Actuarial Science

What you'll do in college

Actuarial science majors learn to measure and price risk—the math behind insurance, pensions, and finance. The major blends probability and statistics, financial mathematics, and economics with insurance and risk-management coursework, teaching you to model uncertain future events and put a price on them. Expect heavy quantitative work in calculus, probability, regression, and interest theory, and most programs are built around passing the early professional actuarial exams.

Many students sit for one or more Society of Actuaries or Casualty Actuarial Society exams before graduating, and internships at insurers, consulting firms, and pension offices are a standard—and résumé-defining—part of the path.

What you'll do after college

Graduates become actuaries, risk analysts, and underwriters at insurance companies, consulting firms, pension funds, banks, and government agencies, with many also moving into data science and quantitative finance. Advancement is tied to a series of rigorous professional exams—each one passed typically brings a raise and more responsibility.

The field is famously stable and well-paid, with strong demand and a reputation for low stress relative to other finance careers. The work is analytical and behind-the-scenes—if you like turning uncertainty into numbers other people can act on, it fits.

Famous graduates

• Robert J. Myers — Longest-serving Chief Actuary of U.S. Social Security and a co-architect of the program; M.S. in Actuarial Science from the University of Iowa
• Franz Kafka — Literary giant who by day assessed workplace risk and claims at the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute in Prague; doctorate in law

Selectivity vs. earnings