Success Stories

Johnny's advice: There is a tremendous demand for promising actuarial students in the workplace. If you can pass an exam or two, are bright and presentable, you have a great chance of landing a good job coming out of school.

• Johnny, what got you interested in actuarial science?
  • My wife Helen had heard about it, and her company had done some work for an actuarial firm. She thought actuarial science would be a good career for me. It sounded like a good fit.
• You made a transition from a prior career. How did you accomplish that?
  • Yes, I was an insurance producer in commercial lines, part of the sales force. I went back to school at MTSU and got a degree in Mathematics with a concentration in Actuarial Science. I found out about MTSU's program through a friend.
• What position do you currently hold?
  • I am an Actuary with Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, Inc. in Nashville, TN.
• What types of projects do you work on?
  • I work with extended warranties and contractor's equipment coverages that accompany Caterpillar products. And here in the Product Development Unit, we design new products that involve actuarial expertise.
• Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus?
  • Self-determination. Through your own efforts, you have more control over career advancement than people in most fields.
• And biggest minus?
  • The exam process. It's the ultimate double-edged sword. If you pass you can advance, but you have to pass exams to advance.

Kevin's advice: I think actuarial science is an excellent career in itself, but it offers the potential to get into the business aspect of companies and not just insurance. Don't limit your vision to just being an actuary. This can be a stepping stone into the management of lots of companies.

• Kevin, you recently returned from a corporate trip? Where did you go and what did you do?
  • We went up to one of our Caterpillar plants in Aurora, outside of Chicago. They make wheel-loaders, excavators, and forestry equipment there. We talked to different groups about the improvements they've made to machines. We're trying to educate them on how we determine what costs are. Then they help us understand ways we can reflect improvements in our pricing. We talked to engineers and analytical types.
• Are presentation skills important for somebody in your position?
  • Yes. You have to be able to communicate with product groups and dealers, which have different perspectives. They have to understand and trust what we're doing. And we have to understand what they're doing. You can't achieve either one without being able to communicate.
• Kevin, you're a graduate from the MTSU actuarial program. How did you hear about it?
  • I was a sophomore math major. I went to a talk from some visting actuaries. I was hooked.
• What aspects of the MTSU program did you like?
  • Having classes focussed on taking exams. It was invaluable. That was the key. Without that, I wouldn't have gotten past the first exam. Plus, J.C. Hankins, one of my instructors, was inspirational to me. He was really excited about the career.
• You have worked for different types of companies, haven't you?
  • I started with American General, a life insurer. Then I went to Sedgwick James and worked as a consultant. We did lots of presentations and worked on the phone. Lots of people skills were required. Sedgwick was a broker; we were in their risk management arm and provided a service for brokers to sell to their clients. We did loss projections to help place insurance or fund the next year's self-insured liabilities. We did reserve analyses too.
• What position do you currently hold and what types of work are you responsible for?
  • My title is Actuary. I oversee all of Caterpillar's warranty pricing. And I forecast losses. I put a price tag on new products and marketing plans to grow that business.
• Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus?
  • The biggest plus is that I can continually find projects or assignments that challenge me, allow me to think. I get to solve problems other people can't solve.
• And biggest minus?
  • The amount of time required to get through the exam process. But this is a negative and a positive. You are learning to differentiate yourself, but it sometimes seems an unreasonable amount of time.

Lisa's advice: It's a wonderful career. It's well worth getting through the exams. Once the exams are done, you get to reap the rewards. Knuckle down in the beginning and get them over with!

