BU is my first choice. Would you say that it is easy to find internship as a student actuary? I’m from out of state, so I know little about Boston, but I plan on getting internship near there on weekends and summer. How is exam preparation? Would you say other colleges, like St. John, UCONN, Bentley are considered “better” for job placement and internship opportunities?
If it’s alright for you all, could you also share the stats that got you in? Thanks.
If you have done a chance me/match me thread, can you link it here, so we can see what you are bringing to the college admission table?
My daughter wanted to be an actuary, finance major math and accounting minor at Clemson. She had so many internship offers, ended up home in NJ, her preference. One of her advisors was the actuary advisor, so he guided her on course selection. I think she passed two if not three exams in undergrad. She’s taking #6 or 7 this week. Her company pays for the exams, books, gives her a day off a week if she has an exam scheduled, she gets a raise and bonus if she passes. She was told not to take more than 3 exams in college. Her older sister got her doctorate at BU (PT), she loved going to school there.
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What would you major in at BU? Math or Stats? I’m only seeing a Masters in Actuarial Science. So they may have kids chasing the field but I don’t see a formal program. Perhaps I’m missing it.
You might ask each school for a student ambassador you can speak with. And also inquire to career services who can answer your questions.
Bentley posts this info as an example - see link below.
Ask each school for similar.
UCONN says 82% are working and 8% are seeking. The rest are in other things. They don’t show a knowledge rate though so you don’t know what % of all people that’s impacting. They don’t show salary data although companies often pay by location and their own scale vs. by school. UCONN lists these employers:
- MetLife
- MAPFRE
- Talcott Financial Group
- The Hartford Financial Services Group
- EY LLP
- Rototec LLC
- Prudential Financial, Inc.
- Investors Heritage
- Elevance Health
- Mercer
- Empower (Financial Services)
- Petco
- UnitedHealth Group
- Karma Financial
- Integris Group
- AmTrust Financial Services, Inc.
- CapSpecialty
- UnitedHealthcare
- WTW
- Outlier
But put each school to the test in regards to, what are their students doing. Internships might not be during the year so if you need money (like a part time job) during the school year, I wouldn’t count on that. Most companies run summer internships.
You can also go to indeed.com and if you put in summer interna actuary and then change to actuarial , you’ll see lots of internships (many of which probably list with the schools, too).
Good luck.
Actucarial Science and Data Analytics 2025 Career Profile Outcome.pdf
Okay, thank you all for your response.
I’m planning to do something related to data science, math, computer science, or economics. Since it’s not an actuarial science degree, I’m not sure if I want to go there and am wondering how it turned out for some of the other students. I’ve always wanted to go there, especially now that it’s more affordable.
Gotcha - why is it more affordable. Read the fine print.
Also, just because a school like Bentley lists a company hired someone doesn’t mean they recruited there. The student may have found the job on their own, as many do.
You might look on linkedin. I just did. I’m seeing Masters Degrees. You might ask the math department as well.
As for affordability, make sure you know two things:
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they all disclaim - assuming average assets. If your family has more, you won’t necessarily get what they say.
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BU is need aware. I know someone who went for under $10K a year (she was a URM and not sure if that mattered) but they can, depending on how much you need, decline you just for that. About 38% of kids get need aid, so overall it’s a very wealthy school.
It’s a great school and I hope you get in, but you are smart to check the “path” but you then have to assume someone had that path. If they haven’t, it doesn’t mean it won’t work. @Mjkacmom might know about that but reading about her daughter, it sounds like she had an actuary major.
Maybe ask to set up some informational interviews with the BU departments of interest to ask. And given they have a Masters program, you might talk to a professor there. They’d likely know aobut an undergrad path through the school to make it work.
With something like this, the more people you reach out to, the better.
If you find someone on linkedin (a BU undergrad who is an actualry), hit them up as well. I found one. I’ll DM you their name - reach out, ask if they wouldn’t mind talking to you for a few minutes and you can ask about their path - which seemed to be computer science and linguistics.
But I would say - in case you change your mind, pursue a degree that you want - don’t try to manipulate. And I’m assuming, but don’t know, the easiest path would be to simply get a degree in actuarial sciences, even if that means BU would be out because in the end, you want to go to a place that best preps you for a role (in my opinion). In other words, major over school. It seems there’s a lot better options than BU.
Good luck.
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