Changing from Econ to Risk Management/Actuarial Science at Penn State

College Majors
1

Hi, I’m going to enter Penn State as a freshman this fall. I applied and got in as an econ major but now I realize I don’t want to do that. How hard is it to change majors, specifically to a Risk Management/Actuarial Science major. It is in the Smeal school of business so I am not expecting it to be easy. Also i’ve read that actuaries can actually major in mathematics, statistics, applied mathematics, etc. How hard would it be to transfer into one of those 3 majors??

2

@YourBoyChoi its not that difficult. Since the majors only get decided in the 2nd year, you can call em up or even discuss this with your advisor during NSO.
But I would like to add that you should only take Acturial Science if and only if you are really good in maths

3

@ParNeel hi are you a current student? If we decide in the second year why do we apply as a certain major? My NSO is the day before school so I went ahead and chose the classes for economics based on the recommended academic plans. I also added a math class that was in the recommended academic plan for risk management (actuarial science). Most of the classes overlap but I am missing a foreign language class and a first year seminar. Should I be signing up for classes for my current admitted major or should I sign up for classes based on the major I want to transfer into? I don’t mean to sound rude haha just curious

4

Re: “Why do we apply as a certain major”

To get admitted to the school that major is in. For example, I applied for the engineering school. I am currently an ENGR (basically pre-engineering) major. Had I not been accepted into the engineering school, I might have been accepted as undecided, in DUS.

5

@YourBoyChoi I will be going to Penn State this fall. I suggest you should wait till your NSO . Yes, I know the classes might have filled up already but you can just put them on your watchlist. But let me tell you something. Economics is a very strong major , and I don’t why would you like to switch? You can also minor in a Smeal maor if you would like to ! You shouldn’t be so indecisive