November 2021 | Actuarial Science @ Illinois: Advising & Opportunities | Updates and announcements from the Actuarial Science Program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Curriculum Update

Hello Graduate Students in Actuarial Science,

We wanted to clarify a couple of items related to the course curriculum:

ASRM 451 v.s. ASRM 499 Section GR

We have had some requests from students to enroll in ASRM 451 – Basics of Statistical Learning. This course is cross listed as Stat 432 in the Department of Statistics. Students in ASRM attempting to register for this course have been restricted with the flag “Course Closed”. Since the course belongs to the Department of Statistics, priority will be given to Statistics students and will require an approval to allow ASRM students to enroll in this class.

We are recommending that ASRM students in the MS program enroll in ASRM 499, Section GR rather than ASRM 451, for the following reasons:

This course is designed for ASRM students and there will not be any restriction from registering for ASRM students
This course will adequately prepare students for Exam MASII/SRM

University-Earned Credit (UEC) Program

There continues to be questions and inquiries from the students regarding the pending participation in the University-Earned Credit (UEC) program from the SOA. We wanted to confirm at this time where we are in this process, and what it means for the students as they navigate through their courses and potentially plan for the implementation of this program.

At the present time, the SOA has not issued any waiver for exams. An application has been submitted to the SOA for the pending UEC program, whereby several exams may be eligible for exemption based on the listed qualifying criteria. We are expecting a response to our application in the Spring, including which courses in our curriculum could be eligible for SOA course exemption.

The response from the SOA will also clarify how the UEC program will be administered. At the present time, any ASRM courses taken this term or in the Spring 2022 term will still require the student to complete the corresponding SOA exam. Students may consider restructuring their course selection in consideration of the impact of UEC accreditation, however, the earliest that a student could obtain UEC credit would be Fall 2022. We cannot make a guarantee on this timetable until we receive a response from the SOA on our application, including which courses would be eligible for the program, and what changes we will need to make to the curriculum and course delivery to be compliant with the criteria.

We have no further information at this point, but we will do our best to share any news with the students as it comes in. If you are interested in detailed information on the UEC program, please refer to the link below from the SOA webpage.

https://www.soa.org/education/resources/uec/uec-program/

Actuarial Science Office Update – Course Changes in ASRM

Actuarial Science Office Update

Hello Students in Actuarial Science,

The Actuarial Science Office would like to bring to your attention the following updates to courses in ASRM:

ASRM 210

To prepare for the upcoming changes with the SOA university earned credit program, we are introducing a change to ASRM 210 to better serve our students in Spring 2022. Each student in ASRM 210 is expected to enroll in one of two discussion sections in addition to regular lectures. The class is being set up in a way that is similar to either ASRM 401 or ASRM 402. The ASRM 210 discussion sections will be a replacement of ASRM 392 Section FM, which will no longer be offered in Spring 2022. The intent of this change is to offer exam prep tutorials in these discussion sections.

The Spring offering of ASRM 210 will not automatically convert to UEC credit. But if you plan to take Exam FM in the Spring or Summer, this course should more adequately prepare you for the exam.

ASRM 392

We will continue to offer ASRM 392 Section P as an exam prep course for Exam P. We do not expect any change to this exam in the next few offerings. This one-credit-hour course is typically led by an upperclassman who has recently passed the exam and who has tips and tricks to share on how to succeed. We encourage you to take advantage of this exam prep course if you are planning on sitting for Exam P in the near future.

ASRM 410

There is no change to the syllabus of ASRM 410. However, please note that there is a change to the SOA credential requirement regarding Exam IFM, which is what ASRM 410 prepares students for. The last offering of Exam IFM will be given in November 2022. If you can pass exam IFM, you will not need to take the new Exam ATPA (Advanced Topics in Predictive Analytics). The first offering of Exam ATPA will be in June 2022. Our suggestion is that you prepare for Exam IFM as early as possible unless you want to take Exam ATPA instead. The ATPA exam is expected to be more programming focused.

Feel free to reach out to the Actuarial Science Office if you have any questions or concerns.

https://math.illinois.edu/actuarial-science/actuarial-science-office

Paul

Job Posting – OMNI Group

Hi Everyone,

The Omni Group is looking to hire an actuary for a full-time position in their Chicago office. This position is within the property/casualty insurance industry. Depending on the start date, you may work remotely initially.

The position will involve pricing for a variety of property-casualty commercial lines and a minor role in reserving. The candidate must have passed at least one exam. Any experience as an intern in an actuarial position would be great. The company has a study program to support further exam passage.

You must also be a U. S. citizen, as the company does not sponsor. They are interviewing now, so if anyone is interested, please contact Drew Taylor (president@asc-illinois.com) and he will get you in contact with the recruiter.