Actuarial Programs at UMass

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers several courses to prepare students for an actuarial career, including courses to prepare for the first two actuarial exams, as well as all of the VEE requirements. We are one of only three institutions in Massachusetts on the 2018 UCAP list maintained by the Society of Actuaries.

VEE Requirements

The actuarial societies require several courses as part of the process of obtaining certification within the profession. These courses are known as Validation by Educational Experience (VEE). As of July 1, 2018, the areas and courses are:

Economics: Microeconomics (Economics 103) and Macroeconomics (Economics 104)
Mathematical Statistics: Statistics 315 (previously 515) and 516
Accounting and Finance: Accounting 221 and Finance 301.

Math majors who have declared the Actuarial concentration may contact Jacob Lagerstrom to submit a request to be enrolled in Accounting 221 or Finance 301. Enrollment requests should occur during advising week.

Actuarial Exam Courses

UMASS Department of Mathematics and Statistics offers several courses related to the actuarial exams:

Exam P/1: This is an exam covering probability. Math 536 is a course dedicated to preparing students for the exam. The underlying material is covered in Stat 515 and Math 233 and a few students have taken the exam after completing just those courses by studying on their own.
Exam FM/2: The updated version of this exam covers just the interest rate theory material. Math 437 is dedicated to preparing students for this exam. Some of the material is also touched upon in Finance 301 and Math 537.

Bob and Lynne Pollack Actuarial Exam Fund

The Mathematics and Statistics department at UMass Amherst will reimburse the full fee for any of the first three successfully passed exams.
In addition, for students who fail the exam for the first time, the department will reimburse part of the cost of study materials.

Please have the following ready before you contact the actuarial program director, Jinguo Lian (lian@math.umass.edu), for more details.

A receipt of your exam registration,
A receipt of the textbook,
Exam (passed or failed) certificate, and
A thank you letter to Bob and Lynne Pollack.

General Knowledge Courses

As highlighted in our "Becoming an Actuary" page, technical skills is a core tenet of the actuarial skillset. Below, we've listed relevant programming languages and the classes at UMass to learn about them.

RStudio: PublHlth 390R (Fall) / 460R (Spring), CICS 110, Econ 337 (prof-dependent), Math 425 (Spring with Prof. Lian), Stat 535, Stat 525 (prof-dependent)
Python: CICS 110, Math 405