Hello, I am currently living in Australia. I was doing a Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science, then due to personal circumstances, I had to drop out of the degree and I had to move back with my family. I am currently doing accounting, and I'm not that interested in it. I wanted to ask if I should drop the Accounting degree and focus on studying for my Actuarial CT exams I want to do next year along with work? or should I continue my Accounting degree? Also please let me know the job prospects of being fully qualified through Part I and Part II without a degree.
Two half-finished degrees won't look good on your resume. So I would stick it out but you can still take CT exams whilst at uni - as you have more time at uni than you would when working and studying. Alternatively, can you switch degree courses back to actuarial....?
Cheers for the reply. Is it necessary to state that I was doing a degree on my resume? Can't I just leave it out? Also, I technically can go back, but due to family issues I can't move to another state, as I have to stay close to the family.
You could leave it off but what are you going to say you did in the intervening period? It's very early in your career so what else can you offer? And some course credits may well be valuable. Better keep it on in my opinion but be very ready with answers as to why twice you didn't complete a course of study. Actuarial exams need stamina and a broken academic history is unhelpful. Try to get your degree is my advice too - being a graduate will help open a range of doors and won't pigeon hole you especially if you have a couple of other exams alongside
Thank you so much. I understand what you are saying. I will take what you said in consideration. Thank you so much for the help guys. I'll keep you guys posted on updates.
I work in Aus, and I would hazard a guess that part Is and IIs without a degree would be enough to get a graduate-type role fairly quickly. I guess the school of thought might differ here and there, but essentially a uni degree is just an alternative route to arriving at the same thing ultimately. And having said that, I know of many graduates who don't have all the Part Is, and one graduate who has none (having completed a maths degree)... so, in my opinion, you'd be (at the very least) seen as being at the same level and shouldn't be overlooked. I would suggest dropping the accounting - if you hate it now, probably nothing will change. I changed from accounting as I thought it was horribly one dimensional and insipid
Hey! Thank you so much for the reply. So a degree isn't necessary? I don't really like accounting, so I am thinking of dropping it. I might study full time for my exams next year. May I ask what field or company you work at? It's fine if you don't want to say it haha. Thank you again, for your advice!
Yeah, Suncorp Actuarial, personal injury lines And yeah, I think that getting a job is primarily about how you present yourself once you've already cleared the academic requirements - because, really, people just want to see how you might fit in with them and work with them. They wouldn't interview you if they didn't think you already had the technical knowledge or skill or potential or whatever. And an actuary is an actuary regardless of how you got there. And I guess there's a similar extension for those in graduate-type positions. If you have all part Is and IIs, there's not that much rationale behind saying that you're not the equivalent of an actuarial graduate with those exemptions (and if anything, there's much to be said for getting through the exams on your own steam). Having said that, perhaps not everyone agrees with that take on graduates. You'll always have a couple of fascinating people who are hellbent on "the rules"
