MSc Actuarial Science

Hi!

I am currently doing that course, in the middle of exams at the minute (procrastinating right now!).

The workload is fairly intense, in the amount of hours you have to put in to keep on top of everything. Towards the tail ends of the semesters (last five weeks) I was putting in 12 hours days every weekday (I take weekends off). Before that I would have been doing 8-10 hours most days, and for people taking the course seriously (which is almost everyone) they all put in that much time.
Studying for exams is like sprinting a marathon, put in 120 hours solid in the 10 days before they start, then you sit the exams and study during. However, if you put in this time you will get the results needed (well from first semester anyway, I can't say about second yet cause I haven't got the results yet :P).

I don't really think its as respected as the four year degree, for a few reasons, mainly because a lot of working actuaries are unaware of it, also you are putting a 4 year degree into one year, also the six month placement that the undergrads have seem to really help them out. I have talked to some working actuaries and asked them that question, i.e. would we be at a disadvantage going against the undergrads for jobs and they all say no, but no one in our class got a graduate position, while about one third of the 4th year undergrads did. However, just under half of the class have summer placements, so they could potentially lead to longer contracts, or full time positions!

Hope this helps somewhat!