Bachelor [Actuarial Science] From DePauw University

Some actuaries work with consulting firms as advisors to corporations regarding human resource and pension benefits. Government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration or insurance regulatory boards, also employ actuaries. Actuaries can specialize in life and health insurance, in property and casualty insurance, or in pension benefit programs.?

The department of mathematics encourages the development of skills in analytical thinking and problem solving that prepare our students for life beyond DePauw. Actuarial Science is a collection of mathematical and statistical techniques that make it possible to calculate the monetary value of uncertain future events. Actuaries apply these principles and techniques to solve problems in finance, insurance and related fields. Actuaries are involved with every aspect of the insurance industry and must possess strong mathematical skills and a solid business background to apply their technical knowledge.

Actuarial Science majors develop their writing expertise by taking the classes Math 223, or Foundations of Advanced Mathematics, and Math 270, Linear Algebra or Math 336, An introduction to Financial Engineering. In lower level courses, significant emphasis will be placed on what it means to express mathematical thoughts and concepts through writing. In Math 336, emphasis will be placed on writing the project process and analyze the financial data by applying the theorems and techniques learned in class. Students are expected to explain the core mathematical tools and fundamental concepts of financial engineering in their papers. Discussion of writing in Actuarial Science takes place throughout the Actuarial Science curriculum, but receives special emphasis in these courses, where students have many opportunities to revise their writing after receiving feedback from the instructor and to integrate mathematical and financial symbols and prose writing, in the form of a cogent argument. The writing in the major requirement in Actuarial Science culminates in the math senior seminar, where students produce an expository paper of approximately twenty pages.