There is an actuarial advisor for further information but I thought it would be nice to record some student comments. The
Actuarial Students National Association (ASNA)
holds annual meeting in January aimed at students but has a recruiting angle. Some financial support for travel and accommodation. A.Ng was hired through a casual interview process at that conference.
website for ASNA
This advice below was kindly provided by A.Ng, a Mathematics student who at the time of writing (January 2012) was in his fourth and final year.
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Some comments by A.Ng
Hi there. I first hope that you are not reviewing this due to the income potential of actuaries.
UBC is not famous for its Actuarial program; UBC doesn't have one. Course offering wise, there is no single course or sequence of courses that directly prepares you for becoming a successful actuary; however, here is bit of personal experience.
Mathematics, statistics are two main branches of courses you will be considering for your senior years. 3xx level may appear sufficient; however, to obtain your first internship, it requires more. To obtain your first intern, you well may need varies experience -- honestly, NSERC-USRA on a computational project can well impress your interviewer(s). In the regular school year, never feel hesitant to pursue an advanced Mathematics/Statistics course. In my experience, interviewer(s) do not want hear from you about your personality nor how great a leader you are; instead, a candidate shall always be aware and understanding why and what makes Mathematics appear beautiful.
Moreover, in my senior years, I have almost decided to leave the actuarial field with completion of 4 exams and all VEEs. The field is saturated with potential actuaries. With that in mind, I focused in full on theoretical Mathematics with Dr. G. Slade's Probability and Stochastic Processes. (Un)fortunately, that has brought additional insight in actuarial practice; and that is, indeed, what charms (boosted?) my resume and hooks me up with an offer from Manulife for an actuarial career.
A potentially biased suggestion for students interested in Actuarial Science: take Math 418, 419, 420, 421. They are the indicators of a nonzero probability of landing on Actuarial career.
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