<p>I chose math/econ as first major and stat as the alternative. Did you do Applied Science too? I actually have 3 pre-reqs left for the spring semester so I’m pretty worried. Possibly taking 3 or 4 math classes next semester :(</p>
<p>I’m not pessimistic about those stats though. It does have upward trend, but maybe that’s the good thing. I notice a trend that if in the previous year there’s a lot of students enrolled, they tend to admit more students for the coming year. It seems 2014 UCLA admit fewer ppl but it also means there will be more spaces for us next year:)
And, transfer students from 2012, which had the highest admission rate in 3 consequence years, will graduate! Sooooo, hopefully they will recruit more!</p>
<p>@Dagoberto I thought stats under math department? Will they have restriction for majors under same department? which major (math/econ vs stats) do you think be more useful? which major does UCLA offer better program?</p>
<p>I decided to apply to stats instead. No idea if it’s safer to get in with stats or math at this point. I just kind of went off the acceptance rate and gpa. Guess this’ll be an interesting 4 months or so… :P</p>
<p>@81Mamba For UCLA’s applied math, yes I’ll be done by this fall, so in the spring I’m basically taking a lot of misc classes to finish up IGETC. However, I’m sure you’re fine if you’ll be done by Spring since math isn’t impacted anyway (you can even probably miss up to 1-2 pre-reqs and be fine assuming you have a good GPA, but math doesn’t have as many pre-reqs as some of the other majors anyway).</p>
<p>@bizmlover I did Applied Math as first major and Applied Science for my alternative. And wow, 3-4 math classes?! Which courses do you still need? (Lin. Algebra/Diff Equations/more?)</p>
<p>@Bearly what if I have a so-so GPA? will pre-reqs matter? I just changed my major so still need to take Calculus 3, linear, and diff. eqt for math/econ, and intro stats for stats, so 4 total !!! With so many pre-reqs missing, I already see my rejection :’(</p>
<p>@CSB111 Do you have any thought about the career track for the actuarial math? It’s a good major though but the actuary is really tough major. I heard ppl with 2 exams passed still have trouble finding a job, not consider those exams are killers. </p>
<p>Well I can’t comment specifically because I’m not going to be an Actuary, but I did see a lot of listing for summer internships in the UCLA job search. A lot of people take the “P” exam, which is supposedly straight forward Stats during their junior year. If you can pass a few exams during your time at UCLA then you should be OK. </p>
<p>The major should prepare you adequately though for an internship/job. It is mostly Stats classes, the only pure math classes you have to take are 115A/131A and then a few econ/accounting classes. I’d assume you can make any of the Math majors or the Stats major work the way you want them too. </p>
<p>@bizmlover wow that’s a lot! Have you considered doing another year instead and spreading it out more evenly? Either way, if you can handle it, I think for the most part the general consensus is that as long as you finish them by spring (are enrolled and have them in-progress), that should be ok, especially since math isn’t impacted anyway. I’m not entirely sure how much having 3 or more pre-reqs though, would have been a good question to ask a UC rep (or someone else who is experienced with this?)</p>
<p>Also, in the past I’ve been considering actuary myself and did a little research on the career (going on actuarialoutpost, speaking with a few other actuaries) and yeah, 2-3 passed exams is like the minimum required for an entry-level job. However, I’ve also heard that experience matters a lot to employers hiring actuaries, so someone with 2 exams + an internship is probably more likely to land a job than someone with 3 exams and no experience.</p>
<p>And like CSB111 said, if you can knock off a few exams in college, that would be ideal too since you want to start looking for internships or jobs by the time you graduate either way. For me, I’m still not entirely sure if actuary is what I want to go into, I have to see what their day-to-day work and general worklife is like before I have my mind set on it. It does look promising in the long-run though, since no matter where I go I hear actuary is both a very well-paid and low stress job. We’ll see</p>
<p>The Statistics Department is independent from the Mathematics (they broke off a few decades ago)… missing a few prerequisites should not be the end of the world… however I had all my prerequisites completed (including that Discrete Math class) so I think that they were willing to take my lower GPA (I got in 2012 with a 3.3)</p>
<p>I dont know about what better Stats vs Math/Econ… I think both majors are good and you gotta do what you find interesting… however once at UCLA, a lot of people struggle with Math 131A (Real Analysis)… at UCLA this is the class that separates the Men from the Boys… the people that cant pass this class end up switching majors (hence the reason the math dept only accept as ‘pre’ major’) </p>
<p>I was accepted as a transfer last year. Financial Actuarial Math at UCLA is designed to help people pass the preliminary exams. And as far as I know, actuaries don’t deal with Financial Engineering. About the difficulty, it is nowhere as hard as the pure math but is still one of the tough majors at UCLA. </p>
<p>@CSB111 when you were searching for internship, did they require more than one exam</p>
<p>Given your points, if I do some math or statistics major and take same classes designed for actuary major, will it be adequate enough to study for the exams? </p>
<p>@Bearly I think about it but the thought of staying in CC for 4 years just freak me out Idk how hard it is, but I’m doing calculus 2, and it’s fairly easy for me to get A. Do you have any experience with calculus 3/linear/ dif. equt? How much harder they gonna be? </p>
<p>I read same posts in that forum and they seemed to be so pessimist about the major. Is it because I only read negative things :? Also, I talked w my classmate few times, she was senior actuary. She actually said actuary track is shrinking because one health insurance is closed (obama care), and two others ( i forget what they are) are merged into each other and from what i heard it’s not stress job lol . it’s really discouraging, but one thing I have to agree it’s very well-paid job </p>
<p>@Dagoberto wow, i can’t imagine how hard Math 131A is. or is it just hard for the transfer becos lower level in uc is harder than CC?
