Combined degree of BAct/BFin or BAct only? and overloading (1 Viewer)

[stanleyguan]

Hi guys,

I'm a first year student doing a combined degree of Actuarial Studies and Finance (a four-year program). I'm wondering if I should change to the three-year single actuarial program. If I'm going to do the finance degree I will definitely do the quantitative finance major. This means the additional year to get the combined degree gets me one more compulsory course and seven more electives. This doesn't seem very worthwhile to me. If I do spend four years I can do an honours and that should be imho a much more rewarding experience.

But an advantage of the combined degree would be that it might make me look better on my CV. But does anyone know if this is really going to make a difference? Will an honours degree in actuarial studies look better than the combined one? The actuarial degree covers virtually all finance courses anyway.

Another question is about overloading. I wish I can finish my degree earlier than normal. Currently I have D and HDs in the courses I'm doing and the stress is okay. In semester 2 I have Macro 2 and Corporate Finance which are compulsory. Most actuarial students will also take STAT1008. For the elective I might take EMET1001. Is it a hard course for actuarial students? I heard it had a very high fail rate but some said it was easy. If I want to overload with FINM2002 should I be struggling with the combination?

I also want to know if there's any uni staff I can talk to about my options.

Any info will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[ajdlinux]

I don't know much about your degree program, but:

I also want to know if there's any uni staff I can talk to about my options.

The College office could probably help you out there, they might also be able to refer you to program convenors etc. who can advise you.

 

[stanleyguan]

Thanks. Will meet a student adviser of CBE.

 

[jas0nt]

ActS/Fin is a silly combination due to the huge amount of overlap (like you mentioned). My suggestion is to drop the Fin and replace with something more useful like Commerce (only if it's accounting) or Econ. Or if you really like Finance, drop finance and major it in Commerce (along with accounting). Doing an accounting degree also opens your doors, because let me tell ya now, the job market for actuaries isn't good, and the supply of accounting jobs is much higher.

As you do more finance subjects, you learn that in reality (sparing the rosy theory) it's hugely based on accounting. This is why I'll always regret doing a Finance degree and not Commerce, majoring in Finance and Accounting. The *only* noticeable difference from those two is the latter gives you the bonus of an accounting degree.

Not really sure about honours in ActS but apparently it's incredibly difficult to get into.

EMET1001 is piss especially if you're decent at maths. Those who fail it probably haven't done specialists in year 12. Don't waste your electives - there are many other worthy ones you can do. You can do FINM3005 (an elective I believe) later on next year after doing and getting a reasonable understanding of FINM2001. The stuff you learn in FINM3005 will be useful if you want to work at an IB doing mergers and acquisitions (plus they ask this sort of stuff in interviews... always a bonus).

And STAT1008 is a first year subject - introduction to statistics. There's a reason why they don't get actuaries to do it, because it's simply that - an introduction course. I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you want to waste a subject and $800 in fees (or $3000 if you're an international student). If you're doing Actuarial studies and doing this course, there's only one reason for it - because it's an easy subject.

FINM2002... can't really say much about it but it's a course taught by a good lecturer, relatively straightforward and unless they changed the final exam structure, it's much a rote-learn exercise.

 

[Sammy-Blue]

ActS/Fin is a silly combination due to the huge amount of overlap (like you mentioned). My suggestion is to drop the Fin and replace with something more useful like Commerce (only if it's accounting) or Econ. Or if you really like Finance, drop finance and major it in Commerce (along with accounting). Doing an accounting degree also opens your doors, because let me tell ya now, the job market for actuaries isn't good, and the supply of accounting jobs is much higher.

As you do more finance subjects, you learn that in reality (sparing the rosy theory) it's hugely based on accounting. This is why I'll always regret doing a Finance degree and not Commerce, majoring in Finance and Accounting. The *only* noticeable difference from those two is the latter gives you the bonus of an accounting degree.

Not really sure about honours in ActS but apparently it's incredibly difficult to get into.

EMET1001 is piss especially if you're decent at maths. Those who fail it probably haven't done specialists in year 12. Don't waste your electives - there are many other worthy ones you can do. You can do FINM3005 (an elective I believe) later on next year after doing and getting a reasonable understanding of FINM2001. The stuff you learn in FINM3005 will be useful if you want to work at an IB doing mergers and acquisitions (plus they ask this sort of stuff in interviews... always a bonus).

And STAT1008 is a first year subject - introduction to statistics. There's a reason why they don't get actuaries to do it, because it's simply that - an introduction course. I wouldn't suggest doing it unless you want to waste a subject and $800 in fees (or $3000 if you're an international student). If you're doing Actuarial studies and doing this course, there's only one reason for it - because it's an easy subject.

FINM2002... can't really say much about it but it's a course taught by a good lecturer, relatively straightforward and unless they changed the final exam structure, it's much a rote-learn exercise.

I completely agree with all of this. I think I'll try getting out of ActS and into something else ~_~

 

[stanleyguan]

Hi thanks for your comments. I'm also planning to overload in semester 2. For some reasons I want to finish my degree earlier. Also I will probably do the single actuarial degree. So if I overload in every semester (except for this one) I can finish my degree one semester early. Personally I doubt I will have too much additional stress by taking one more course. But I heard from one guy that it's impossible to overload in later years. Do you guys have any comments on that?

Also will the workload be very heavy if I take FINM2001, FINM2002 and FINM3001 at the same time next semester?

 

[Sammy-Blue]

There isn't anything particularly stressful about those courses, so you should be fine to do them all at the same time. It is beneficial to have done 2001 prior to taking 3001 but it's only very basic concepts so you shouldn't feel lost. I suspect the restriction on overloading is more down to certain courses only being offered in one semester per year. The workload is certainly doable (I know of people who have done 6 courses in a semester) although they look like crap by the end of exams. If you can cope with the stress then all the more power to you.

 

[stanleyguan]

There isn't anything particularly stressful about those courses, so you should be fine to do them all at the same time. It is beneficial to have done 2001 prior to taking 3001 but it's only very basic concepts so you shouldn't feel lost. I suspect the restriction on overloading is more down to certain courses only being offered in one semester per year. The workload is certainly doable (I know of people who have done 6 courses in a semester) although they look like crap by the end of exams. If you can cope with the stress then all the more power to you.

Thanks! Very valuable info.