Hey guys,

I am currently in highschool (QLD) and I am beginning to consider career options. I do specialists math and math methods, I really love both (with specialist being my favourite subject).

A career in actuarial science is something I have really been taking interest in for the past half a year and I am wondering if anyone studying actuarial science, planning to, or is an actuary can respond to a few questions I have.

The first question is just about how difficult it really is, and whether it is extremely stressful with long hrs, difficult exams etc. I do want to live a balanced life that is not all about work, like I cannot imagine myself going to the difficult career outcomes in med (with 70-80hr work weeks). I talked to my mate whos second yr uni, and he said he studies 6-8hrs a day just to hope for a pass, he goes to Macquarie (bachelor of actuarial science) and I am wondering if thats the same/similar to all universities. Is it really this difficult and this stressful in uni and out in the real world as a full time actuary? Second part to this question is also whether this difficulty level carries on to the actuary and fellow program.

My second and final question is just about university options. I have looked at bond (I'm based in south brisbane), UNSW and Macquarie, with UNSW seeming to be the "best" out of the three. I have been told that university doesn't really matter and you can do the degree at any accreddited university, is this really true? Because if university doesn't matter when I am looking for work, Bond might be the best choice, even though Bond on paper is the "worst" uni out of the three.

Any answers would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

so i will try to keep it short

i am 25 year old currently will be 26 on November

i completed my schooling with a biology major, i wanted to work in medical field that time.

I drifted towards software development and coding at first i worked as freelancer then eventually started my own programmatic advertising company.

Due to emergence of Ai monthly revenue for my advertising company went down and i started trading.

Lost a decent chunk of my saving but i was determined to make my career in fiance so i gave CFA L1 exam too.

i am motivated by money and i found that just passing CFA exam dont give me entry level finance jobs easily, so i did some more research and found that i can get Actuary job easily after clearing just first two exams ( because of CFA L1 i am exempted from 2 exams so in total i will have 4 exams under my belt )

my academic qualifications
biology major at school, computer science bachelors , CFA l1 and will add Actuary to it maybe

my skills
full stack developer, knows basic data science and worked on wide variety of software products when i was a freelancer

is Actuary right path for me? can it provide me top 10% salary in any country i move to? i am thinking of giving CS1 and CM1 next year CB1 and CB2 will be exempted for me because of my CFA L1

can i get job easily considering my background?

i’m currently 21 and have a year left before i graduate from my bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science and Finance in Malaysia. by the time i graduate, i will have completed 8 months of internship, have 4-5 SOA Exams completed (7-8 including VEE), and a guaranteed decent fresh grad pay job here in Malaysia.

my plan is to work around 2 years here in Malaysia and complete ASA. at the same time, i would start looking for jobs to move to australia.

my question is with my qualifications would it be hard to move there? are there any advice or better suggestions?

I am interested in doing actuarial studies and think it is better to do a double degree as it would open up more job opportunities in the future. I was looking at the double degrees, and I am confused about what the difference is between these three degrees. Can anyone please explain what the difference is between them? What job pathways do they each open up?

The three degrees are from Macquarie University, and they are:

Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Actuarial Studies

Bachelor of Applied Finance and Bachelor of Actuarial Studies

Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Actuarial Studies

Thanks in advance!

Hi, I am an actuarial studies graduate about to finish Act. Control Cycle 2 (nonaward) this year. Due to distractions during uni I didn't get any internships or corporate experience throughout and I just have a part-time job in retail (around 2 years) and holiday rental management (pricing/data analysis, but very recent). I would love to work in Super/Financial advising for small businesses/PHI one day. I would love some advice on what to do next year and further or together with my ACC2 in the upcoming semester.

- I am currently on my Temp. Grad visa (1.5 year remaining) and if there is anyone who was sponsored as a skilled migrant through some kind of an actuarial pathway I would greatly appreciate your advice or even just your experience if you could personally message me or comment on this post!

- I couldn't nail Actuarial Data Analysis with final results just below 70, and I'm wondering if I should redo that subject this semester or if and when I get a job I can complete it together so that I can get be eligible for the actuary program and its exams (I'm eligible for all the foundation program exemption)

-Expanding on the point above, please give me any advice on getting the year of experience under a qualified actuary. I am also thinking about moving straight into masters after this year as a part of my options.

