Actuarial Studies at UNSW and MQ (2 Viewers)

[ValentinesM]

In regard to Actuarial Studies, is it better at MQ or UNSW?
since it is only offered as a major, rather than an entire degree at UNSW, does it mean that your knowledge(theoretical) will be less as an UNSW grad as opposed to a MQ grad?
if you happen to be doing Commerce majoring in actuarial studies, why did you choose it over B Actuarial Studies at MQ?

thanks in advance

 

[ValentinesM]

actually mq uni provides the best actuarial studies, as it was the first university in the world to begin actuarial study, also my friends prefer unsw coz of its atmosphere, i myself found mq quite boring, so its up to you, however for actuarial studies mq is the best!

thanks for your help!

when you say "for actuarial studies mq is the best", are you referring to the quality of teaching, lecturers, course content, course structure, students or a combination?

also, why is it that only about half of those who originally started doing this course complete this degree? is this a 'normal' percentage? if not, why is so?

 

[gurmies]

thanks for your help!

when you say "for actuarial studies mq is the best", are you referring to the quality of teaching, lecturers, course content, course structure, students or a combination?

also, why is it that only about half of those who originally started doing this course complete this degree? is this a 'normal' percentage? if not, why is so?

Perhaps the difficulty/workload? I asked this same question, so if you search these fora you'll see a bunch of other responses. B/Com (actuarial major) + B/Sc (adv. mathematics)(quant risk major) @ UNSW ftw xD

 

[extensorindicis]

If your not too confident at doing well in the course, i.e. some units require minimum credits to progress in the course and get excemptions, its probably best to go to UNSW because atleast then you just change majors to say accounting and you have the backing of a great rep, whereas mac's other majors are pretty shit.

 

[extensorindicis]

are u sure mac is the best for actuarial in the entire world? competing with US/UK unis? sure it was the first to introduce a sole acturial course but i doubt its the best in the whole entire universe. tbh its not a huge deal, in the US/UK students just complete a maths/stat major in Bsc and sit the fellowship exams whilst doing the course. where as when mac started it they had a acturial degree with these stat/maths units in their degree. Just the name in the degree that is all

 

[lyounamu]

are u sure mac is the best for actuarial in the entire world? competing with US/UK unis? sure it was the first to introduce a sole acturial course but i doubt its the best in the whole entire universe. tbh its not a huge deal, in the US/UK students just complete a maths/stat major in Bsc and sit the fellowship exams whilst doing the course. where as when mac started it they had a acturial degree with these stat/maths units in their degree. Just the name in the degree that is all

From mac uni, macq uni might be the best uni in the world for acturarial as it was the very first uni to start undergraduate actuarial.

 

[ascentyx]

I'm a first year doing actuarial and app fin @ macq so i might be of some help.

In terms of why people choose to do it at macq it's probably because of shit like this

'Macquarie University was the first university in the world to have its actuarial courses recognised as being of equivalent standard to the corresponding subjects of the (U.K.) Institute of Actuaries. As a result of this, Macquarie students with sufficient grades were granted exemption from the corresponding U.K. exams. The Macquarie program has since been emulated by other universities in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Singapore.'

I know other people that chose it to be different from the typical boring asian b-com degree @ unsw and they also thought there would be a better quality of students at macquarie because of how you can't use bonus points to get in etc etc.

another thing is alot of the lecturers teaching at unsw were taught at macquarie anyways so lots of people believe you may aswell go to the source of knowledge (macq).

Also to whoever said the social atmosphere at macq uni is shit is screwed up in the head. In the actuarial club (ASSOC) there is poker nights, meet the professionals night, trivia, pool comps, problem solving comps, camps, a joint actuarial ball etc. there is plenty of stuff to do if you really want to get involved.

so far the lecturers for my actuarial subjects have been really good, and i can't wait until 2nd/3rd/4th yr when i start doing more actuarial units so i can have the better quality lecturers.

umm feel free to ask anything else, in the end tho i'm just a noob first year but ill try my best anyways haha.

