CrashOveride said:
do you think actuary is actually a good pathway to go into something like investment banking? i read on the MQ website some of their grads got into this field, but i came across a very interesting thread:
http://www.boredofstudies.org/community/showthread.php?t=27834
Alman and gm seem to know what they are talking about. They recommend it's better to do something like Com/Law at the more elite institutes like USYD, unsw, etc. if you want to get into IB. Also, you guys heard of SIA ? Anyone one of you planning to do post-grad study there?
OK i've talked about this a shitload with my uncle (who is an IB head at Citigroup), some yank MBA students and the CEO where i'm working at (who is an MBA graduate).
gm and alman are right....from my experience in going for IB, you need a course that is well known, like com/law at one of those uni's. Overseas, these investment bankers simply haven't heard of Macquarie, let alone its actuarial course. USYD and UNSW on the other hand, they have heard of. My boss says if you aren't from a prestigious university, there is only 3 words that will make them notice you - 'suma cum laude'.
He basically put it this way - why do actuarial at a super tough school if you don't want to end up working as an Actuary? He says it's not worth doing something that is ultra tough, when people outside of the actuarial field are like 'wat's a macquarie??'
He says that we obviously choose Macquarie Actuarial for the name...i.e. it's the best in australia....therefore, it would be stupid to go for jobs where the recruiters have nfi how damned good the macquarie acst course actually is.
If you look at the breakdown of students at the best MBA schools in the USA (harvard, wharton, kellog etc) you'll find that 3/4 of them are going for IB or consulting jobs. Now how is a Macquarie actuary meant to compete with that?
In summary, my boss (who is a champ) told me that if I get bored with actuarial and eventually decide to get into banking, to do a good MBA program in 7-8 years time after I've made some bucks as an actuarial. After all, the average MBA students age is 27-28.
hope this helps.