NEAS

[NewTubaBoy]

NEAS... thanks for taking so darn long to post our time series project. I am now in full swing of studying for exam 4.... ERGO I have forgotten most of the time series material. Well... maybe not completely forgotten... but just enough that it will now take me twice as long to complete the darn thing.

Congrats on that.

[Peter Gibbons]

This is exploitation in its truest sense. Imagine that you purchased a product online; you get a receipt of the order, your payment processes...and two months later you still haven't received your order. What would you do? Personally, I'd call customer service and ask to speak to the manager's manager. Well, we can't do that at NEAS. We deal with Patti, whom I believe is doing her absolute best to manage this situation. I've tried to get in touch with the professor, but I've been informed that he/she wishes to remain anonymous.

[Patriots' Fan]

is it even out yet?

[NewTubaBoy]

Is what even out yet? The project for Time Series? Of course not.

I do know who the professor is... at least I'm pretty sure I know. If they want to remain anonymous I shouldn't say...

[Bühlmann]

They wish to remain anonymous? THEY ARE THE PROFESSOR OF THIS FREAKING CLASS? The story gets more and more pathetic as time rolls on. Come on.

[Bühlmann]

What did the original email say in December? That the student projects would be posted the next week? LMAO!!

[Patriots' Fan]

I'm not sure if I should use

:rofl:

OR

:shake:

[Patriots' Fan]

I think I'm just going to not worry about it until after my next exam.

[Patriots' Fan]

I'm also posting this so I get my 50th post.

:grin:

[Bühlmann]

you know something is just not right with all of this when the instructor is hiding from the students.

[MarsLasar]

If I were an instructor at NEAS I would want to be anonymous as well.

[pi_rsquare]

As much as I want to get these projects done but I'm studying for Exam C this May so I try not to worry about this too much. I'm sure this can wait.

[NewTubaBoy]

I understand what you're saying but still... I spent time trying to get this requirement done... I'm done most of it, and now I'm going to have to pick it up whenever they post the projects and restudy everything? That's stupid. Of course I'm going to think about this... I want to get it over w/

[Selena]

I understand what you're saying but still... I spent time trying to get this requirement done... I'm done most of it, and now I'm going to have to pick it up whenever they post the projects and restudy everything? That's stupid. Of course I'm going to think about this... I want to get it over w/


Then why do not you pick your own data set and do the project? They say the students can use their own data. That helps us too, because then NEAS can not compare the results between the students and will give you a pass no matter what.

[NewTubaBoy]

Then why do not you pick your own data set and do the project? They say the students can use their own data. That helps us too, because then NEAS can not compare the results between the students and will give you a pass no matter what.

I think this is stupid. They haven't made any inclinations as to what the format of the presentation would be. I am not going to do a ton of work and have it not meet the specifications of the project. I am not going to assume that the format will be the same as the regression project because this is a different topic. And I'm not going to assume that the NEAS will give me a pass mark no matter what... that's just foolish.

[Bühlmann]

I agree witih TubaBoy. I have no clue what parameters they have set for our projects and ABSOLUTEY NOTHING HAS BEEN POSTED about them for Time Series. I'm not gonna do anything until I know what to do. Besides, I don't really work with any data at my job that lends itself to time series analysis. I'm sure there are others in that boat too.

[scs099]

I'm betting the teacher for Regression & Time Series is Sholom Feldblum. I sent a question last fall concerning the Finance course and received a response from him. The guy is very smart, but not a good teacher. I don't think the homework matches well with the readings. There are not enough practice problems to give you a feel for the homework. I also think the Regression project is still very confusing despite some material being out there now.

[twig93]

If I were an instructor at NEAS I would want to be anonymous as well.

Mars, if YOU were an instructor at NEAS you would probably do an infinitely better job thus negating the need to be anonymous, and the world would be a better place.

However, I can certainly understand why THIS GUY (or gal) wants to remain anonymous!

[twig93]

I'm betting the teacher for Regression & Time Series is Sholom Feldblum. I sent a question last fall concerning the Finance course and received a response from him. The guy is very smart, but not a good teacher. I don't think the homework matches well with the readings. There are not enough practice problems to give you a feel for the homework. I also think the Regression project is still very confusing despite some material being out there now.

Interesting idea, and plausible. Who used to teach this material at NEAS seminars back when the material was on Course 4? Shalom Feldblum always taught the economics, and sometimes the finance as well at Course 2 seminars given by NEAS, so he was the natural choice for the online courses. Not so sure about their Course 4 seminars as I never took one. It's probably the same guy that used to teach econometrics at their seminars; not sure if that's Feldblum or not.

[Peter Gibbons]

Whomever it is, I hope he/she realizes that this is costing people money in many ways: needing the VEEs to get the C4 raise, not being able to devote full attention to the spring sitting until the VEE's are put to rest, potential promotions that are tied into exam success, etc.

