Actuarial vs Commerce (1 Viewer)

[saksham21]

Hi, I was debating over actuarial studies and doing commerce (majoring in finance/accounting). I was wondering what the job prospects are like for actuaries vs accountants and the difference in pay. Also, I was planning to try for a UNSW co-op in commerce. Would my job prospects be better by doing a co-op and how much higher would my salary be (if it would change at all)?

 

[pikachu975]

From what I know:

1) Actuaries can diversify into many fields due to the skillset, e.g. risk analyst, data analyst, not sure about accounting.
2) Starting pay probably around the same?? Not sure about accounting but I think actuary starting is around 70k, but it scales much higher I think after getting part 2s/3s.
3) Accountants most likely to get replaced by AI while actuaries have some job safety due to requiring human judgement when making models for example.
4) Doing a co-op basically guarantees a grad job unless you completely bomb the internship and fail it, since you basically have 3 internships under your belt. Also high chance of one of the companies retaining you.

 

[saksham21]

From what I know:

1) Actuaries can diversify into many fields due to the skillset, e.g. risk analyst, data analyst, not sure about accounting.
2) Starting pay probably around the same?? Not sure about accounting but I think actuary starting is around 70k, but it scales much higher I think after getting part 2s/3s.
3) Accountants most likely to get replaced by AI while actuaries have some job safety due to requiring human judgement when making models for example.
4) Doing a co-op basically guarantees a grad job unless you completely bomb the internship and fail it, since you basically have 3 internships under your belt. Also high chance of one of the companies retaining you.

do you think it's worth doing a double degree in both actuarial and commerce to open up avenues into either field?

 

[pikachu975]

aye this is unrelated but did you step down from mod

Yea

 

[pikachu975]

do you think it's worth doing a double degree in both actuarial and commerce to open up avenues into either field?

Most people do a double degree with actuarial just to get the part 2 exemptions in 4th year, so you can do any 2nd degree based on your interests.

 

[quickoats]

do you think it's worth doing a double degree in both actuarial and commerce to open up avenues into either field?

It might be hard to satisfy both AIAA and CPA/CA requirements if you want to keep both options truly open.