Forecasting, and ECON422, Econometric Methods and Models I, as other Economics courses related to actuarial sciences. Note that passing these 6 courses with a grade C- or better enables you to get a minor in Economics. 

  2. FINC200, Fundamentals of Finance, and FINC201, Introduction to Investments.

    If you desire to go deeper into the business aspects, you may want to take ACCT207 and ACCT208, Accounting I and II, and FINC311, Principles of Finance, instead of FINC200 and FINC201. FINC 314 Investments, is also recommended.

Some study materials for the professional exams are available free once you have registered for the exams. Please look at the web-page sponsored by SOA.

VEE Requirements

Coursework for the degree will also complete two of the three Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) requirements.  Completing ECON301 and ECON303 will satisfy the Economics VEE actuarial requirement. Completing ECON422 and ECON423 will satisfy the Applied Statistical Methods VEE actuarial requirement. 

Further Coursework


Students who want further preparation for later actuarial work should consider the following courses:

  1. MATH518, Mathematical Models and Applications. This fulfills 3 of the 9 upper division credits required for the BA in Mathematics. Other upper division courses that should be of interest are: MATH426, Introduction to Numerical Analysis and Algorithmic Computation, MATH512, Contemporary Applications of Mathematics, MATH529, Fundamentals of Optimization, and MATH530, Applications of Mathematics in Economics.

  2. CISC106 or CISC 108, General Computer Science, and CISC220, Data Structures.

    Note that the sequence CISC181 and CISC220 also satisfies the computer science requirement of the BA degree. Some brochures in the actuarial profession also recommend that you know Visual Basic, another object-oriented language. You shouldn't have a problem with learning this language once you have a solid foundation from the three courses above.

Contact Information

Dr. Edwards (edwards@math.udel.edu) has experience in taking some of the exams. Please contact him if you are interested in the actuarial profession and have more questions.