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This is fairly accurate, yes, but the trends are not encouraging. It is probably fair to say that the salaries have been falling in real terms for quite some time. For 250k you will have to be a department head. All this VaR based stuff is now largely seen as somewhat inadequate. It will not...

Yeah, regarding salary, it's probably around $150k 5 years post qualification in an insurance company.

In Australia specifically, you have a reasonable chance of getting into graduate programs at commercial and investment banks, probably the same as a finance degree or economics degree. The actual material you learn in the program leaves you completely unprepared for anything that is usually...

The only real areas are GI, Life and (defined benefit) super. Outside of these one is fairly unlikely to think of himself as an actuary. These jobs exist both in insurance companies and consultancies. 80 WAM would help, but 75 should probably be okay. Not sure if anyone will be able provide the...

What are your questions?

One way to do more courses on HECS is to change your major half-way.

I don't think we actually disagree - you are pretty much talking about BIT and it's a good program and it's indeed possible to learn something there (from industrial placements) . But I strongly believe that if you don't have coop, the right thing to do for BA/PM would be something like BCom/BSc...

I agree, but BIT is quite different from a normal IS degree - coop gives you experience working at several large companies, which does wonders for your employability. But if you are not in the program, surely you would want a degree that teaches you something of value since you dont get...

I do indeed - the difference is akin to that between astrology and astronomy or homeopathy and 'modern' medicine. Not to defend COMP, one may well not learn much there either. Oh yes, someone who has no idea whatsoever about the underlying technology, but is versed in "system analysis and...

Run, don't walk away from Information Systems. There isn't a single competent academic in the whole school and every course, without exception, is utter garbage. If you want to learn _anything_ about computers, do BCom/BSc with computer science.

It does require either an understanding of material (for which you need some thinking combined with quite a bit more math background than what is taught) or some dedication, good memory and solid exam technique. And indeed the curriculum hasn't quite caught up with the fact that it's not 1920s...

Computer science could also be somewhat useful - a lot of actuarial work involves dealing with databases, reporting systems etc to retrieve data for analysis. Models can get complicated too, so some solid programming experience will be helpful. Ideally one would do maths/computer science/actl...

No, I didn't do an actl degree, so was taking a bunch of UK CT exams + part II at MQ in my second last year on top of regular 4 subjects / session. Really depends on how demanding is your degree - mine was such a bludge that I actually did the honours year while working full-time (easily 45+...

Well that's more or less keeping with the accountant/actuary ratio in the population.. Every Big 4 firm has a sizeable actuarial practice and they participate in audits of insurers etc.

Don't think so. The only way is to enrol in one major than change it later to another once you've done all the courses you need and will take longer than 4 years. Also won't appear on your testamur. This works well with actuarial where you get exemptions from professional exams by doing uni...

While I absolutely agree with your sentiment, undergrad 'commerce' degrees do exist in UK and US although may not always be called that and possibly with more free electives. In my view the main problem with commerce is that either you study absolutely inane bullshit such as international...

Don't bother with econometrics and do Com/Sci - I would recommend a maths major (stats is more versatile than econometrics), but comp sci is pretty decent too. Yes you will be able to go for all the same jobs as a regular BSc grad if you choose - you will have the same degree as them. As a...

I'm refering to modeling various derivatives and associated risk management. This is done predominantly on the sell side and at some hedge funds. Indeed, macroeconomic modeling rarely goes beyond regressions and timeseries stuff. Even then some differential geometry, for example, can give a...

This is extremely helpful not only for academic research but also if one wants to get some of the better modeling jobs in the industry.

UNSW seems to be pretty backwards about the requirements for Part II - they definitely will let you do it in MQ, better course too (and they have a class in the city).