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Actuarial studies? (1 Viewer)

stag_j

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Is it possible to study this at Sydney? If not, what would the closest course be?
 

xiao1985

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don't think usyd offers actuarial studies... closest would prolly be b comm with a accounting major, since in actuarial u need to major in acct any wayz...
 

Suvat

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The closest to actuarial studies @ usyd would probably be a BCom or BEc majoring in econometrics. There's even a topic in ECMT1010 called 'actuarial mathematics', but I suspect that proper actuarial studies is not that easy ;)
 

Minai

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xiao1985 said:
closest would prolly be b comm with a accounting major, since in actuarial u need to major in acct any wayz...
not really, at UNSW an Actuarial major is seperate to an Accounting major
and at Macquarie, Actuarial is a seperate degree itself

you need certain accounting, finance and economics subjects to gain max exemptions, but not a whole acct major
 

xiao1985

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@minai: i thought in macq, to do b comm- act studies, u have to major in acturial and acct???
 

jlh

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actuarials at MQ is a separate degree... and there isn't a possible combination of actuarials and accounting...
 

xiao1985

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jlh said:
actuarials at MQ is a separate degree... and there isn't a possible combination of actuarials and accounting...
meh, but have got it wrong then @@

i was a actuarial wannabe, until they kicked me out =(
 

Suvat

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Hey Xiao, what commerce subject are you doing this semester?
 

slats91

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no Actuarial studies course @SydUni

Sydney Uni does not offer actuarial studies. The only 5 universities in Australia that offer a degree in actuarial studies are: ANU, Monash Uni, Melbourne Uni, UNSW, Macquarie Uni. My brother does BCom (Actuarial Studies) at UNSW. Dont get the idea that its got a great deal to do with financial mathematics or economometrics. the mathematics involved is pretty complex, and its more related to science and science applications in the first year and a half. Its primarily a mathematics degree , but more advanced than a regualar BSci in maths. The closest courses at Sydney would be the BSci (Advanced Mathematics), BSci/BCom (doing adv maths as science major). The reason why some unis call it a 'BCom' is because you can relate the mathematics learnt through studying actuarial studies to finacial markets and their risk(eg insurance, investment). I did 4 unit maths at school, and ive looked at my brother's work from first year - its way more complex than HSC 4 unit maths. Thats probably why there are only around 1200 actuaries in Australia. Its a very demanding course and has a very high drop out rate. To do the course, you really have to love mathematics and be extremely good at it (by good, i mean at least band 4 in 4 unit maths (90%+))

Hope this helps - Andrew
 

flyin'

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1. Confirming what most people have posted - No. Actuarial studies does not involve an Accounting major. The minimum number of Accounting units you'll do would be 2 - I suspect regardless of universities. At Macquarie, many people combine with Applied Finance which is a mixture of Accounting and Economics (as opposed to other unis which have units labelled as "Finance".)

2. The closest thing to Actuarial would be Mathematics (in particular Statistics) and Econometrics. Econometrics involves a great deal of modelling, which is something which is common throughout Actuarial work. Although, I don't think Econometrics would be as technical. Note also that Actuarials need a grounding in (Financial) Accounting and Economics, so taking first and second year units might suffice. BCom/BSci would do the trick.

3. Actuarial work is different from 4U. It's not apple to apple. Note also that things can often appear harder than they really are.

Hope that helps.

I'm in my 2nd year of Actuarial/Mathematics at Macq.
 

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