Why did you choose the actuarial field?

[BitterSweet]

I am a university student studying actuarial science. I have several reasons for choosing actuarial science. I've done some research and I read these forums to keep myself up-to-date. I like the profession and I am pretty enthusiastic about it. However, all of the people in my program that I've asked say they are going into actuarial science simply for the money. They've heard some "legends" about how much money actuaries make and that's all they know. If most people think like that, that's pretty sad....I would like to know why you chose actuarial science...

[Maine-iac]

I was a math major in college. I didn't want to work in academia. So I looked around at other jobs suitable for people with a math degree. Actuary looked interesting. I've been generally happy with the choice, despite the exams.

[udjw828]

Originally Posted by Maine-iac

I was a math major in college. I didn't want to work in academia. So I looked around at other jobs suitable for people with a math degree. Actuary looked interesting. I've been generally happy with the choice, despite the exams.

What she said!

[campbell]

I went to grad school in math, and realized that academia just wasn't happening for me...especially teaching low-level math to college students and the rather low pay.

Probability and probabilistic models happen to be my favorite math, and I cast around for careers that would use this. I looked into becoming a quant on Wall Street, but that avenue was pretty bust in 2001-2003. The actuarial profession was also in a downturn around here at the time, but I luckily got a student position in 2003 after I passed Courses 1&2, and here I am.

I've been doing stochastic modeling for life products, and having a grand time doing it.

[LoneGirl]

I always liked math and sometime around my junior or senior year of high school, I read a magazine article on actuarial science. I had never heard of the field before, and the article talked about how it was ranked as one of the best jobs to have, so I was intrigued. By the time I got to college I was majoring in math but didn't want to be a teacher, so I did some serious thinking and decided to go for the actuarial field. I got a little discouraged because everyone said it was so hard and the exams were awful, but for some reason I was still drawn to it. Maybe it was the fact that it seemed like such a unique career because most people don't know what an actuary is. But I think the main reason was that it was consistently ranked as one of the best jobs, not just salary wise, but also outlook, work conditions, etc. I had expectations that an actuarial career would provide a decent living, but I did not go into it expecting to get wealthy. I would never want to go into a career I hated just because the money was good. If your classmates are choosing this field only for the money, I think they're in for a rude awakening. They're going to have to pass alot of exams and get alot of work experience before they're "wealthy". And if they're only interested in getting rich, I doubt they'll have the patience and persistence to pass the exams and work their way up. I'd be interested in seeing how many of them are still in the actuarial field 5 or 10 years after graduation......

[Dr T Non-Fan]

Only a few actuaries make lots of money. These actuaries, I observe, are very smart (among actuaries), have a great attention to detail, are highly motivated to succeed, work their butts off, and, most importantly, have great people skills (among actuaries).

The main attraction to the actuarial profession is the perceived job security combined with the good pay (as opposed to a menial-task union job with security but not as good pay).

[JTBenson]

Originally Posted by Dr T Non-Fan

Only a few actuaries make lots of money. These actuaries, I observe, are very smart (among actuaries), have a great attention to detail, are highly motivated to succeed, work their butts off, and, most importantly, have great people skills (among actuaries).

The main attraction to the actuarial profession is the perceived job security combined with the good pay (as opposed to a menial-task union job with security but not as good pay).

Lots of money is relative. Living in a small midwestern city, I make lots of money. Living in Manhattan, I wouldn't make lots of money.

Actuaries are paid very well, but most are not filthy rich.

[Malik Shabazz]

It was the actuarial lifestyle that attracted me. The parties, the women, the drugs.

Originally Posted by Maine-iac

I was a math major in college. I didn't want to work in academia. So I looked around at other jobs suitable for people with a math degree. Actuary looked interesting. I've been generally happy with the choice, despite the exams.

Me too.

[Salzmann]

Like most people here, I fell into it. Liked math and computers, never wanted to teach, it was the only job offer I got. As for the money- if I hadn't liked what I was doing the exams would have driven me away. It' snot just the money.

But, I found that insurance wasn't as boring as it looked from the outside, and that there were a lot of interesting problems to solve.

Three years after I started in the field, I got a mailing from my college offering a crash course curriculum leading to an Engineering degree- geared towards women who might not have thought about it before. I'd kicked myself repeatedly for being too chicken to take on Engineering (got out of high school in 1971- it would have been pretty radical). Here was my chance- I was single and had no obligations and could have done it. I thought 5 minutes and threw out the mailing. Haven't looked back since.

[jk]

My previous career dried up and blew away when the telecom industry collapsed. Actuarial is one of the few fields you can get into in midlife without previous experience, by passing exams.