i don't think i'll be moving to pgh anymore (Pittsburgh: student loan, job market)

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by HeavenWood

Actuarial science is a different major entirely. The profession doesn't seem to be prestige-obsessed either, as I know a number of Pitt grads who got good actuarial jobs.

Actuarial science is actually called actuarial mathematics at Pitt and it is offered through the math departments at most schools. In other words it is a math degree with a a few economics and business courses interspersed. As I mentioned previously, a math degree from an Ivy or even Pitt for that matter may be worth $100K, but there are not many other undergraduate degrees worth that kind of cash.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by villageidiot1

Interesting that Pitt had an undergraduate business major in the 40s. They did not have one when I started college in 1073. Penn State and WVU both had undergraduate business programs at that time.

I remember seeing his degree in my late teens. It was an accounting and business management degree. I remember because it perplexed me. He always referred to himself as an accountant. That's why seeing business management stuck in my mind to this day. I don't know if he did a double major or what. It was just something that made me go . I never asked him because I wasn't interested in accounting or business management.

I'm very impressed you started college in 1073.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by sealie

Yup. You do not have to go to an Ivy, you just have to pass the exams, of which I believe there are six. It's more statistics than mathematics, really, but there was a time when actuarial science programs didn't exist, and a common question to a math major was "What are you going to do with that, be an actuary?" That said, an Ivy undergrad degree is completely unnecessary in that field.

Nope you don't really need to go to an Ivy for anything, but it can help significantly in certain fields and a little bit overall. The alumni network from an Ivy is pretty helpful and the perceived prestige of the degree also helps. Very few employers refuse to hire Ivy grads, but there are several who will not hire grads from diploma mills. So I disagree with you that graduating from an Ivy like Penn with an actuarial science degree would be completely unnecessary. Also, statistics is part of math and there is more to an actuarial science degree than just statistics. Look at the number of calculus classes an actuarial science major must take in order to graduate.

[sealie]

You can't do real stats without Calc, of course you have to take Calc in an actuarial science program, but this is nit-picking.

Hey, if someone can get into Penn and get an actuarial science degree, good on 'em. Hopefully they can get adequate aid from any Ivy with a halfway-decent endowment, but if not, it's their money. I was responding to the list of things that are worth going $100k into debt for. I feel pretty bad for these kids starting off their career with that kind of albatross wrapped around their necks. Although you can make a good living off of the OP's planned major as well - also six figures after a few years, although I don't know what the average is. A major that probably also requires Calculus, come to think of it.

[BarqCider]

i just finished business calc in my comm.college. it was fun, until we got into the basic integration with substitution. i know there are more methods in integration and man im glad im done.

although i might need to take discrete math... anyways yeah i dont know what im going to do.

[Hopes]

Hang in there. Maybe Pitt will take more credits than you anticipate. If not, it might be worth coming anyways since you're not happy in Virginia.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I remember seeing his degree in my late teens. It was an accounting and business management degree. I remember because it perplexed me. He always referred to himself as an accountant. That's why seeing business management stuck in my mind to this day. I don't know if he did a double major or what. It was just something that made me go . I never asked him because I wasn't interested in accounting or business management.

I'm very impressed you started college in 1073.

Yeah, it was a few years after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Geez, I hate when I do that!

I remember looking at Penn State, WVU, IUP, Gettysburg, West Virginia Wesleyan and Grove City in 1972/73 since Pitt did not have an undergraduate business program.

[villageidiot1]

Originally Posted by BarqCider

tech is a great engineering school...I.T? not so much.

If you are looking at the School of Information Science, I suggest you check out the building on North Bellefield. I hated every class I took in that building.

[BarqCider]

i'm going to stick to my hopes of going to pitt until i know for sure how many classes they will take in. i have only so much time left before i'm in deep trouble financially.

[Kippy]

One benefit of getting into an Ivy is that you will never go 100k in debt. In recent years, they have decided to use their huge endowments to reduce the effective cost of tuition. They each have their own tuition policies, but most families won't ever need to pay more than 10% of their annual income to send their kid to an Ivy, with lower/middle-class families not needing to pay a dime.