Hi,
This may be a long post, but I appreciate all the feedback and responses..
Some background: Rough 20s, was not able to graduate college until 27. I have a B.S. in statistics from UCLA with a 3.8 GPA. One of my professors mentioned actuarial work, I was not in a place in life to put in the time and effort to pursue it, and financially speaking, I just needed a job. While searching for work I 'studied' for the first exam. I want to say I put in maybe 50-100 hours of study time into it, and some of the material was already fresh in my mind from senior level statistics courses. I believe I got 16/30 and if I remember correctly, I needed 18/30 = / (bottom line: I failed)
After that, I landed a job at a tech company in the bay area, with a friend, and worked there for about 9 months until I landed a job as a claims adjuster with a top 3 insurance company. I started this job in January of 2014. Within a year, I had earned 100% customer service (their highest metric they care about) and settled the most injury closures in the starting unit. I applied for a casualty adjuster position, and was promoted. I'm now learning the casualty field, but all my managers know that I'm a stats and math person and would love to move into the actuarial field. After a year, I feel I'm at a place in life I can put the time and effort into studying to be an actuary, and want to know if my rationalization is correct
I know the prototypical actuarial candidate would finish school at 22 with a B.S. in a related field, 1-2 exams done, and an internship. Land the job, work 40 hours and then put in another 20 each week of independent study, pass the rest, and be an actuarial fellow by 30
Clearly, that isn't me. I'm 30 with no exams passed. But I know a PhD or Masters isn't necessary. If I started to study now and passed an exam within 6 months, I'd already have demonstrated actual interest (as opposed to 0 exams passed and going to an interview where I'd have a 0% chance at landing the job). Maybe I could have 2 complete within 18 months. Let's say this was the case - I would now have 2.5 years of insurance experience, already well versed in the casualty field where I understand the ins and outs of negotiating and why some claims go for 2 million and some claims go for 2 thousand, and I've demonstrated I can handle a full time job while studying on my own. I also don't need the internship, as I've worked 2.5 years at the company I want to be an actuary with. In addition (my goal), I would have contacts in the department who understand I'm actively working to pass exams and move into the field and know that I'm dedicated
Do I realistically have a shot? It will be the biggest challenge of my life, but I don't feel fulfilled. I have a statistics degree from UCLA and I'm working a job that somebody with an AA from a JC could work. I'm not doing anything with my training. I'm already 30, and this is probably my last chance to move into a field that I've been interested in and would excel at. It's practical in the sense I'm not going to medical school and need to quit my job and take on 6 figure debt. I just need to get some books, put down the video games, tell my girlfriend to support me when I'm frustrated about a problem she has no clue how to even read off the page let alone understand, and study.
I've been studying from http://ift.tt/1ypAoyU and I'm currently about 60% through the material after a few weeks of studying 1-2 hours a day, would the best way to study just be to finish all the material, and then do problem after problem after problem after problem after millions of problems and aim to take the test in .... 6 months?
Please give honest feedback as I need it
This may be a long post, but I appreciate all the feedback and responses..
Some background: Rough 20s, was not able to graduate college until 27. I have a B.S. in statistics from UCLA with a 3.8 GPA. One of my professors mentioned actuarial work, I was not in a place in life to put in the time and effort to pursue it, and financially speaking, I just needed a job. While searching for work I 'studied' for the first exam. I want to say I put in maybe 50-100 hours of study time into it, and some of the material was already fresh in my mind from senior level statistics courses. I believe I got 16/30 and if I remember correctly, I needed 18/30 = / (bottom line: I failed)
After that, I landed a job at a tech company in the bay area, with a friend, and worked there for about 9 months until I landed a job as a claims adjuster with a top 3 insurance company. I started this job in January of 2014. Within a year, I had earned 100% customer service (their highest metric they care about) and settled the most injury closures in the starting unit. I applied for a casualty adjuster position, and was promoted. I'm now learning the casualty field, but all my managers know that I'm a stats and math person and would love to move into the actuarial field. After a year, I feel I'm at a place in life I can put the time and effort into studying to be an actuary, and want to know if my rationalization is correct
I know the prototypical actuarial candidate would finish school at 22 with a B.S. in a related field, 1-2 exams done, and an internship. Land the job, work 40 hours and then put in another 20 each week of independent study, pass the rest, and be an actuarial fellow by 30
Clearly, that isn't me. I'm 30 with no exams passed. But I know a PhD or Masters isn't necessary. If I started to study now and passed an exam within 6 months, I'd already have demonstrated actual interest (as opposed to 0 exams passed and going to an interview where I'd have a 0% chance at landing the job). Maybe I could have 2 complete within 18 months. Let's say this was the case - I would now have 2.5 years of insurance experience, already well versed in the casualty field where I understand the ins and outs of negotiating and why some claims go for 2 million and some claims go for 2 thousand, and I've demonstrated I can handle a full time job while studying on my own. I also don't need the internship, as I've worked 2.5 years at the company I want to be an actuary with. In addition (my goal), I would have contacts in the department who understand I'm actively working to pass exams and move into the field and know that I'm dedicated
Do I realistically have a shot? It will be the biggest challenge of my life, but I don't feel fulfilled. I have a statistics degree from UCLA and I'm working a job that somebody with an AA from a JC could work. I'm not doing anything with my training. I'm already 30, and this is probably my last chance to move into a field that I've been interested in and would excel at. It's practical in the sense I'm not going to medical school and need to quit my job and take on 6 figure debt. I just need to get some books, put down the video games, tell my girlfriend to support me when I'm frustrated about a problem she has no clue how to even read off the page let alone understand, and study.
I've been studying from http://ift.tt/1ypAoyU and I'm currently about 60% through the material after a few weeks of studying 1-2 hours a day, would the best way to study just be to finish all the material, and then do problem after problem after problem after problem after millions of problems and aim to take the test in .... 6 months?
Please give honest feedback as I need it
Currently a Claims Adjuster, have a stats degree, can I do it?
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