• You've just had a meeting with a governmental client. How did it go?
  • Yes, it went well. I met with the in-house accountant and explained what my reports meant, including the surplus for the fund. I was making sure that they understood the implications of my work.
• Lisa, you have a successful casualty actuarial consulting practice. How did you get to where you are today?
  • Perseverance & hard work. And a little luck! And, liking what you do.
• You've worked in both insurance companies and consulting firms. How do they differ?
  • Consulting is more interesting for me and fun because you have a lot of client contacts. Insurance is a great place to start--you make good contacts with other actuaries, and you tend to have more study time. And you get exposure to the business. But in consulting you are often called on to know a little about a lot, while in an insurance company it can be "know a lot about a little." Both experiences are good.
• Didn't you get into actuarial science through an internship?
  • I went to a co-op school with an accounting & finance concentration, but had a difficulty finding accounting internships. I looked in other areas, and I found out about actuarial science. I wanted something that was more mathematical, something that better matched my abilities. So I transferred to a 4 year school.
• What aspects of your college program did you like?
  • I liked the calculus, statistics, econometrics. Actually, I took few courses outside of mathematics after my sophomore year. It wasn't an actuarial program, but one in applied math & statistics.
• What aspects of your job do you enjoy the most?
  • Working directly with my clients. And having the flexibility to set my own hours, as long as my clients are happy!
• Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus?
  • It sounds silly but I really, really enjoy it. I enjoy coming to work every day. And I like seeing that my clients understand what I do.
• And biggest minus?
  • Exams. I really had no concept for how difficult they where. Here's a funny story: I signed up for three at once at my first sitting, and ended up taking one! You really have to persevere. But it is well worth it.

Brian's advice: From my personal experience, if you're going to get into it, get the exam process underway while you're in school. That way, you can enter the field immediately when you come out of school. Dedicate yourself early. Jump in with both feet!

• Brian, you're a graduate from the MTSU actuarial program. What aspects of the MTSU program did you like?
  • The exam preparation courses before each exam were helpful. Class sizes were about 10 students. It was a comfortable class size for me. You can choose how much you want to participate & competition isn't as important as it would be in a class of 3 or 4. But it was large enough for study groups; you could get with someone if you needed help.
• You have recently made a career transition from the claims side of the insurance business to the actuarial side? What made the actuarial side attractive to you?
  • Since I was very young, numbers have interested me. The idea of working with mathematics & numbers on a daily basis is very appealing to me. I was interested in the profession long before the claims business experience.
• How important are computer skills in your day-to-day activities?
  • Extremely. I had some Microsoft Excel exposure coming into the actuarial position, but I learned a tremendous amount working over the past few months. In fact, we even use Microsoft Access to do queries on large databases. Some of our data bases have 600,000+ records. Most of my computer experience has been gained on-the-job.
• What position do you currently hold and what types of work are you responsible for?
  • I'm an Actuarial Assistant at Caterpillar Insurance, and I work pretty much on pricing on warranties. I've done work mostly with machinery. I haven't done any reserve work yet.
• Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus?
  • The control that I have over my career path. I mean, with actuarial science, if you dedicate yourself and pass the exams you control more so than other jobs your advancement & salaries. Most companies have incentives for the passing of exams. And while in every job you have control over the quality of your work, here you have more control on how your work is received.
• And biggest minus?
  • I'm new to this; I haven't found one yet. Like I said, when I came out of college, I worked only in the claims business. Here, they pay for study materials, send me to seminars. The hours are fair, and the deadlines are not outrageous. With time that may change, but for now I just don't have one...

Randy's advice: If you like suspense stories, who-done-its, investigative work--if you're of the view that behind the numbers is a story--you'll probably like actuarial science. If you're only going to see it as number-crunching, you're probably going to get bored.

• Randy, you came from a business background, having among other things managed your family farm. How did you hear about actuarial science?
  • I responded to an ad in the paper for mathematics, statistics & finance majors. The literature turned out to be about actuarial science.
• What is your position today?
  • I'm an Actuarial Assistant at Caterpillar Insurance Services Corporation here in Nashville, TN.
• What kinds of things do you do on a day-to-day basis?
  • I am working on the pricing of warranty policies for machines and engines. It involves analyzing claims and performance data.
• How did you use MTSU's graduate program in Mathematics to achieve your goals?
  • Since I already had an undergraduate degree, I took strictly those classes that applied to actuarial science. When I first started out, I was a non-degree-seeking student taking courses specifically for the 1st exam. Then, a professor at MTSU told me about Graduate Teaching Assistant & graduate program opportunities. The department was flexible, and I put together a program that helped me study for exams and work toward a graduate degree.
• Every career has its plusses and minuses. For you, what's the biggest plus?
  • Everybody I'm working with is highly competent. This is a field that requires a high degree of ability. I work with a bright bunch of people. And we all tend to be on the same page.\
• And biggest minus?
  • I guess I don't really have one. The hours are fair. Sure there are deadlines, but we meet them. I'm as happy as happy could be.