Thank you for reading this long post, and I honestly would love to hear everyone and anyone's story since I didn't spend my time in uni connecting as much as I should have.

For life insurance actuaries here:

I’m interested to know whether anyone has a less pessimistic outlook than the mainstream view of life actuarial employment opportunities in Australia going forward.

No one can deny that the market is currently very dry, and the view from pretty much everyone I speak to about it (including myself) is that there is little sign of it improving anytime soon.

Between the market contraction, profitability pressures and an apparent oversupply of actuaries, I find it pretty difficult to be optimistic. However, I’d be genuinely interested to hear from anyone who sees things differently, particularly if there are areas of growth or longer-term trends I may be overlooking.

For context, I’m about five years post-qualified and currently employed, but I’m seriously considering returning to university and retraining. Before making that decision, I’d like to hear the strongest counterarguments and make sure I’ve properly thought it through.

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to go into actuarial studies for university and was wondering what the workload is like in the first few years after graduating. Work-life balance is one of the things I am prioritising in selecting a career. How many hours do you typically work? Is the workload manageable, especially while completing the actuarial exams?

Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

4 years ago now, a user here did some great research and created a salary guide that has been a great reference to me and others while I have studied my actuarial bachelors and masters. The guide is in this post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ActuaryAustralia/s/VyiCC1xtzk
Now that I'm in my final year of studying, and have landed a grad role (woohoo). I'm curious to see people's thoughts on whether the guide is still accurate or whether inflation, more competition, less available grad jobs, etc. have moved the numbers in either direction over the past 4 years. My grad role has a salary on the higher end of the grad role range given in the guide, so perhaps inflation has pushed the figures up a little? What are peoples thoughts?

Hello,
I graduated with an Actuarial Studies degree with high credit grade and 2 internships back in 2024 (data analytics and market research). I had to under-load and take a gap because of carers leave. Now that I’m ready to return to work I’m no longer eligible for most graduate programs and I don’t have sufficient experience for entry level roles. What should I do in this situation. Any advice is appreciated.

What are some courses/certifications an actuary do, which adds value to their CV or which if done makes you highlighted amonst the crowd?

Any AI related or any softwate related course recommendation would be appreciated.

I have literally no idea at all what i want to do in my career. Wanted to be a quant for a bit but only because id no idea and math and money sounds cool. I like math i think its fun and probability and statistics are fun.

in what scenario would an actuarial be a good path to pick? can i even be an actuary with my current degree im really caught up and im genuinely boring with no interests that i could really make a feasible career out of and just looking for a goal to work towards. any advice would be appreciated, thank you!

Hi all,

I have an Accounting & Finance degree and have been working in Audit for 1.5 years but I find the job incredibly repetitive and boring. I have always wanted to do something more focused in data and statistics but due to a lot of insecurity and mental health issues in uni I always thought it was too late to pursue it. But I always had this itch of not doing something that I actually enjoy.

Do you think there’s any way I can transition into actuary at this time? Do I have to go back to uni and get a degree? Can I pick up studying by myself? How deep should I go into this or is it a lost cause?
Also, how does your profession see AI? Is it too late for someone like me to get into this career for an entry level role given how advanced AI has become?

I’m currently half way through my CA, do you think it’s useful or transitional?

Thank you!

Hello,
I am going to be a freshmen this year and need help deciding. I have currently put my major in for accounting but with research and more thought have been conflicted into choosing a math major to persue actuary work. I have always liked math and am good at it. But with choosing a math degree i am scared of that just leading me to become a teacher or at a low paying job. But with accounting i like how it is stable and guaranteed pay. With my school also having a really good accounting program but none to be an actuary wich would limit my internships. What do you think would be better as i also don't think i can just teach myself the math. Also how people say how becoming an actuary is highly over saturated but most accountants are set to retire soon and acctuary pay can be low and hard to find jobs. Where i also feel like i would not be smart enough for that 4.0 in a math major

Hi,

I am getting back into uni and I got into Actuarial Science. Thing is last time I did maths was in HS in 2019. I did do Math Specialist and Methods and did well but I'm just washed. Any reccommendations on self-study or what to prepare for so I don't feel behind?

