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Becoming an Actuary

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I think I might like to do it. Anyone have any thoughts on it? I'm all set to do maths when I'm at university, which would lead straight to it. Apparently it's incredibly hard to get into though. I've never been good with doing homework and being self motivated really, but I really want to do something well.

Does anybody know anything about how you become an actuary? Thanks.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Good money but mind numbingly dull I would have thought.

    Useful link
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    Good money but mind numbingly dull I would have thought.

    Useful link

    Yea sent them off an e-mail. The dodgy thing is, looking into it, it's exactly my kind of thing :D lol! Rather than being boring, I like number crunching for some unknown reason, and problem solving, and working out why a*b/c gives you d and so on and so forth.

    I hope its not too competitive though, because I dont know if I could cope! I'm worried about getting into uni as it is!!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Depends if you want a job in the city or if you'd settle for a smaller company with less money.

    Either way my advice is to aim for the top.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    Depends if you want a job in the city or if you'd settle for a smaller company with less money.

    Either way my advice is to aim for the top.

    Aim for the top, how so? And maybe a bit of both, you never know!
  • littlemissylittlemissy Posts: 9,972 Supreme Poster
    It is a really competitive field, however, I thought it looked really interesting. It is something I looked into in quite a huge amount of detail and thought it would be quite good.

    You can get a maths degree and then go through all the different exams and training afterwards or you could do a degree in acturial maths (I know Heriot Watt Uni in Edinburgh did this course so would expect other institutions to do similar?) which will help as it puts you through a lot of the exams as part of the course.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    edit: n/m kentish posted it already
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Aim for the top, how so? And maybe a bit of both, you never know!
    If you are sure you want something then I think you should go for it. In your case that would mean a top actuarial job because you know now that you would enjoy that career.

    A lot of graduates these days end up settling for crappy jobs as they try and get experience in the field they want to go into, but if you already know where you want to be in 5 years time, you have the luxury of being able to plan ahead and apply for jobs in your final year, not after you've graduated.

    Aim for the top of the profession and you never know what a good deal you might get. Aim for mediocrity and that's what you will get.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My mates brother is an actuary, got a first in Maths from Oxford and now is minted.......

    Incidentally accountants are supposedly one of the most satisfied groups of workers.......
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Toadborg wrote:
    My mates brother is an actuary, got a first in Maths from Oxford and now is minted.......

    Incidentally accountants are supposedly one of the most satisfied groups of workers.......

    Are we? Bloody hell I didnt know that! Mind you just had a lot of change at work so might be happier when it all calms down.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A schoolmate of mine went into actuary, direct entry into year two actually.
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