Wednesday, September 3rd , 2014 (6 - 7:30pm)
112 Forestry Building
Revised 1/16/2014
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Introductions
◦ Career Opportunities discussed
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Penn State Courses
Actuarial Exams & VEE
Actuarial Science Club
Internships
Questions
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#
1 Job in US
( per 4/22/13 WSJ )
 # 1 School for Recruiters
( per BusinessWeek)
 Largest actuarial program in US
Almost 150 exam passers per year
Half of Math and Stat majors
 70
from Smeal and 60 from Eberly (Math & Stat)
 Center of Actuarial Excellence – only 14 in US
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Be sure to put ACTSC option in Major Preference #1 on elion
 Very
Difficult Degree
Students with A’s in Calculus: pass exams, get jobs
Students with C’s rarely pass exams/get jobs – try ERM?
Some employers only look at students with GPA > 3.5
 STAT 414 & SOA Probability Exam – take Sophomore year
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Ron Gebhardtsbauer, FSA
 Pension Consulting, Insurance, Congress, spokesperson for US profession
 Teaches RM 410/411/412/415 (Financial Math, Pricing Life Ins & Derivatives)
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Zhongyi Yuan, PhD in Actuarial Science
 Teaches RM 410 (Financial Math) in Fall
 Teaches RM 420 (C Exam = P&C & Health material) in Spring
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Maggie Niu
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Brian Johnson, ACAS
 Assistant Professor in Statistics teaching RM 410
 Works for SwissRe (Property & Casualty Reinsurance Company) helps RM 420
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Lisa Weaver, LLD
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Lisa Posey and Dave Cather
 Retirement Consultant, Teaches INS 401 (Pensions) each Spring
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PhDs teaching Insurance and Risk Management
Actuarial Science Club Officers (Available for questions)
 President – Eric Stoltz (interned at AON Hewitt in Chicago)
 VP – Bradford Conners (interned at CIGNA in Hartford)
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Insurance, Consulting, Government
o Insurance
o 12-18 Month Rotational Programs
o Competitive study programs
o Consulting, Investment, and Accounting Firms
o Longer hours – especially during busy season
o Dynamic work environment
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Industries
o Life/Annuity
o Health
o Retirement
o Property/Casualty
o Reinsurance
o Finance/Investment
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Actively seek out companies you’d like, using
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Internet (e.g., Met Life & AXA only use their website)
o
Actuarial Career Fair
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Info Sessions
o
Linked-In
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Students who had Internships (see Club’s website)
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Your resume on Symplicity
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Used for Club’s Resume Booklet
Pass Actuarial Exams and take all VEE courses
Get involved in student organizations
Keep GPA above 3.20 to get an internship/job
Employers list on Club website
www.clubs.psu.edu/up/actsci/employers.html
Yr
Fall
Spring
1st
MATH 140* (Calc I)
MATH 141* (Calc II)
2nd MATH 230* (Calc III)
STAT 414* (Probability Theory) !!!
preferred prereq for 414, per Eberly Take P Exam in May for internship
MATH 220# (Matrices)
STAT 480# (SAS)
3rd
R M 410* (Financial Math)
R M 411* (Life Contingencies)
Take FM in December
R M 415 (Derivatives Markets)
STAT 415# (Mathematical Statistics) Take MFE in June (>80% passed!)
4th
R M 412* (Life Contingencies)
Take MLC in November
STAT 462# (Regression Analysis)
R M 420 (P&C Ins) or RM 401
Take C in May
STAT 463# (Applied Time Series)
See www.math.psu.edu/ug/advising/vs on whether to place out of 140/141
MATH 220 (Matrices) valuable for Markov Chains in RM 412 & MLC
STAT 415 valuable for RM 420 & Exam C.
