Actuarial Science (BS) (2024)

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the actuarial field is one of the fastest growing professions, consistently rated as one of the top five jobs in the U.S. based on income, job stability, demand and other factors. The actuarial field is unique, as it integrates mathematics, statistics, economics and finance, which gives actuaries a wide range of job opportunities. Actuaries must have good communication skills, high ethical standards and extensive academic training. Because their judgment is heavily relied upon, actuaries’ career paths often lead to upper management and executive positions. The Actuarial Sciences B.S. degree prepares students for work in the field and the professional examinations required. The two testing bodies in North America are the Society of Actuaries (SOA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). Many students complete one or more of these exams while completing this degree, and most students are able to obtain an Associateship within three to five years after graduation.

Degree Requirements

• Students who change degree programs and select this major must adopt the most current catalog.
• Departmental Residency Requirement: at least 15 semester hours of regularly scheduled 3000-4000 level courses must be taken from the UCF Statistics and Data Science Department.
• Students must earn at least a "C" (2.0) in each course with an STA prefix.
• Students must achieve a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA in all computer science and mathematics courses satisfying major requirements.
• Students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all courses satisfying major requirements.
• Co-op or internship credit cannot be used in this major without prior approval.
• Students should consult with a departmental advisor.
• All prerequisites of courses taught within the College of Sciences will be enforced.
• Courses designated in 1 (General Education Program) are generally spread over 4 years, and those designated in 2 (Common Program Prerequisites) are usually completed in the first 60 hours.
• All statistics courses except the following, and those protected by Florida Common Course Numbering must be taken from, or approved by the Statistics and Data Science Department at UCF.
  • STA 2023 - Statistical Methods I
  • STA 3032 - Probability and Statistics for Engineers

Degree Requirements

Core Requirements: Basic

3 Total Credits

• Complete all of the following
  • In addition to completing all of the required GEP (ECO2013, MAC2311C, STA2023) and CPP (COP3223C, ECO2023, MAC2312, MAC2313) courses,
  • Complete the following:
    • ACG2021 - Principles of Financial Accounting (3)

Core Requirements: Advanced

49 Total Credits

• Complete the following:
  • COT4500 - Numerical Calculus (3)
  • ENC3241 - Writing for the Technical Professional (3)
  • FIN3403 - Business Finance (3)
  • MAS3105 - Matrix and Linear Algebra (4)
  • STA4130 - Life Contingencies I (3)
  • STA4131 - Life Contingencies II (3)
  • STA4133 - Loss Models I (3)
  • STA4135 - Loss Models II (3)
  • STA4163 - Statistical Methods II (3)
  • STA4164 - Statistical Methods III (3)
  • STA4183 - Theory of Interest (3)
  • STA4184 - Introduction to Derivative Markets (3)
  • STA4321 - Statistical Theory I (3)
  • STA4322 - Statistical Theory II (3)
  • STA4852 - Applied Time Series (3)
  • STA4241 - Statistical Learning (3)

Restrictive Electives

6 Total Credits

• Complete all of the following
  • Earn at least 6 credits from the following types of courses: Select from upper division or graduate (5000 level) statistics, mathematics, or computer science courses (STA or ISC prefix). Selected courses in business may be used only with prior approval by the Department of Statistics.
  • The following courses cannot be used to satisfy this requirement: MHF 4404 - History of Mathematics Any course with the MAE prefix

Grand Total Credits: 58

Total Undergraduate Credit Hours Required: 120

Electives (9 Credit Hours)

• To fulfill the 120 hours required of this degree, select primarily from upper level courses. We provide a non-exhaustive suggested list of courses below. Please note that students can select elective courses out of the suggested list, with departmental advisor’s approval. May be outside of the department.
  • STA4186 – Theory of Derivative Pricing (3)
  • STA4364 – Statistical Foundations of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence I (3)
  • STA4365 – Statistical Foundations of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence II (3)
  • STA4504 – Categorical Data Analysis (3)
  • STA4724 – Big Data Analytics Methods (3)
  • STA4345 – Applied Bayesian Statistics (3)

Foreign Language Requirements

Graduation

• None

Departmental Exit Requirements

• Students must earn at least a "C" (2.0) in each course with a STA prefix.
• Students must achieve a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA in all computer science and mathematics courses satisfying major requirements.
• Students need to take SOA P exam (Probability) or SOA FM exam (Financial Mathematics) and report the score to the department. Only one exam needed as the exit requirement.
• Students must achieve a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0 in all courses satisfying major requirements.

University Minimum Exit Requirements

• A 2.0 UCF GPA
• 60 semester hours earned after CLEP awarded
• 42 semester hours of upper division credit completed
• 30 of the last 39 hours of course work must be completed in residency at UCF.
• A maximum of 45 hours of extension, correspondence, CLEP, Credit by Exam, and Armed Forces credits permitted.
• Complete the General Education Program, the Gordon Rule, and nine hours of Summer credit.

Honors In Major

• Application and admissions through The Burnett Honors College and department. More information about Honors in the Major can be found at https://honors.ucf.edu/research/.

Related Programs

• Mathematics (B.S.)
• Secondary Education, Mathematics Education Track (B.S.)
• Statistics (B.S.)

• Actuarial Science Minor
• Statistics Minor
• Mathematics Minor

Advising Notes

• It is the student's responsibility to ensure they have satisfied course prerequisites before registering for a class. Students should consult with a department advisor.
• Contact your college advisor in the College of Sciences Advising Services (COSAS) office (CSB 250) for more information about overall progress toward your degree, GEP and other university requirements, academic probation, special problems as well as general academic advising.

Transfer Notes

• Lower division courses do not substitute for upper division courses.
• Courses transferred from private and out-of-state schools must be evaluated for equivalency credit. The student must provide all supporting information.
• Submit your requests for course evaluations at https://sciences.ucf.edu/cosas/ and click on "COS Course Evaluation".
• The following substitutions are acceptable for Common Program Prerequisites if taken as part of the AA course work:
  • Computer Science: any COP programming language course will satisfy the CPP. However, COP 3223C is a prerequisite for Computer Science courses and still may need to be taken.
  • Biology: any 2 laboratory courses for majors with BSC, CHM, or PHY prefixes will satisfy the CPP.
  • Statistics: although any STA 2XXX course will satisfy the CPP, STA 2023 is required in the program's core and will still need to be taken.

Program Academic Learning Compacts

• Program Academic Learning Compacts (student learning outcomes) for undergraduate programs are located at: http://www.oeas.ucf.edu/alc/academic_learning_compacts.htm