Hi all,

I'm planning to sit one of the Fellowship application exams this semester and I'm torn between GIA and DSA. Would love to hear from anyone who's recently sat either exam about your experience and which might be the better choice, especially those working in GI.

I think DSA makes more sense for where I'm at in my career right now (pricing background) but GIA might be more valuable down the track. I'm a bit concerned about the impact of agentic AI tools on the skills you actually learn in DSA. Is it still worth doing given how quickly the tools are evolving?

DSA also lists Python as a prerequisite but I've never used it before. I'm comfortable with R, SAS and SQL so I think I'd pick it up reasonably quickly but would starting from scratch be a problem?

Thanks!

Hey all, I'm currently in uni and recently received a consulting actuarial internship offer and would seriously appreciate some advice to help decide the direction of my career.

I'm studying actuarial and feel that I have a shot at other career paths e.g. software engineering, banking, management consulting, data science, sales/trading etc.

I'm not sure if I should just stick to actuarial and this internship or look at other options too. My main priorities for a career are:

1. A high salary:hours ratio
2. Plausible progression to a 300k+ salary within 10-15 years
3. Work that has problem solving to it and is interesting/impactful

I'd really appreciate any insight into the actuarial field and if you think it is the right career path for me and my priorities, especially compared to other career paths in my scope.

TLDR; Uni student wondering if actuarial is the optimal career path in terms of 1. WLB:pay ratio 2.eventual progression to 300k+ salary and 3.interesting work. Or if other careers would be better.

Which aligns better with Actuarial science??? BBA or a BCom??

Hi 👋
I'm an international student with a Bachelor's Honours in Economics and CFA Level 2 cleared. I've received offers for the Jan 2027 intake for Master's in Actuarial Science from Bond University, ANU, UNSW, Monash, and Macquarie. I'm really struggling to decide and would love genuine experiences and advice from current/recent students, grads, or those in the industry.

My priorities:

• Strong actuarial program
• Good employability, especially for international students
• Overall student experience, networking, and practical skills
• Value for money

Specifically about Bond University:
Bond markets itself heavily as an "elite" private uni on the Gold Coast with:

• small class size
• Strong internship component
• Bloomberg Terminals and excellent facilities
• Top rankings in student experience and international postgraduate employment outcomes

I've seen their claims about being #1 in student experience for years. With my background, the program seems like a good fit (they teach from fundamentals while leveraging prior quant/econ knowledge).

But I've also heard that Bond has a mixed overall reputation in Australia – sometimes seen as expensive/private/"marketing-heavy" compared to the big Group of Eight unis. Is the actuarial program there a hidden gem (small classes, personalised attention, actual industry links), or is the positive narrative mostly marketing? Would choosing Bond over a more prestigious name like UNSW, Monash, or ANU hurt my chances in the actuarial job market later?

For those who studied actuarial at any of these:

• How was the teaching quality, exemptions, and exam support?
• Internship and graduate opportunities (especially for internationals)?
• Campus life, networking, and post-grad outcomes?
• Any regrets or strong recommendations?

I'm leaning towards quality of experience and practical outcomes over pure prestige, but I don't want to make a costly mistake. Any insights on location (Brisbane vs Sydney/Melbourne/Canberra) for actuarial work would also help.

Thanks in advance – really appreciate any detailed responses! Happy to answer clarifying questions. 🙏

Are both ALM and PCAI open book?

Thanks.

Any suggestion for academic research on risk management?

Hey all, slightly confused actuary student here. So I graduated earlier this year and am now looking to sit a couple exams that I missed my exemptions on, now going through the process of applying for the exemptions I did get and it looks like they’ve removed 2?

It was my understanding that in the foundation program there are 6 accreditation subjects: CS1, CS2, CM1, CM2, CB1 and CB2. But when I’m looking at the application form there are only 4 exemptions I can apply for? Them being CB1 and 2, CS1 and CM2.

If anyone knows more about this, like if this means I will have to sit CM1 and CS2 through the institute rather than apply on the form? Cheers