Pathway into Actuarial Science (Postgrad)

I'm in my late twenties and I'm interested in studying Actuarial Science. I enjoyed maths in school and was good at it, but after leaving school I did a BA Hons degree in a different area, and came out with a 2.1. I don't have any quantative background through my degree, and I'm wondering if there is a pathway into the profession for people in my position.

There are three postgraduate courses in Actuarial Science at UCD; a Grad Dip, a H Dip and a MSc. According to the website, a quantative background is expected for admission to each of these courses, but for the Grad Dip and the MSc it states that "we will however consider applications from prospective students who do not meet these entry requirements provided they can demonstrate an ability and commitment to study actuarial science."

I'm just wondering if anyone here has some experience of these courses, and can advise if I have a chance of getting into one of them (presumably the Grad Dip) somehow? I've also looked into the possibility of doing the H Dip in Statistics as preparation, but that course also seems to require a quantative background.

Any comments or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

HavingCrack

The big secret about most post grads in any discipline is that most will accept anyone from any background (within reason) provided you can pay. Post grad's are pure profit.

Well yes it is a lot of money! But I'd imagine I might need to do some kind of conversion course in maths/stats first, but I'm having trouble finding any. Even if I could get straight into Actuarial Science I'd probably be a bit out of my depth compared to most of the other students.

misslt

You should take a look at the UK Actuarial Profession's website (actuaries.org.uk) and read up on the exams, subject matter etc. Subject CT1, Financial Mathematics, is available to sit as a non-member, to get an idea of the work and the standard of the exams. Having said that, I don't think CT1 is similar to anything else I've done so far (I'm in third year of the undergrad degree) but I'm not finished yet and haven't done everything
 
Past papers are available to look at etc. If your background is not in Maths it might not be a bad idea to look into some maths courses first. I think entry requirements to the Institute are an undergrad degree and the equivalent of an A in A-Level Maths, which I think is a B1 in the leaving (I'm from the north so I didn't sit the leaving!) - You might want to check that, it was just off the top of my head so could be wrong.
 
If you are thinking of doing something, the HDip might be your best bet, you can choose which exemptions you want to attempt, and it is a lot quicker - I think you can get exemptions from CT1-8 doing the HDip in one year, whereas the institute don't recommend you sit more than two exams per session, and there are two sessions per year.
 
Investigate the possibility of sitting CT1 as a non-member, have a look at the papers etc, then see from there if you think you'd want to look more into the HDip.

Thanks misslt, that's really helpful. I'll look into the CT1 material to start with, and try to find some kind of maths conversion course that might help me get onto the HDip.

misslt

Flying Fox wrote: »

Thanks misslt, that's really helpful. I'll look into the CT1 material to start with, and try to find some kind of maths conversion course that might help me get onto the HDip.

No problem

rahor

Have you talked to anyone in UCD about whether you're suitable? People have done the course without a numerical undergrad.
If you liked Maths for your leaving I don't think it would take too long to get back up to scratch. The H Dip is a conversion course so you don't have to have done maths in college to do well. The main maths areas that you need to know are differentiation and integration, the rest you can pick up easily.
If you look at the intstitute website, it gives a list of the maths you need for each exam.
The exam matieral is looked after by acted.co.uk and they have some maths and stats packs for people like yourself. If you went through that matieral with no problems, you should be fine.
The postgraduate diploma and Msc are new and i don't think have been fully accredited. I wouldn't recommend doing a course that's not accredited as it's way too expensive and you still have to do all the exams afterwards.
Hope that helps

sjc05

I don’t mean to be negative but realistically if you are in your late twenties and haven’t seen any maths since your leaving cert I think the HDip might be a bit too much. Remember it costs a fortune and you need to get about 70% in each subject to get exemptions from the CT’s. I have done the course and I came from a very strong maths background (A1 in maths and applied maths in LC and a 2.1 in Financial maths) but I needed to study really hard to get top marks. You should think carefully about doing it even if you are accepted as it is a lot of time and money to waste if you can’t get the high marks needed for exemptions.