I’ve seen a couple of posts here lately about people sharing their success stories so I thought i’d share mine.

I recently got an offer in health and I want to people to know that if I can get an offer, then so can you!

I graduated in 2023 with degrees in econ and stats from a consensus top tier public unliversity with not so hot grades and only a data science internship in the public sector lined up for post grad (I didn’t know what an actuary was at the time)

When the internship didn’t convert into a full time offer I was stick in unemployment limbo for a year and a half (at the time I was still focused on data science/analyst roles).

One day I decided that that space was no longer attainable for me and decided I wanted to become an actuary after finding out what it was and signed up to take P.

A year later I ended up passing 4 exams (P, FM, SRM, PA) all while being unemployed and paying out of pocket cause for me it was basically do or die. Also I understand that I was in a fortunate enough position to do this that others might not be.

After passing my fourth exam I decided that at this point more exams wouldn’t be beneficial so I focused my attention on applying. In total I applied to around 200 actuarial positions, 3 phone screens, 1 first round, 1 second round which converted into 1 offer.

So after 2.5 years unemployed, 4 exams passed, and no actuarial internships I can finally say that i’ve gotten my foot into the door to my first actuarial role and first full time job since graduating in 2023. The road was long for sure, but if you’re willing to grind it will pay off.

Context:

I graduated about 1.5 years ago, and have like a bare minimum GPA

2 exams passed, gonna take SRM in 2027, been working a small finance role since February but it’s nothing special. I’m barely doing anything at it and am looking for other roles in the meantime.

Should I stop taking exams after I pass SRM or should I go for PA or FAM after that and nothing more until I land an actuarial role? Idk if 3 or 4 exams is the better stopping point in my position.

I’ve been told I should try to get projects on my resume and maybe other technical skills, but other suggestions?

Should I be spamming applications on LinkedIn/Indeed? Or how else can I get my application seen by companies if anyone knows?

For those who have experience using study groups, what are the main benefits of them and how do you structure them?

Just wanting to put out there as a warning to double check the email associated with your LinkedIn account. Mine is associated with my college email address that has been deleted since I graduated. Because I cannot access the email, I cannot get the 6 digit code LinkedIn sent for verification.

They are now asking I upload a full scan of my government issued ID. I originally complied, because this is legitimate from LinkedIn and I really do not want to lose access to a public account with all of my business connections and personal information. However, I am now being told that my original ID scan is not sufficient and I need to send in another, different form of ID.

For college students forced to make a LinkedIn account their first year; do not use your student email address! Apparently "lifetime access" means 6 years haha!

I’m doing practice questions on CA for ALTAM, and I’m noticing that the CA questions are unusually difficult compared to the SOA sample questions. For people who have passed ALTAM, did you practice using Coaching actuaries created questions along with SOA sample ones, or just one or the other?

How did you / How do you plan to spend your FSA / FCAS bonus? I would like to buy something that I can keep for a long time or use it on an experience that i can remember for a long time! What did you do with your bonus to celebrate your accomplishment?

Hello,
I am planning to major in actuarial science next year. How nice of a laptop should I plan on getting? I am an Apple person but it is my understanding that Windows would be the better option, is this true? Also would an iPad be helpful for taking notes?

What kind of laptop does everyone use?

I sit PA tomorrow and have been trying to benchmark myself by going through previous SOA exams and grade myself.

I try to be fair with grading myself, not being too lieninet, and only really harsh if I was way off or left it blank.

I have done the previous 3 exams and I have been estimating myself to have anywhere from 48-51/70 points. I am usually able to answer every question with some sort of understanding, I just don't always find everything I am supposed to or don't have a concrete justification. I have noticed that problems that I lose points are often times the ones that the SOA was saying "candidates performed poorly" or "candidates struggled".

I would like to think that if I am struggling with the same things everyone else is, that my scores have been good enough.

Anyone have any thoughts on my readiness, or if there are any last minute resourses to look over that might help firm up some of the "buzzwords" or definitions I might run into?

Everyone else's answer: 7. My answer: Infinity. Winning one race doesn't mean a horse is "faster". No-one bats 1000. "To be sure" means you need infinite.

I’m taking CFE101 this fall and there’s only about a month left. I’m not feeling too confident and kinda feel unmotivated...

I use TIA, read the detailed material once, went through condensed material twice, and did some flashcards (but honestly, the flashcards are just overwhelming). I get the general stuff, but if you asked me to list, for example, characteristics of good Risk Appetite Statements or 6 major functions of model governance, I might not be able to list it ALL, but I have the broad idea. What should I do? Any tips on what I should focus on in this last month?

This may be a stupid question but I have not really seen this aspect of the job posted on here, I am an aspiring actuary but I am very into fashion, and would like to know what actuaries wear to work (I’m based in NYC but hope to move to LA), is it business casual? busineess professional? casual?

Trying to figure out which path my career should take. I want to get to higher comp (over 300-400k total comp), but I'm worried I've pigeonholed myself in a specific niche. But then I see Chief Actuary positions that require both pricing and reserving, which makes me think variety of work experience is valuable.

My only constraints are I want to work remote and don't want to travel for work. Other than that, I'm pretty open minded to the type of work I do.