* C or better required. If C’s, you should consider alternatives
# needed for STAT minor
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R M 301* (Fall Only)
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R M 320W* (Spring Only)
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RM 430* (Fall Only)
◦ Risk & Decisions
◦ Prereq: FIN 301, MATH 140, STAT 200
◦ Risk Management & Insurance
◦ Prereq: R M 301
◦ Life & Health Insurance
◦ Prereq: R M 320W
* C or higher required
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STAT200*/SCM200*: Elementary Statistics (easy-AP can waive)
◦ SCM200 has more business applications
MIS 204*: Intro to Business Information Systems
B LAW 341 & BA 342: Business Law & Ethics
Smeal’s Business Core
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FIN 301*
Finance
ACCTG 211* Accounting
MKTG 301* Marketing
MGMT 301* Management
ActSc students don’t have to take SCM 301 anymore
BA 411: Analyzing Business & Industry (BA 412 for Schreyer)
* C or higher required
Consult your degree audit at elion.psu.edu
Sample schedule at Smeal Undergraduate Student Exchange or Club homepage
http://ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/academics-advising/degree-requirements/majors
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Additional Statistics & Mathematics courses:
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MATH 220: Matrices (good course for RM 412)
STAT 415: Mathematical Statistics (good course for C exam)
STAT 461: Analysis of Variance
STAT 470W: Problem solving in Applied Statistics
STAT 480: Introduction to SAS (good course)
STAT 462/463:Applied Regression/Time Series Analysis-VEE
◦ 1 from CMPSC 101/102/121/200/201/202: C++,VB,Matlab,Fortran
◦ Select 9 credits from:
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STAT 416: Stochastic Modeling
STAT 440: Computational Statistics
STAT 464: Applied Nonparametric Statistics
STAT 466: Survey Sampling
MATH 436/441: Linear or Matrix Algebra
MATH 451/455: Numerical Computations & Numerical Analysis
IE 434/436: Quality Control/Industrial Engineering
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Additional Mathematics & Statistics courses:
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MATH 311W & 312: Discrete Math & Real Analysis
MATH 251: Ordinary & Partial Differential Equations
MATH 220: Matrices (good course)
MATH/STAT 415: Mathematical Statistics (good course)
MATH/STAT 416: Stochastic Modeling (good course)
◦ MATH 486: Game Theory or MATH 451: Numerical Computations
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MATH 484: Linear Programming
STAT 462: Applied Regression Analysis (good course)
STAT 463: Applied Time Series Analysis (good course)
CMPSC 101, 121, 201C: Computer Programming
IE 425: Operations Research
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Business courses required:
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ECON 102 & 104: Micro & Macro-Economics
FIN 301: Corp Finance & Financial Markets
RM 302: Risk & Insurance
RM 410*/411*/412*: Actuarial Courses
ACCTG 211: Financial/Managerial Accounting (Stat Majors)
Business courses not required:
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RM 301, 320W, 430, and 401/420
ACCTG 211: Accounting (Math Majors need not take)
Business Core and BA 411
B LAW 341 & BA 342: Business Law & Ethics
MIS 204: Intro to Business Information Systems
* C or Higher required
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STAT 483: Thorough SAS course – great for Health Ins jobs
COMP SCI 203: Excel with some Access
CMPSC 102: Intro to VB
MATH 220: Matrices
MATH 251:Differential Equations
MATH 232 (after MATH 231)
MATH 412 Partial Differential Equations
MATH 451 or 455: Numerical Computations/Analysis
MATH 486: Game Theory
FIN 305: Financial Mgmt of Business Enterprise
FIN 408: Financial Markets and Institutions
FIN 410: Derivatives Markets (RM 415 without Calculus)
FIN 414 or 415: Financial Trading; Advanced Financial Modeling
ACCTG 211: Accounting
ECON 302/304: Intermediate Micro/Macro Economics
ECON 351: Money and Banking
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RM Courses 410 (Excel); 411 (VBA); 412 (Pivot Tables)
STAT 462: some Minitab used
STAT 463: some R used
STAT 480: SAS (1 credit) (STAT 483 is really good – 3 cred) online
STAT 497: R
CMPSC 203: Excel with some Access
CMPSC 101 Intro to C++
CMPSC 102: Intro to VB
lynda.psu.edu can also help w VBA
CMPSC 200: MATLAB
CMPSC 201: C++
CMPSC 202: FORTRAN
CMPSC 37C: SQL
MATH 451: MATLAB used
FIN 414 or 415: VBA used
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Given in Harrisburg, Philly, Pittsburg by:
◦ Society of Actuaries (SOA)
 Life/Pension/Health/Enterprise Risk Mgmt
◦ Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS)
 Property/Casualty
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SOA exams usually satisfy CAS, but not vice-versa
 See
www.BeAnActuary.org
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Passing 1 exam helps get internship
 3 exams for Full-Time job
 We cover all 5 exams in our courses here
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◦ Some students here passed all 5 exams before May
◦ Almost Associates in the Society of Actuaries
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We partially reimburse exam fees, if pass
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See Club’s Exam Passer webpage for getting $100
Take FM Exam this December
◦ Tough passing FM exam when in RM 411
◦ Use summer & winter breaks to pass exams
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Exam
Course(s)
SOA Sample Q
& Best Manual
Take it
when?
