(1) How long does a student have to complete
the certificate?
Answer: At this point, there is no time
limit.
(2) My current employer
has an actuarial department. Can a certain number of hours worked in that
department meet the requirement for an internship?
Yes. For
example, an internship could be for three months (13 weeks) at 40 hours per
week, totaling 520 hours. Alternatively, it could be at 10 hours a week for 50
weeks, totaling 500 hours.
(3) Can credit hours previously earned for micro- and macro-economics
from an accredited institution apply toward the certificate? (This is related
to (1).)
Yes, if the
courses are equivalent to the required ones in both coverage and depth.
Furthermore, there is a limit to how many hours can be taken at another
institution.
(4) Do I need to enroll in FAU as a degree seeking student?
No, but it's better for you if you do. Non-degree students register last, and
courses might fill. Or, courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment before
non-degree students register.
(5) If not, how should I go about enrolling in the classes?
As a non-degree
seeking student, you can enroll in the required classes through the Registrar's
Office, or ask permission from the designed instructor for each course. We
encourage you becoming a degree-seeking student at FAU.
(6) (a) If I pass
Calculus in high school, is it enough as a prerequisite to enroll in MAC 2311?
Answer: Yes, but we will still require that you take the pretest.
(b) Is a score of 4 on the AP Calculus
Exam enough to be credited for MAC 2311?
Yes. But be sure to check it with Registrar’s Office.
(7) Can MAC2233 be counted as MAC 2311?
No.
(8) Is it possible to waive some of the requirements since I have taken many of
the statistics and business courses?
If you have taken the right courses, then there is no need to waive the
requirements since you've done them. If
you've taken courses that are not equivalent to our required courses or you had
a grade lower than B for an equivalent course, we cannot accept them.
(9) In BCC in the Fall term, the ECO 2013 and 2023 are offered on Saturdays on
short terms. Can I replace one of these to make my 18 credits necessary to get
the certificate, or maybe take them as a transient student?
ECO 2013 is not a required course for our certificate program. It is a
prerequisite course. Taking ECO 2013 at BCC and passing with a good grade, say
B or better, counts as having taken the prerequisite course for ECO 2023, the
required course for our program.
ECO 2023 is a
required course for the program. If you complete ECO 2023 at BCC (or PBCC) this
will count as having completed ECO 2023 for the program. However, a certain
percentage of the program must be completed at FAU. Your Actuarial Science
advisor may require you to take additional FAU courses if you fall below that
percentage.
(10) Do you
have any information on how many (or what percentage of) FAU students
completing the certificate passed an exam and are working as an actuary?
We do not have this information at present, but we hope to collect such data in
the future. In general, people who have passed two actuarial exams do find jobs
in the actuarial industry.
(11) Could I substitute a course that is relevant to the actuarial field
(outside of the required courses for the program) in place of the internship?
If you pass the first two exams, we accept substitution courses from the Mathematical
Sciences Department for the required internship credits.
(12) Are the required classes usually offered after normal business hours or
are they only offered during the day?
Some of the courses are in the evenings. Until we have a large enough group, we
cannot run everything in the evening.
(13) Will the class curriculum incorporate the planned changes to the exams in
2005?
Yes. We have not changed any thing in our 2005 catalog. But course materials
for MAP 4172 and MAP 4173 will be changed correspondingly to the required
materials for international exams.
(14) I am interested in starting the actuarial certificate program but
currently work full-time days. Is it possible to obtain an actuarial
certificate by attending only evening classes?
Yes, but it will be slow. Some courses may need to be taken at PBCC or BCC if
we don't have enough students to offer them in the evenings here (MAC
2311-2312-2313). Other courses depend upon the College of Business.
(15) I would definitely like to get a certificate in Actuarial Science but
was wondering if I had to choose a specific major to do so.
No. Mathematics or Statistics is most natural, but not a required major. You
don't even need to be degree seeking, although it is best that you be degree
seeking, as noted above.
(16) How I can
get into the program, and is it appropriate for a working student?
Yes. Sign up for your first course as a
non-degree student, if you want to start immediately. File your application to
be degree seeking in Mathematics, if the actuarial program is the only thing
you want to work on.
(17) How soon into the certificate program could I apply for an internship?
That depends on the companies hiring. I suggest you pass at least one of the
exams first.
(18) Are any of the companies that provide internships located in Broward
County? Palm Beach County? Dade
County?
Yes. In Boca Raton,
there is NCCI that provides internships for students from FAU. University
placement offices are a good starting point in locating such opportunities.
Companies often do on-campus interviews for interns and co-op students, usually
during January and February when companies are on campus anyway to interview
candidates for permanent hire. Please visit http://www.beanactuary.org/find/interns.cfm
for more information.
(19) How do
students officially pursue this certification program?
To complete this certificate program at
FAU, one only needs to complete all the required courses. You
need to present your course grades to one of the departmental advisors, who
will complete and sign a checklist for the program.
(20) (This
question is not related to our program) Do you have any information, or would
you be able to point me in the right direction, regarding the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act and the impact on the actuarial field?
Please visit the following sites for information:
http://www.mib.com/kd/html/Sarbanes-Oxley.htm
http://www.cfo.com/article/1,5309,8767,00.html?f=related
http://casact.org/pubs/actrev/feb04/feb04.pdf
(see page 14, 3rd column)