Actuarial Science: The Job for Me

The world we live in is overflowing with choices and chances. Every day, each and every human must make thousands of decisions. Some decisions may be rather simple to make, or not present a high chance for an unfavorable outcome. While one may decide the apple they picked up from the store is not very sweet, the cost lost on the apple is rather minimal and the consumer will most likely be presented with many more opportunities to pick a delicious apple. However, some choices are much more complicated. Decisions such as where to invest one’s money, or what physical challenges to endure, present very serious consequences. If the wrong decision is made, one could lose their financial security, or even their life.

To minimize the chances of such disasters, humans engage in risk assessment. We calculate the chances of each choice resulting in an unfavorable outcome, rank the choices from lest to most likely to end in disaster and pick the top result. This process is performed countless times throughout one’s life, but hardly ever consists of an actual mathematical equation. However, there are some who do quantify risk numerically. Actuaries use the ideas of probability and game theory to objectively assess the risk in a variety of chances. They may calculate the risk of one’s house being flooded, or of one falling ill. They may calculate the risk of an investment losing money, or of a plane crashing. Actuaries implement the ideas of applied mathematics for those who cannot do so themselves, and eventually figure the means by which a client can minimize the risks facing them. Yes, actuaries do figure insurance rates, but they also do so much more. As I researched the field of actuarial science, I decided that actuary should be synonymous with mathematical risk manager, for actuaries are responsible for figuring risk, minimizing risk, and minimizing the impacts of disasters that have already occurred. They complete these tasks objectively and with the power of my favorite subject, mathematics.

After hours of independently researching the field of Actuarial Science, I contacted Mr. Michael Miller. Mr. Miller is the Director of Insurance Pricing at Catlin Inc., a private insurance company in Atlanta, Georgia. With a Masters of Science in Mathematics and classification as a Fellow of Casualty Actuarial Society, Mr. Miller has thrived in the field of Actuarial Science for twenty years. He has even achieved the position of President of the Casualty Actuarial Society of the Southeast.