Comments
1/P - Probability
Theory
STAT
414
InfiniteActuary
or ACTEX
Sophomore
year!!
Otherwise,
take in Jan
2/FM - Financial
Mathematics
RM 410
ASM
December
Don’t take in
Feb when in
RM 411
3F/MFE –
Financial Econ
RM 415
ASM or
ADAPT
July
>80% pass
rate!!!
LC/MLC - Life
Contingencies
RM
411/412
or ADAPT
Early
November
MLC satisfies
CAS’s LC exam
4/C – P&C and
Health Ins
RM 412/420
STAT
415/416
InfiniteActuary
ADAPT or ASM
June
ST exam (CAS)
STAT
415/416
InfiniteActuary
cheap in last wk
April
PoissonProcesses
& Mathematical
Statistics
Exams are given at Prometric in Philly, Harrisburg, or Pittsburgh
(MLC is given here)
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Required by SOA/CAS
 Employers want hires to have VEE
 ECON 102/104 & FIN 301 already required
 Must receive a grade of B- or better
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◦ Or 4 or 5 on AP tests, on College Board transcript
Apply for VEE credit after passing P & FM
 Can also get credit by exam thru
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◦ ACTEX for Finance & Applied Stat VEE’s
◦ CLEP for Econ VEE
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Accepted Courses: take one from each
o Applied Regression
 STAT 462, STAT 501, or ECON 306
 Prerequisites can be satisfied by Stat 414
o Applied Time Series
 STAT 463, STAT 510*, ECON 483*
o You can mix and match
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Get STAT Minor - if take above STAT courses &
o STAT 415 (Mathematical Statistics)
o STAT 480 (Intro to SAS - 1 credit)
o STAT 416 (Stochastic Processes) in future
o MATH 220 (Matrices – 2 credits) in future
*May be gone. Some used to get an ECON Minor if took ECON 302/304
(Intermediate Micro & Macro Econ) and an ECON 4xx, when ECON 483 given
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VEE/Exam
VEE Econ
VEE Finance
Course 1 Course 2
Econ 102 Econ 104
Other?
FIN 301
VEE Statistics STAT 462 STAT 463
Exam P/1
STAT 414
Exam FM/2
R M 410
Exam MLC/3L
R M 411
Exam MFE/3F
R M 415
Exam C/4
R M 420
or STAT 501/510
or ECON 306/483
R M 412
RM 412
STAT 415/6
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
Résumé, Symplicity, & Mock Interview
◦ Wednesday 9/10: 6 – 7:15 PM in XXX Business
◦ Put resumes on SmealConnect/SciOpps by 9/14
◦ Must use instructions on Club’s Resume webpage
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International Mtg with Mock Interview
◦ Wednesday 9/17: 6 – 7 PM in XXX Business
◦ Ideas for internships, jobs, and grad school
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Mentors for Juniors
(& interested Frosh/Soph)
◦ If interested, email Corey Lutz cel5213@psu.edu
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Monday 9/22/14 from 5 to 8 PM in Atrium
Over 30 companies last year
 Great place to find Internships
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◦ Even if you don’t have exam: practice interviews
◦ 1st & 2nd yr. students can get internships w/o exams
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To Attend:
◦ Must do Mock Interview with Mentor
◦ GPA>3.20, A’s in Calculus, or Exam
◦ Pay Dues
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Company Info Sessions
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Exam Review Sessions & Tutors
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Field Trip to Actuarial Employers (Spring)
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Speakers Series: SoA President XXX
◦ Wednesday 11/20: 6 - 7:30PM in 110 Business
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THON involvement
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Interested in being a Junior Liaison?
◦ Email President Eric Stoltz ezs5167@psu.edu
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Facebook group
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https://www.facebook.com/groups/158631222604/
Study Manual exchange
Questions about Actuarial Exams or PSU Classes
Socials
List Serve sign up at www.clubs.psu.edu/up/actsci
Internships
Questions?
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