The Actuarial Science Program

An actuary is a business person who uses mathematical skills to define, analyze, and solve financial and social problems. Actuaries are employed by insurance companies, consulting firms, some large corporations, and the federal and state governments.

Most North American Actuaries are members of the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society. Membership is achieved by passing a sequence of rigorous examinations; some completed while an undergraduate, but most completed during employment. The early examinations of the two organizations are identical, so undergraduate students do not have to choose a specialty before graduation.

The Lebanon Valley College Actuarial Science Program has had nearly 100% placement of our graduates. LVC alumni include 46 fellows and 31 associates of the Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society and over 20 enrolled actuaries. Among the graduates are numerous company officers and consulting firm partners and principals. Alumni can currently be found working for over forty different employers including national insurance companies Aetna, The Hartford and Hartford Life, the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, Prudential Life and Prudential Financial Services, Guardian Life, and ING. Others work at national consulting firms including Buck Consultants, Towers Perrin, Milliman USA and Watson Wyatt. Another large group of alumni work for Central Pennsylvania employers including Health America, Penn National, Keystone Health Plan Central, Capitol Blue Cross, Highmark, Conrad Siegel Actuaries, and Markley Actuarial Associates.

Most graduates of the Lebanon Valley College Actuarial Science Program have held summer actuarial positions while students at Lebanon Valley College. Summer positions provide students with valuable experience and excellent summer income. Though most commonly done in the summer before the student's senior year, some students are able to secure positions earlier. Positions are regularly available in cities such as Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Hartford, but may also be available in smaller cities such as Harrisburg, Bethlehem, and Lancaster.

The Actuarial Science Program is coordinated by Professor Hearsey, who is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and is the Society of Actuaries liaison representative to the Mathematical Association of America. Having a member of the Society as an advisor insures students that they will have the best possible information on examination requirements and other activities within the actuarial profession.

The major in Actuarial Science at Lebanon Valley aims to provide each student with the mathematics background and appropriate education in economics and finance sufficient to begin their careers as an actuary. The Lebanon Valley general education program, with its emphasis on analysis, communication, and leadership, coupled with our strong mathematics program and numerous extracurricular opportunities, provides an excellent undergraduate experience for prospective actuaries.

The list below shows the relation between LVC courses and actuarial examination program of the Actuarial Societies.

Professional
Examination

LVC Courses
P/1 MAS 111, 112, 113, 114; MAS 261; MAS 371; ASC 281
FM/2 ECN 101, 102, 201; ASC 281, 385
M/3, C/4 ASC 481, 482, 471, 472

The details of the actuarial science major are provided below.

Bachelor of Science with a major in Actuarial Science

Take all of:

Basic concepts of accounting including accounting for business transactions, preparation and use of financial statements, and measurement of owners' equity. An introductory course for non-accounting majors. 3 credits.
An introduction to risk management in property/ casualty and life insurance. Prerequisite: MAS 112. 3 credits.
Measurement of interest, time value of money, annuities, amortization and sinking funds, bonds, capitalized cost, net present value, yield rates, yield curves, duration and immunization. Prerequisite: MAS 112. 3 credits.
Survival distributions, life insurance, life annuities, benefit premiums and reserves, multiple life and decrement models. Prerequisite: ASC 385. Corequisite: MAS 371. 3 credits.
Foundational aspects of computer programming. Algorithms and data; control structures; the design of small programs. Class and object basics. Uses the Java programming language. 3 credits.
This course examines how individuals and firms make choices within the institutions of free- market capitalism. Individuals decide how much of their time to spend working and what to buy with the earnings of their labor. Firms decide how much to produce and in some cases what price to charge for their goods. Together these choices determine what is produced, how it is produced and for whom it is produced in our economic system. 3 credits.
This course extends the study of consumer and producer choices to discover how they affect the nation's economy. Macroeconomics deals with the economy as a whole as measured by the key variable of inflation, unemployment, and economic growth. Emphasis is on both Keynesian and classical theories and how they predict what monetary and fiscal policies can be used to affect these variables and reach national economic goals. Prerequisite: ECN 101. 3 credits.
An introduction to college mathematics for potential mathematical science majors. Prerequisite: placement testing or MAS 102. Corequisite: MAS 111, 112. 1 credit.
Second semester. Introduction to college mathematics for potential mathematical science majors. Prerequisite: placement testing or MAS 102. Corequisite: MAS 111, 112. 1 credit.
Introduction to logic, set theory and proof techniques. Prerequisites: MAS 112 or MAS 162 and MAS 251. 3 credits.
Multivariate calculus including partial differentiation, multiple integration, vector fields and vector functions. Prerequisite: MAS 112 or MAS 162. 3 credits.
A mathematical introduction to probability, discrete and continuous random variables, and sampling. Prerequisites: at least two of MAS 222, 251, and ASC 281 or junior standing. 3 credits.
An introduction to the mathematical foundations of statistics including sampling distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing, linear models and multivariate distributions. Prerequisites: MAS 371. 3 credits.
† indicates a required course

Take one of:

An introduction to loss distributions and credibility theory with emphasis on actuarial applications. Prerequisite: MAS 372. 3 credits.
Individual and collective risk models, compound distributions, including applications such as stop-loss reinsurance. Prerequisites: ASC 385, 481. 3 credits.

Total of 49 credits.

The Course P/Part 1 or Course FM/Part 2 examination of the Society of Actuaries/Casualty Actuarial Society must be passed before senior standing is reached.

There is no Actuarial Science minor.

Students who do not receive a B- or better in MAS 112 will usually take MAS 251 and MAS 202 in their sophomore year and take MAS 371 and 372 in their junior year.

This curriculum covers about 75% of the material for the first four examinations on the Society of Actuaries and Casualty Actuarial Society examinations.

No course other than MAS 111, 112, 113, 114, 222, 261, 372 and CSC 144 may be used to meet the requirements of more than one major or minor within the Department of Mathematical Sciences.

For students transferring into the Department of Mathematical Sciences after having completed two semesters of calculus, the MAS 111, 112, 113, 114 requirement may be replaced with MAS 161, 162, and one other MAS course numbered 200 or higher, which is not otherwise used to fulfill the requirements of the student's major and is approved by the student's advisor.