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Department of Mathematics
and Actuarial Science

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Major in Actuarial Science-B.S.
Advisor Dr. Caithamer

     Indiana University Northwest offers a Bachelors of Science in Actuarial Science.  Our graduates have recently obtained excellent starting positions in Chicago and Indiana.  The field of Actuarial Science offers exciting executive careers for strong mathematics students.  Opportunities include life, health, and casualty insurance, pension plan management, investment, and consulting. The actuary applies theories of probability and statistics and the principles of finance to the problems of insurance, pensions, social insurance, population studies, and related fields. An actuary plays many roles - researcher, planner, and decision maker. Actuaries must acquire some of the expertise of a lawyer, doctor, financier, accountant, and computer system analyst. they are involved in all phases of insurance operations, including management, marketing, investments, accounting, administration, and selection of risks. More specifically, an actuary might:

1.Design a new type of life insurance policy with benefits varying with the cost-of-living index;
2.Develop new applications for computers to supply needed management information;
3.Redesign a corporate pension plan to coordinate with recent Social Security changes;
4.Recommend changes to modernize benefits in health insurance policies and put a price on these changes.

    As these examples indicate, the job is a varied one. At times the work is specific and mathematically precise and at other times as broad as the needs and complexities of modern-day society. By designing insurance and pension plans on a sound financial basis, an actuary can help alleviate the financial burden of untimely deaths and illnesses and provide people with more secure retirements. Actuaries are therefore sometimes called social mathematicians.

   Students in our program study mathematics, including calculus, probability, statistics, theory of interest, and life contingencies.  They also take several business and computer science courses.  Students learn skills for problem solving and decision-making, and the program is excellent for anyone preparing to apply mathematics in a business environment.     

Requirements:

 1.  Mathematics core courses (23 cr.): MATH M215, MATH M216, MATH M301 I MATH M303, MATH M311, MATH M360, and MATH M366 
 2.  Actuarial Science core courses (7-9 cr.): MATH M320, MATH M325, and MATH M485 (One of these will be a capstone course)
 3.  Computer Science core courses (7-8 cr.): CSCI C201 and CSCI C307, or CSCI A201 and CSCI A302 
 4.  Economics and Business core courses (21 cr.): ECON E103, ECON E104, BUS A201, BUS A202, ECON E270, BUS F301, BUS F420
 5.  Technical Electives (9 cr.): three courses not used for Computer Science core from:

Mathematics: MATH M312, MATH M325 (MATH M325 serves as a technical elective only when taken a second time in a different subject), MATH M343, MATH M371, MATH M447, MATH M448, MATH M451, MATH M477.
Computer science: CSQ 0203, CSCI C320, CSCI C343, CSCI C390. Also, CSCI A201, CSCI A302, CSQ 0201, and CSCI C307 serve as technical electives when not used as C. Computer Science core courses.
Business: BUS L201, BUS N300, BUS P301, BUS M301, BUS M303, BUS A311, BUS A312, BUS A322, BUS A325, BUS A328, BUS A424

Students must also complete the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences for the Bachelor of Science degree.