My school doesn’t have equivalent discrete math when I looked at assist.org. I heard upper level requires background from discrete math, so i’m very nervous. My school does have some discrete math, but idk if they’re similar? should I just take whatever so at least I can have something? </p>
<p>@Actua90 how many exams do you think UCLA can prepare for ? I imagine UCLA math should be hard since they get so high ranking in math.</p>
<p>@bizmlover I guess I shouldn’t be one to talk as this fall I took both Calc 3 and Linear Algebra & Differential Equations (just two math classes, at my college Lin. Alg and DEs are rolled into one course). I would say that if you’re doing well in Calc 2, Calc 3 shouldn’t be a problem. And differential equations are very straightforward, mostly calc-based so again you should be fine for Diff. Eqs if you’re doing fine in Calc 2.</p>
<p>For me linear algebra was a little tougher because it’s not something I was used to. It’s a lot more abstract and conceptual, for instance having to deal with proofs. Unlike Calc or Diff. Eqs it isn’t as straightforward where you learn techniques and do numerical problems, there’s some definition learning and if you want to do well you just have to do a lot of problems to get more experience/exposure.</p>
<p>I luckily pulled an A for both courses, and in hindsight I guess they weren’t too bad. It’s probably just because linear algebra is more abstract, and the last several years of math for most of us have been more straightforward and quantitative (Algebra, Pre-Calc, Calc), so dealing with more abstract math is something we aren’t used to. I think you will be fine though if you’re a math-y person either way and have good study habits</p>
<p>And on the topic of actuaries, yikes, that does sound discouraging to hear because just a few years ago I thought actuary was in high demand and a growing career. I guess this gives me more of a reason to do math or math/econ or stats and maybe consider grad school rather than jumping into actuarial work. We’ll have to see though :E</p>
<p>@bizmlover I have no clue. I was just saying I saw a lot of internship opportunities. After taking Stats this quarter at UCLA, I quickly decided I have no aptitude or interest in becoming an actuary. </p>
<p>thanks for your advice @Bearly I dn’t like abstract math either so hopefully I can survive next semester…
You said you applied for math/applied science too. I recently checked the plan but it seems very unclear. Any thought? </p>
<p>@CSB111 lol was it because that class was hard/boring or just little opportunities in that field ?</p>
<p>@bizmlover yeah I’m not sure how the prereqs work for math/applied science since there are different ones depending on which focus you choose. I put it as alternative just to put something there, but I don’t think it would matter either way because I’m not in TAP so UCLA doesn’t even consider the alternative major. I’m guessing generally it’s the same stuff you need for regular math, just if you want to go into biological mathematics then you do some life sciences too, etc etc.</p>
@bizmlover: All 5 prelims. Math 170AB for P, 172A for FM, 174A for MFE, 173AB for C and 172BC for MLC.
Math at UCLA is pretty hard but it is not impossible to do well. My first quarter as a transfer, I took Math 115a, 172a, Econ 11 and finished with a solid 4.0
Idk how hard it is, but I’m doing calculus 2, and it’s fairly easy for me to get A. Do you have any experience with calculus 3/linear/ dif. equt? How much harder they gonna be? </p>
and from what i heard it’s not stress job lol . it’s really discouraging, but one thing I have to agree it’s very well-paid job </p>