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Old 11-10-2011, 08:29 PM
 
3,614 posts, read 3,871,447 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by golfgal View Post
One of those 0% majors is Actuarial Science--they really are "fully employed", even recent college grads.
Yes and no.

The industry has a huge glut of qualified entry level people (I would know - have passed more than one of the exams, have a math degree from a top school, programming experience, etc. but have been looking unsuccessfully for an entry level job in the field since graduating in '09). The schools that offer the majors tend to push people into internships and have connections with specific companies, which is all that seems to matter these days. I talked with someone in the field who places more senior people and he estimated the average incoming candidates for an entry level position at about 100 to 1. I have a couple friends who were in the same position as me and gave up looking.

So people with the degree have full employment because they either made a very good decision or got lucky and went about their education in such a way that they graduated with a network and connections in the field. Has nothing to do with general entry-level job availability in general.
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Old 11-11-2011, 05:06 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,189,627 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ALackOfCreativity View Post
Yes and no.

The industry has a huge glut of qualified entry level people (I would know - have passed more than one of the exams, have a math degree from a top school, programming experience, etc. but have been looking unsuccessfully for an entry level job in the field since graduating in '09). The schools that offer the majors tend to push people into internships and have connections with specific companies, which is all that seems to matter these days. I talked with someone in the field who places more senior people and he estimated the average incoming candidates for an entry level position at about 100 to 1. I have a couple friends who were in the same position as me and gave up looking.

So people with the degree have full employment because they either made a very good decision or got lucky and went about their education in such a way that they graduated with a network and connections in the field. Has nothing to do with general entry-level job availability in general.
I suppose a lot of it has to do with where you live. Around here the insurance companies, etc. are crying for actuaries. Our son is probably going to be majoring in this in college and has been doing a lot of investigating, talking to actuaries at various companies, talking to students in various programs around here and they are all telling us the same thing...they need more. The last school we visited, all of the 2012 grads have already been offered jobs when they graduate...and it's only November. Of course you are always going to run into some of those students that do not make good employees no matter what their GPA, etc.
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Old 11-14-2011, 09:42 PM
 
Location: Rocking the 609
360 posts, read 1,017,755 times
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Generally, I think these kinds of rankings are crap. That said, I'm above the 75th percentile for my undergrad major (biology)
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Old 11-22-2011, 04:45 PM
 
Location: Queens, NY
147 posts, read 313,870 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by golfgal View Post
I suppose a lot of it has to do with where you live. Around here the insurance companies, etc. are crying for actuaries. Our son is probably going to be majoring in this in college and has been doing a lot of investigating, talking to actuaries at various companies, talking to students in various programs around here and they are all telling us the same thing...they need more. The last school we visited, all of the 2012 grads have already been offered jobs when they graduate...and it's only November. Of course you are always going to run into some of those students that do not make good employees no matter what their GPA, etc.
And where is "here?"

*packs bags*
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Old 11-23-2011, 05:29 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,189,627 times
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Originally Posted by halfwitwanderer View Post
And where is "here?"

*packs bags*
Minnesota and Wisconsin, one of the national centers for insurance companies.
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Old 11-23-2011, 10:57 AM
 
977 posts, read 1,812,690 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by golfgal View Post
Minnesota and Wisconsin, one of the national centers for insurance companies.
Entry level actuarial market sucks though prob better than other careers. I'm an actuary and we get tons more resumes for entry level than we did 5-10 years ago. Used to be you had one exam and bam, you were hireable, regardless of whether you had an internship. Now, you need at least 2 to even be considered. And if you didn't have an internship, forget about it.

It's not just my company either. It's well documented via one of the actuarial discussion forums.

No chance the unemployment rate is 0.0% for actuarial science majors. Also, I wouldn't major in act science as it's not marketable outside the actuarial field. Much better to major in econ or finance. If you can pass the exams and get an internship, it doesn't matter what your major is.
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Old 11-23-2011, 11:08 AM
 
4,534 posts, read 4,918,322 times
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These polls, rankings, and lists are always worthless.

Actuary science always gets tons of hype, but it can be extremely difficult to land a job.

Also, since when is a university supposed to be a vocational school?


Many of these employment statistics by major also fail to acknowledge the fact that many jobs new grads are getting these days are nothing more than temp jobs that offer low pay or little or no health care jobs. Permatemp jobs are starting to become an enormous cancer and a big problem within STEM fields. They offer no benefits and very little job security, yet if you hold a permatemp position you are still considered 'employed'.
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Old 11-24-2011, 05:09 AM
 
20,793 posts, read 61,189,627 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Broncos Quarterback View Post
Entry level actuarial market sucks though prob better than other careers. I'm an actuary and we get tons more resumes for entry level than we did 5-10 years ago. Used to be you had one exam and bam, you were hireable, regardless of whether you had an internship. Now, you need at least 2 to even be considered. And if you didn't have an internship, forget about it.

It's not just my company either. It's well documented via one of the actuarial discussion forums.

No chance the unemployment rate is 0.0% for actuarial science majors. Also, I wouldn't major in act science as it's not marketable outside the actuarial field. Much better to major in econ or finance. If you can pass the exams and get an internship, it doesn't matter what your major is.
Well, like I said, every school we have talked to says the opposite. The students we have talked to that are seniors have said the opposite. The seniors in college we have talked to have all been offered jobs AFTER they graduate--and it's only November. Insurance companies, hospitals, universities, etc. are all hiring around here. Now, that could change in the next 6 years when our son is done with college (still in high school) but no career has any guarantees of employment.
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Old 11-24-2011, 05:18 AM
 
Location: right here
4,160 posts, read 5,608,141 times
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What does the popularity number mean? How popular the major is? Interesting article...
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Old 11-25-2011, 11:26 AM
Rei
 
Location: Los Angeles
494 posts, read 1,759,394 times
Reputation: 240
when i saw the list listing civil engineering unemployment lower than computer engineering, electrical, biomed, information sciences and economics, i knew the list is worthless
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