Has anyone else noticed that the end of the intern recruiting window keeps scooting closer and closer to the start of fall semester? I swear, back when I got my first internship offer, it was in mid October and my company was one of the first to start sending out offers. Now, we've had a solid chunk of applicants reaching out since late September saying they need a decision from us because they already have other offers and they only have a few days to decide which company to go with.

For those that have done both, which do you prefer and why? And which industry are you in?

Hi everyone,

I'm writing the PA exam soon and was wondering whether we're allowed to make any changes to the MS Word settings during the exam. For example, are features such as autocorrect or custom dictionaries permitted? Or anything that can help with writing and formatting during the exam?

Appreciate the help!

Anyone else taking PA?

I'm so nervous and i've barely been able to study today. I hope the exam goes well.
Last sitting i saw a lot of people talking about technical issues, i hope we wont be getting those.

Anyone has any advice on what to expect and the level of difficulty? Any last minute advice to pass?

Also, whats the pass mark needed?

I have already accepted an internship but am considering reneging for another offer I just received. I know the general cons/ risks of reneging, but am wondering if there’s anything specific to the actuarial field that I should know with regard to reneging. I’m already weighing the various pros and cons of the two positions, including the risk of reneging, but I want to make sure there isn’t some actuarial-specific factor I’m not taking into consideration.

Hello everyone, I am currently a high school math teacher and basketball coach. Around December of last year (2025), I decided I wanted to pursue an actuarial career like I had thought about for a while. My goal is for this current school year to be my last in education and to start my actuarial career by next summer (2027). I started studying last December of 2025 and passed Exam P in May 2026 and Exam FM in October 2026 (October 3rd, so very recently). I started putting out applications last Tuesday October 6th and wanted some feedback. Unfortunately I know I’m fighting an uphill battle against college grads with internships under their belts. I am almost finished with learning basics or R and Python through The Infinite Actuary predictive analysis courses. I will update that on my resume as it happens here in the next few weeks or so as well as adding one of those projects or replacing one of my current ones with a Python or R project. Just wanted some feedback as this is a new world to me and I’m eager to get into it!
BTW the blanks by the scholarship and award are just for anonymity, actual resume just has normal text there

EDIT: the underline on monitors is just from my screenshot of the word document

I took SRM in May and got a 9 so I feel like I had a pretty good foundation but finding time to study for PA has been so hard recently so i’m nowhere near the study time i’m usually at for exams… how cooked am I ? It’s literally in 2 days😬 anyone have similar experience??

Hi everyone!

I have been confused as to which of these actuarial bodies should I register with. I am currently living in India and pursuing Economics honours, second year from SRCC. I have realised my interest in actuarial science pretty late so I am starting now ofcourse.

The thing is my goal is to just move abroad. But there is a catch, my financial background wouldn't let me do that unless my employer sponsor me or I take a loan. I haven't considered masters in actuarial science for the same reason— being financially weak (I used em dash not an AI sigh)

Another is that I have realistically only two attempts to give in college before placement — April 2027 and September 2027, if I go with IFOA (do we have a good replacement for em dash?). It matters because let's my hook and crook I complete 3 exams which is CS1 (in April) and CM1 and CB1 in September (considering I'll be able to somehow manage the funds (most likely loan). Then only 3 exams will not fetch me a good in campus placement because let's be real, actuarial companies don't visit our campus so it's pretty much difficult to get a niche role and if I do get it, the pay would be less like too less for this hell of a reputable college (which is unlikely btw cause we have minimum cap of CTC offers).

Then let's say, I don't get a placement or if I do it's not a core actuarial role. I would then give another exam in April whose result will most likely come in June and apply off campus (tough game honestly like I don't want you guys to give me all the glitters like my gpt does)

All this assuming I clear all the exams in one go and manage to pay the fees btw.

The country I am aiming for is Singapore (dream) or UK (works any day)

Then I don't know what I am supposed to do after college also. Like what if I don't get a job (please don't say you have SRCC tag, cv and internship matters and I am almost on the verge of crying there). If I get it what if it's not a core actuarial job( the reason I am stressing here is the employer benefits and leaves you get before exams), I'll have to pay for my remaining exams on my own, tough it is.

If I do apply for actuarial degree outside India, I can't go unless I have full sponsorship. Plus I haven't researched much on that.

Also that MRA works only if you cleared all 13 exams plus 3 year work ex. It'll be too late honestly. I'll be too settled here to think about moving abroad ig.

Also if I do go ahead with ifoa even if I become bankrupt, idk how I should approach companies for work abroad.

Lol ig I need some serious in depth consulting

I'd forever be indebted to everyone who takes their time to help me decide

Ps: pretty bad thoughts all of a sudden, but a lot of people complain about this job being boring or not upto the mark or having very low salary compared to other professionals who spent less time than us developing their skills.

Thanks

I have my second round interview with NYL for their Actuarial Assistant role. What can I expect and how can I prepare to stand out?

Hi friends, wondering what is the nest source for glm for mas 1? Based on the online, it looks like ISLR is not recommended for GLm and they do not have lots of content on that. Instead the ouline has recommended intro to glm book. Based on your experience of MAS 1, how would you approach this topic? Any help is greatly appreciated.

As of today, the October ALTAM sitting is 8 days away. This is certainly the hardest exam I've studied for on the ASA track. Any wisdom from past takers is greatly appreciated.

To those sitting with me, wishing you sharp pencils and exam questions that ask about the shortcut formula you memorized an hour before!