I have compiled the following list of suggestions that may be provide insights to actuarial students, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
- Take SOA exams P and FM as early as possible. The content will be useful for you even if you decide to switch careers in the future.
- Learn R and Python and become computer literate. As Isaac Asimov said: “I do not fear computers. I fear the lack of them.”
- Master courses that have probability content, like actuarial mathematics, risk theory and fundamentals of actuarial practice.
- If you are not following a SOA-based education, review the SOA educational pathways, and make sure that your own education includes most of the SOA topics. Alternatively, the CAS also provides excellent resources.
- Use your summers to experience actuarial work. For example, take an intern job or offer assistance to a professor, or enrol in a certificate program (for example, SOA certificates.)
- Learn from the right mentors. Also consider that fiction literature may be an outstanding source of inspiration.
- Read Swiss Re’s sigma, the best publication on insurance economics.
- Have broad interests. Read about economics, business news, politics, etc. The best weekly newspaper is by far The Economist. Also read biographies, such as Alice Schroeder’s biography of Warren Buffet, or Ron Chernow’s biography of John D. Rockefeller.
- Learn that the key to wisdom is asking the right questions.
- Become good at managing your priorities.