 

[proringz]

I'm currently studying actuarial studies at unsw. I chose it because I could combine a commerce and science degree which isn't offered at macq. I also enjoy the atmosphere at unsw also. In regards to the major and degree thing, it doesn't make any difference what so ever besides the name. Also about the better students thing, everyone i know who's in my course doing actuarial didn't get in by bonus points by a long way (most are 99+, even a 100 guy). hope this helps

 

[tommykins]

yeh im pretty sure its the best, as the top actuarial positions acquired have been from maq uni, i had this very same discussion with my friend a while back, and yeh basically he told me all the top actuarial positons held have been come from maq uni

all talk no sources m8

 

[lyounamu]

all talk no sources m8

Well, his source was me. And my source is macquarie uni itself so I am not sure about the absolute credibility of it because...macq uni always exaggerates little bit here now and then to make it sound better than any other uni

 

[tommykins]

a uni exaggerating its course? wow that never happens. lolol

 

[ascentyx]

I'm currently studying actuarial studies at unsw. I chose it because I could combine a commerce and science degree which isn't offered at macq. I also enjoy the atmosphere at unsw also. In regards to the major and degree thing, it doesn't make any difference what so ever besides the name. Also about the better students thing, everyone i know who's in my course doing actuarial didn't get in by bonus points by a long way (most are 99+, even a 100 guy). hope this helps

Degree - 2009 Course Handbook - Macquarie University

You can combine actuarial studies with science - mathematics, science - statistics, and science - computing.

 

[proringz]

Degree - 2009 Course Handbook - Macquarie University

You can combine actuarial studies with science - mathematics, science - statistics, and science - computing.

thanks for that, mustve missed it

 

[dvse]

Well, his source was me. And my source is macquarie uni itself so I am not sure about the absolute credibility of it because...macq uni always exaggerates little bit here now and then to make it sound better than any other uni

IMHO the claim to offer the best actuarial degree in the world is akin to that of performing the finest lobotomies.

 

[ninjapuppet]

In regard to Actuarial Studies, is it better at MQ or UNSW?
since it is only offered as a major, rather than an entire degree at UNSW, does it mean that your knowledge(theoretical) will be less as an UNSW grad as opposed to a MQ grad?
if you happen to be doing Commerce majoring in actuarial studies, why did you choose it over B Actuarial Studies at MQ?

thanks in advance

From where I live, Maquarie is a pain in the butt to get to. UNSW is more convenient for me and I also work at the hospital across the road. that was the deciding factor for me. In regards to the actual degree you get from MQ and UNSW, i dont think it matters as much as marks (dont have any fails). I know actuaries that have only done the CT exams, and have gone on to make a very comfortable living.

 

[schmeichung]

For me I think whether studying actuarial in either UNSW or MACQ is irrelevant, as long as you get enough points for exemptions (for Part II as well), then you will be fine

My impression is it might be slightly easier to get exemption in UNSW for Part I, and easier in MACQ for Part II?

ps. I studied actuarial @ UNSW

 

[alexvincent]

The whole major vs degree thing is just a marketing ploy by MQ.

At the end of either degree you'll be well equipped to enter an actuarial grad position.

MQ has a great rep in actuarial studies because it's been doing it for so long.

Though UNSW has only been running actuarial studies for a few years, UNSW does almost everything well and the ASB is earning quite the rep.

I've been at both unis and UNSW offers more flexibility in the degree and campus life is 100x better.

 

[tommykins]

yeah i'm always confused as to why these kids care about majors vs 'named degrees'

 

[lyounamu]

^hmmm
some people are quite concerned.

 

[T.Goodhew]

I always find this argument hilarious, if you look at the courses in the course outline in both Universities you will see you cover the same material. Mac uni decides hey lets make a degree for actuarial studies and offer B Actuarial Studies and in order to be awarded that degree you must complete these subjects.

UNSW thinks hey we'd like to offer Actuarial Studies let's put it within our existing BCom and if you want the major of Actuarial Studies you must complete these subjects. Where the subjects are virtually equivalent.

If I created a website and wrote on it that my website was the best source in the world for Actuarial education. Would you believe it simply because I said so? Probably not yet this is pretty much what Mac uni does.

I decided to go to UNSW purely because they had the Co-op Scholar program and I figured if mac uni was so good why wouldn't they have all these industry sponsors? Why wouldn't they have a co-op program? To me it was as clear as day that if companies were paying UNSW to do the teaching.... well there must be something better there