In North America, accreditation as an actuary is obtained through the Society of Actuaries (SOA) or the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). Students interested in becoming an actuary need to complete the various components of the requirements for an Associate of the Society of Actuaries by passing the Society's exams.
While McGill's Department of Mathematics and Statistics does not offer a program tailored specifically to these requirements, it is nevertheless possible to complete some of the preliminary exams administered by the SOA and CAS while you are an undergraduate at McGill.
The table below shows the list of preliminary exams and their corresponding courses at McGill that will help you prepare. Do remember that these courses do not cover 100% of the materials on the preliminary exams; you should always seek extra practices on other resources such as recommended exam readings and SOA sample exams.
| Preliminary Exams | Relevant courses at McGill |
| Exam P (Probability) | MATH 323 - Probability |
| Exam FM (Financial Mathematics) | MATH 329 - Theory of Interest |
| Exam MFE (Models for Financial Economics) | MATH 430 – Mathematical Finance |
| Exam MLC (Models for Life Contingencies) - SOA | MATH 540 – Life Actuarial Mathematics |
| Exam S (Statistics and Probabilistic Models) - CAS | MATH 447 – Introduction to Stochastic Processes |
| Exam C (Construction and Evaluation of Actuarial Models) | MATH 541 – Nonlife Actuarial Models |
For information on the registration deadlines and exam dates, see
https://www.soa.org/Education/Exam-Req/Exam-Day-Info/edu-cbt-test-schedu...
Validation by Educational Experience (VEE)
Students will also be able to complete the VEE (Validation by Educational Experience) in Applied Statistical Methods, Corporate Finance and Economics with a good combination of courses in Probability and Statistics, Management and Economics. For the complete list of approved VEE courses at McGill, go to
https://www.soa.org/Education/Exam-Req/Instructions-for-VEE-Directory.aspx
→Search VEE Directory →Select Country: Canada, State/Province Quebec → McGill University
There are three topics of VEEs for the SOA path: Applied Statistical Methods, Economics, and Corporate Finance.
The CAS path only requires Economics and Corporate Finance for VEEs.
McGill Student’s Actuarial Association
The McGill Students' Actuarial Association (MSAA) is a nascent SSMU student club looking to boost support for aspiring actuaries at McGill. MSAA serves as a liaison between actuarial students and their goals, provides members with information on actuarial science to allow them to break into the actuarial world.
Visit the MSAA Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mcgill.msaa/
Useful Links
- Society of Actuaries website: https://www.soa.org/
- Casualty Actuarial Society website: http://www.casact.org/
- Be an Actuary website: http://www.beanactuary.org/
- Actuarial Students National Association: http://www.anea-asna.ca