[NewTubaBoy]

I sent another email... and was told... again... they would be posted this week.

[Bühlmann]

They should have had everything ready at the beginning of the fall session when they were asking for approval. They got approved late and STILL did not have it done. Now, we are into the winter session and it is still not done. My final was a month ago.
Hundreds of people have paid $300 to take these classes. There needs to be some accountability here.

[NewTubaBoy]

They should have had everything ready at the beginning of the fall session when they were asking for approval. They got approved late and STILL did not have it done. Now, we are into the winter session and it is still not done. My final was a month ago.
Hundreds of people have paid $300 to take these classes. There needs to be some accountability here.

If we don't get the project templates this week I am writing the SOA.

[Peter Lemonjello]

They should have had everything ready at the beginning of the fall session when they were asking for approval. They got approved late and STILL did not have it done. Now, we are into the winter session and it is still not done. My final was a month ago.
Hundreds of people have paid $300 to take these classes. There needs to be some accountability here.

Well, the SOA / CAS could de-authorize them for this (for the future). I wouldn't be surprised if they did. (Can I buy stock in Actex?)

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if at least regression and time series get pulled back into the official (as in not VEE) SOA curriculum. The thing is, they won't be able to do it for 5 years or so, so they don't look like they instantly reversed themselves (plus the fact that people are getting pretty unhappy about the nearly continuous curriculum changes).

[Bühlmann]

If we don't get the project templates this week I am writing the SOA.

I want the templates AND the data. I want to be able complete this project and be done with it. Tuba, I will be writing as well.

[NewTubaBoy]

See, this is the reason why I haven't written anything yet. I don't want to have spent my company's money and my study time just for the SOA to take away NEAS authorization. I want to get authorization and then write the letter. That may be selfish, but I think it's fair. I mean... this is crazy.

My boss was fuming when I told him about this. Not angry at me... but angry at how unprofessional this company was.

[twig93]

I would write to NEAS demanding my money back as well as compensation for time lost. See if that gets anywhere. Try to find out who the top dogs are at NEAS and direct the letter to them.

Geez, this sucks for you guys. But I have a friend doing the Actex course, and it sucks too and it isn't over until March. So it's having just as much impact on her studying, if not more. If that makes you feel any better!

[Peter Gibbons]

It's 5 pm eastern time now, so nothing will get posted today. That leaves tomorrow and Friday for them to make good on the only unbroken promises they have left.

[Will Hunting]

Could all you letter writers please wait until after we have received credit for this madness please?

[Bühlmann]

Guys, they can't go back in time and un-approve the fall session. It was approved and I did my homework and took my final exam. The SOA has to honor that for the time and money we spent on an approved class.
If anything future sittings beyond the Winter 2005 session (the current one)are in jeopardy.

That leaves tomorrow and Friday for them to make good on the only unbroken promises they have left.

As for Peter's comments, the projects were supposed to be posted in December as stated in a letter from NEAS. If the current faculty cannot do their jobs, then they need to hire someone who can. This whole NEAS fiasco is evidence that the VEE system is probably going to wind up a failure in the end. I know people who have credit for time series and regression and they never did a project and did not cover half of the stuff in the class....you say MA(4) and they say "WTF?" I want my credit.

I feel particularly bad for those that have to have the VEE credits to get their Exam C raise. Those are the people that are really hurt by NEAS' neglect on this matter.

[Garden_Variety]

Put me in the camp of folks waiting way too long to get their exam C raise while the NEAS messes around, playing at being a company that supports actuarial students...

I think that the blame lies more with the NEAS than the SOA/CAS though with the issues surrounding the VEEs. You can work off VEEs in the off months between major exam sittings. It stinks but it can be done. With determination you can handle all of the VEEs in your first two years if you are counseled well.

The NEAS has lost most of its credibility as far as VEEs are concerned due to the way it's handled the Fall 2005 session. I will have a hard time recommending the NEAS path to anyone after this, especially considering how unapologetic and remorseless the staff has been.

[Peter Gibbons]

You're all going to love this. I emailed NEAS today asking when the Regression and Time Series data would be released, and here's what I got:

"I have just spoken to the instructor- he hopes to have the data for the regression up by next week. HE wants to be very sure that all the data is correct before posting it."


At least now we know the instructor is male.

[Bühlmann]

I'm sure the data is just downloading treasuries from the fed website. It takes weeks to check. *eyeroll*

[Will Hunting]

Isn't that something that would be available publically, through the fed website or else something like yahoo! finance?

[Bühlmann]

Here is the link to the Fed's interest rate history which can be easily put into a spreadsheet. I had to do this all the time at my old job.

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h15/data.htm