High School Curriculum

• If you're lucky enough to know early on that you want to be an actuary, you can position yourself for professional success by concentrating on math, calculus, statistics and business classes while still in high school. Communication skills and computer literacy also are important. Although you'll eventually be dealing with numbers and spread sheets as an actuary, you'll also need to communicate information to other actuaries and to lay people. Oral and written skills are vital. Explore the possibility of an actuarial internship with local colleges or companies.
  
  

Undergraduate Degree

• Degrees in actuary science, statistics, business or math all are good foundations for a career as an actuary. No matter what the degree, a concentration in math, statistics, business and applied actuary principles is key. An actuarial degree may provide the best path to passing the inevitable exams you'll need to take, but actuaries have diverse college backgrounds. If your career path is known while in college, and you have been enrolled in an actuary-based curriculum, you can start taking some preliminary professional actuarial exams while still in school. Don't neglect classes in communications.
  
  

Actuary Exams

• To receive professional accreditation and status as an actuary, you'll need to complete a series of exams administered by either the Casualty Actuarial Society or the Society of Actuaries. The first few, or preliminary, exams that you must pass are the same, whether administered through the CAS or SOA, and you can begin sitting for these self-study tests while in college. Subjects include probability, financial mathematics, financial economics and life contingencies. You'll increase your job prospects upon graduation by having one or two of the exams already under your belt.
  
  The second series of exams are the Validation by Educational Experience which, although not administered by the CAS or SOA, are required by most companies that employ actuaries. Test topics include economics, corporate finance and applied statistical methods.
  
  

Credentialing

• The CAS and the SOA each offer associate and fellow levels of accreditation based on their own criteria. Your pursuit of associate and fellow status is determined by your professional goals and your employer's requirements. Pay increases accompany most exam and accreditation achievements, which can require three to 10 years. Usually, after an actuary achieves associate status, he'll decide upon a more specialized career track and choose between a CAS or SOA fellowship. The CAS requires two additional exams in coursework such as investments, financial analysis, advanced rate-making and individual risk-rating plans. Nine exams are required for a CAS fellowship. SOA fellowship candidates follow a path in group and health, individual life and annuities, retirement benefits, investments, or finance/enterprise risk management.
  
  

Post-Graduate Degrees

• Some employers may require a post-graduate degree for some positions, especially management jobs. But they'll be more likely to encourage completion of your professional exams, which are more fundamental to your actuary career than post-graduate studies.