First BASS Meeting

On August 31st I attended the general interest meeting for the Baruch Actuarial Science Society (BASS). This is the main club that I was interested in joining here at Baruch since I intend to major in actuarial science. At the meeting I learned about how to become an actuary, what actuaries do, what it’s like to be an actuary, internship opportunities, the actuarial exam process, and more. This was a very informative and important meeting since I’ve never met or talked to an actuary, so I had little idea of what it’s like even though I plan on going down that career path. The reason I want to be is an actuary is because I love math, finance, statistics, and I want a decent salary. The meeting confirmed that actuaries are heavily involved with mathematics and that their median salary is $100K+. The meeting also specified what classes to take in order to be on track in becoming an actuary, since you don’t even need a degree in actuarial science to pursue the career. This is because actuaries become accredited by taking various exams that span several years. So as long as you study and pass the exams, you can major in whatever you want (typically math or finance related, though). I’m glad I attended this meeting because they emailed me a ton of information relating to the career. I plan on using this information to build my resume and start internships during my college career. For example, actuaries should know how to use excel, VBA, and SQL which are programs used in the career. I can learn how to navigate these programs in my own time outside of class so that I will have a competitive edge over my peers. As stated in the meeting, internship positions aren’t easy to acquire, especially in NYC, since employers are looking for the best student they can find. BASS will be able to guide me as I start my actuary journey and I look forward to future meetings.

I didn’t take a picture of the meeting so here is a screenshot of information provided there.