08-05-2006, 02:24 AM
hey hunain,
To tell you the truth the employment preference over the UK and US system is quite regional, employers in north america prefer people from the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society and employers in Europe prefer the UK system. Most countries outside these regions either accept both (unless their head office is in North America or Europe). And plus once you gain fellowship in either system attaining fellowship in the other would only require passing a few extra exams. Initially when I applied for university I got into a few places in Canada and the UK and I had a really hard time deciding where to go, however I ended up going to Canada, not to say that Canada is better in any way, its just that theres more desi people here ).
The biggest advantage that US/Canadian universities have over UK universities is the four year system (which is usually seen as a disadvantage to most people), actuarial programs in the UK usually dive into actuarial science in the first year and, this is purely my opinion (please someone correct me if I'm wrong), most actuarial programs in the UK focus more on the actuarial science whereas US/Canadian universities focus more on the mathematics, in fact in my first year all we did was math which gave me a chance to see whether actuarial science was really for me (in fact cuz of first year I've opted for an alternate degree in pure math). However, having said this there are a few degrees in the UK that give this mathematical focus and option such as the Bsc in Mathematics with statistics [for finance] at Imperial College or the MMORSE course at Warwick.
There is also a little bit of a difference between US universities and Canadian Universities teaching Actuarial Science, the best US programs in Actuarial Science such as the ones at Wharton (upenn), UIUC, Columbia and Michigan (Ann Arbor) usually only perpare students for the first two courses (except Wharton who teach up to three). Whereas the best Actuarial Science Programs in Canada (at Toronto and Waterloo) fully prepare students for four exams and have many optional courses that will prepare students for the 5th and 6th course as well. But the fact still remains that actuarial jobs are more competitive in Canada than in the US, most entry level actuarial jobs in Canada usually require over 3 exams where as in the US such jobs would only require between 1-2 exams. Salaries for entry level actuaries are quite good usually over $40,000 a year, I myself am a second year student so that value might be a little inaccurate.
Anyways, I hope I've been helpful and if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.
regards,
Shuja.
To tell you the truth the employment preference over the UK and US system is quite regional, employers in north america prefer people from the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society and employers in Europe prefer the UK system. Most countries outside these regions either accept both (unless their head office is in North America or Europe). And plus once you gain fellowship in either system attaining fellowship in the other would only require passing a few extra exams. Initially when I applied for university I got into a few places in Canada and the UK and I had a really hard time deciding where to go, however I ended up going to Canada, not to say that Canada is better in any way, its just that theres more desi people here ).
The biggest advantage that US/Canadian universities have over UK universities is the four year system (which is usually seen as a disadvantage to most people), actuarial programs in the UK usually dive into actuarial science in the first year and, this is purely my opinion (please someone correct me if I'm wrong), most actuarial programs in the UK focus more on the actuarial science whereas US/Canadian universities focus more on the mathematics, in fact in my first year all we did was math which gave me a chance to see whether actuarial science was really for me (in fact cuz of first year I've opted for an alternate degree in pure math). However, having said this there are a few degrees in the UK that give this mathematical focus and option such as the Bsc in Mathematics with statistics [for finance] at Imperial College or the MMORSE course at Warwick.
There is also a little bit of a difference between US universities and Canadian Universities teaching Actuarial Science, the best US programs in Actuarial Science such as the ones at Wharton (upenn), UIUC, Columbia and Michigan (Ann Arbor) usually only perpare students for the first two courses (except Wharton who teach up to three). Whereas the best Actuarial Science Programs in Canada (at Toronto and Waterloo) fully prepare students for four exams and have many optional courses that will prepare students for the 5th and 6th course as well. But the fact still remains that actuarial jobs are more competitive in Canada than in the US, most entry level actuarial jobs in Canada usually require over 3 exams where as in the US such jobs would only require between 1-2 exams. Salaries for entry level actuaries are quite good usually over $40,000 a year, I myself am a second year student so that value might be a little inaccurate.
Anyways, I hope I've been helpful and if you have any further questions please don't hesitate to ask.
regards,
Shuja.