Route to Become an Actuary
What are actuarial science and actuary? Are they the same things? According to Wikipedia, Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries. An actuary is a business professional who deals with the
financial impact of risk and uncertainty. Actuaries have a deep understanding of financial security systems, their reasons for being, their complexity, their mathematics, and the way they work.

You can be a genius in mathematics but not must in actuarial science. Actuarial science is NOT ALL about mathematics, but involving lots of statistics, modelling, finance, economics, accounting and so on. So, even when you don't end up as an actuary, you will still have other career options such as working in risk management, investment, etc. Hence, if you love mathematics, you will love pure mathematics. If you love applying mathematics (in business or economics), you will love actuarial science.

Actuarial science DOES NOT guarantee a HIGHLY paid job. Only qualified Actuary get paid in millions depend on the need in different countries. Fresh actuarial science graduate does not make you different from any other graduates at all. And, there are MANY Malaysians currently studying actuarial science. (JPA scholars, Bank Negara scholars, SC scholars, Khazanah scholars, UKM, UM, UiTM, USIM, UTAR, INTI, Taylor, HELP...)

It's easy to get a bachelor's degree in actuarial science. But it's not easy to be an actuary. Undoubtedly, the route becoming an actuary is a very tough. If not, millions of people will become actuaries and the job prospect for actuaries will be really bad. My advice is thinking thrice before you make a decision to get into the program, don't jump into it for the wrong reason, i.e. money. I know that some actuarial majors brag about actuaries getting paid millions, including me! Yes, it is true but take note that you only get paid well if you're good in term of many things, such as soft skills.
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