Best Universities?

[Anthony]

in America it is known that UPenn is the best in Actuarial science.

but in Australia, and UK I have only a rough idea.

Does anyone know about the rankings of each uni in Australia and UK?

Australia : Melbourne, UNSW, MacQuarie, Australian National University

UK : LSE, Herriot Watt, Edinburgh, Uni Kent in Canterbury, Uni of Wales in Swansea, City Uni London..

Thanks.

[.Godspeed.]

in America it is known that UPenn is the best in Actuarial science.

Is that known?

[Ken]

By UPenn, you mean Wharton? Good B-school. Not so much actuarial science.

[krzysio]

By UPenn, you mean Wharton? Good B-school. Not so much actuarial science.

There is an actuarial science program at Wharton, but it is debatable whether it is the best one in the U.S. In rankings I have seen, Wharton is consistently ranked as No. 1 in insurance, with Georgia State typically being number 2 in that area. Georgia State used to be considered number 1 in actuarial science, but in my opinion this is debatable since Bob Batten retired from there. Not that Georgia State is bad, but from a perspective of a student, Batten has been amazing in preparing students for exams (I am hoping to do the same for my students). There is a listing of college programs at the SOA web site, and it qualifies them by depth of their coverage. Here are the only programs in the U.S. that are listed as most advanced at both undergraduate and graduate level:

Boston University
University of Central Florida
Florida State University
Georgia State University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Illinois State University
University of Iowa
Middle Tennessee State University
Pennsylvania State University
Temple University
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
University of Wisconsin-Madison

There are also quite a lot of listings in Canada and worldwide. I direct the program at Illinois State. I would love to say that we are best, but there are really no objective measures, and I know that some of the schools listed above are tough competitors. Our program does not offer a Ph.D., only a Master degree (and a Bachelor degree, of course). In terms of production of Ph.D.'s in actuarial science, I believe Wisconsin-Madison, Iowa and Georgia State are the leaders. In terms of the number of undergraduate students, I believe Illinois is the largest. I find the absence of Michigan, Nebraska, Drake and Connecticut on this list surprising, but this may be a result of those three not having graduate offerings. If you have questions about Illinois State, please do let me know.

Yours,
Krzys' Ostaszewski

[Ken]

I don't know whether we have a Ph.D. program here at Michigan, but we definately have graduate students in Masters programs.

[bdenyer]

It seems to me -- though I have no experience at all at this point -- that the most important thing is passing the exams and demonstrating the capability to become an actuary, rather than to have a degree in actuarial science. I go to school at Stony Brook, and we have had quite a few alumni from the applied math dept. go to work for some of the big companies in the city, e.g., NY Life, Metlife, and so on, though we do not have an actuarial science department. Besides, I think that you had better be damn sure you want to be an actuary if you declare actuarial science as your major, otherwise you might be left with fewer options than you would with a more broad based economics or math degree.

[Helenimo]

Besides, I think that you had better be damn sure you want to be an actuary if you declare actuarial science as your major, otherwise you might be left with fewer options than you would with a more broad based economics or math degree.

how is a Business science degree major in Finance at university of Cape Town for an Actuarial career , well i visited their site but wasn't fully answered.

[Helenimo]

Besides, I think that you had better be damn sure you want to be an actuary if you declare actuarial science as your major, otherwise you might be left with fewer options than you would with a more broad based economics or math degree.

how is a Business science degree major in Finance at university of Cape Town for an Actuarial career , well i visited their site but wasn't fully answered.

[brenda]

Hey, Brenda here. U guys are talking about prestigious universities that offer actuarial science? How about University of Texas or University of Houston, US? Is it true that US universities offer the best actuarial science course?

[brianritchie]

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Correct me if I am wrong, but every country has their own system with their pros and cons. The US system prefers more consistent work as fa as I know and they also want you to be more independent and be able to possess excellent time management to juggle your school studies with your exams. I cant say much about the rest because I have not been a part of it but this is my opinion on the US system of Actuarial Science.