I am currently a high school junior, and I am really interested in the field of Actuarial Science. I did some research, and I found out that not many colleges have an actuarial science program. I had been hoping to attend a more prestigious university, but I found that most of the top-notch universities do not even have an established actuarial science program. I understand that it is possible to become an actuarian without majoring it actuarial science in college. Would it be a better choice for me to attend a top business school and major in Math and Econ/Finance, or something of that sort ( My parents have also been pushing me to pursue accounting, so I was also considering majoring in Accounting ? ), and then just take classes that would help me prepare for the Actuarial Science Exams ? Would that be a better choice than to go to a less prestigious college with an established actuarial science dep. and major in actuarial science?
If not, are there any good colleges that you would recommend for actuarial science?
Temple U in Philadelphia has a top notch actuarial program, urban location easily accessible to internships, and lots of merit money for high stats students.
It doesn’t really matter - either is a good choice. There are lots of very excellent schools that have actuarial science majors, but there are also great opportunities that arise from having attended a more prestigious school.
What you want is a place that will prepare you to take the exams. As a good start, here’s the Society of Actuaries list of university and college actuarial programs:
https://www.soa.org/Education/Resources/actuarial-colleges/actuarial-college-listings-details.aspx
These are programs that prepare you for at least two actuarial exams and have courses that satisfy at least one Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) topic. Those are both relevant to entering the industry. They don’t all have actuarial science majors; for example, you’ll notice that Beloit College is on there, but their listing is through their math department.
There are also many programs and schools not on that list that can prepare you for that career. For example, you may notice that Columbia is listed - but for their MS program in actuarial science, not the BA. However, Columbia has lots of classes in several undergraduate majors (applied math, math, statistics, financial engineering) that can prepare you for the career of an actuary and actually prepares you well for the exams. They discuss it on their math department website.
Statistics with Finance is your best bet.