A thread for those thinking of leaving the CAS, due to recent pass rates.

[ADoubleDot]

Originally Posted by Whiskey

true. I am curious about the demand for such a credential though.

[Unpredictable]

A thread for those thinking of leaving the CAS, due to recent pass rates is not named properly. The question asked by the only person who seems to be thinking along these lines is about an actuarial student leaving the CAS exam process. It is not about CAS credentialed actuaries leaving the CAS. I don't see this happening.

Rephrased this way, this is a very good question. The exam process is not for everybody. Some can take it, others can do an easier version of the same process, and many are not suited to it at all.

One Nobel Prize laureate chose economics over actuarial exams. For him it was the right choice. To be fair, the exams were not the main reason he decided to become an economist and not an actuary. He probably would have passed the exams very easily.

This is similar to chosing whether to get a BS, MS or PhD.

A better comparison can be a choice between getting a PhD from a top school and from a state school. It's generally much easier to get a PhD from a state school. It's still a PhD. A person with a PhD from a state school can be much better than a PhD from MIT. (CAS is no MIT and SOA is not Podunk College. The difference is much smaller. Twenty five years ago, before I took my first SOA-specific exam, there was little difference between the SOA and CAS.) Even a person with no PhD and no university education ca be better.

It's a choice. There is no shame in not going for the credentials most difficult to get. There is no shame in not going after any credentials. There is no right or wrong choice here. Good luck in making the choice right for you.

[Floridiot]

Originally Posted by ADoubleDot

Some recent conversations I've had with CAS friends has led me to believe there are a number of people who would skip the impossiblility that the FCAS has become and jump on a SOA option when one becomes available. If 50% or more of the workforce becomes FSA-GI, will employers be forced to start hiring them?

As far as I can tell, there are a lot more candidates for P&C jobs than there are jobs to go around. Heck, PhD's are pestering me for unpaid internships just so they can get a foot in the door. Given the level of competition for jobs, do you really think that a hiring manager who is ACAS/FCAS is going to value the SOA track over the many other candidates who go the CAS route? It's possible. However, my thinking is that the proportion of students who switch isn't as important as the ratio of CAS candidates to jobs. If an enormous proportion of otherwise qualified job candidates go the SOA route, maybe the hiring FCAS will have her hand forced. But if not, going the SOA route only improves the CAS candidate's odds of landing the job.

[whizbang]

I think if we take a longer view things are more muddled. The rise of big data and cat modelling I think pose a bigger risk to actuaries in P&C than this tiff between the CAS and SOA.

That being said I work in a non-trad area so my employer doesn't care which track I follow. I decided to get the ASA and go back for an MS in applied math while these guys figure it out. If I need to pick up the CAS side later then so be it. Honestly, though I doubt either side will come out ahead.

[tude]

Originally Posted by Wigmeister General

Why not ask the real question - how relevant are actuaries to begin with?


Exactly.

This is actually a very relevant question.