Optimal number of exams?

[kel213]

What is the optimal number of exams to have passed before graduating with a master's degree? There are no actuarial firms anywhere close to where I live, so I do not have access to any internships. Will having more exams passed, like 4, fill in the whole in my resume and be beneficial when I start looking for a job?

[Actuarius]

I think the optimal number of exams to have passed is always as many as possible. 4 would be great, but I think you'd be considered with 2. Speaking for my company at least. Do you have some business experience, even if it's not an actuarial internship?

[DW Simpson]

http://actuarialoutpost.com/actuaria...7&page=2&pp=12

Originally Posted by D.W. Simpson Webmaster

There are plenty of actuaries who started with advanced degrees and several exams. MNPoker, for example. There isn't really some cutoff point of exams and degrees that overqualifies you, it's a marginal process. Every additional exam and additional degree may limit you from contention at some actuarial employer, so this is strictly about maximizing your probability of employment.

2 exams and a Bachelor's is the sweet spot of entry level employment. Almost all U.S. employers would look at such a candidate. Fewer employers will look at 1 exam students, and fewer employers will look at 3 exam students. Still less would look at 4 exam students.

Fewer employers will look at a Ph.D. graduate than they would someone with only a Bachelor's.

A way you hedge yourself is that once you have that one exam, you begin interviewing. Then you find out your options for yourself instead of solely pursuing more exams and more education and wondering whether you're doing the right thing. You don't have to choose one or the other, and in fact there isn't a choice to be made until you have additional options like an employment offer versus graduate school.

[DW Simpson]

How many exams have you passed?

[kel213]

I am waiting for results for exam 2.

[DW Simpson]

When do you graduate with your Master's degree?

[kel213]

Originally Posted by D.W. Simpson Webmaster

When do you graduate with your Master's degree?

It all depends on whether I decide to continue pursuing the dual Master's degree. I know I want to finish my Statistics degree which would take me another year or so to finish. Do you think that the graduate degree in finance would help me find an Actuary job or help out at all in my career?

Do you ever see any candidates being turned down due to a lack of a math degree or having too much education?

[DW Simpson]

Originally Posted by kel213

Do you think that the graduate degree in finance would help me find an Actuary job or help out at all in my career?

It will probably help you during your career, but likely will not help you find your first actuarial position.

Do you ever see any candidates being turned down due to a lack of a math degree

If they have exams, the degree is secondary or tertiary. Clients want to see that you have some sort of quantitative grounding.

or having too much education?

Yes, but that's usually at the Ph.D. level.

[kel213]

Thank you Claude for all of your help and information.

[DoctorNo]

For another data point, I was hired with one exam (I had taken exam two but did not yet know that I'd failed), no actuarial experience, and a doctorate in optimization theory.

Doug