Undergraduate Program (B.S.)
The insurance and risk
management concentration examines the techniques useful to corporations,
organizations and individuals in minimizing the potential financial losses
arising from their exposure to risk. these techniques range from
traditional insurance products to current advances in corporate and insurer
risk management (e.g., risk financing and retention, non-insurance risk
transfer, catastrophe derivatives). The concentration also encompasses
such topics as risk and insurance regulation, global risk management, estate
planning, and related public policy initiatives. students graduating
with this concentration have taken positions with investment banks,
re-insurers, accounting firms, insurance brokerage firms, consulting firms,
insurance companies and corporate risk management departments.
The Department also offers a concentration in actuarial science. This
program provides an intriguing blend of mathematics and business
management for students with a strong mathematics aptitude.
Ideally, students graduating from Wharton with an actuarial science
concentration
will be prepared to pass or will have passed many of the professional
examinations leading to Associateship status given by the
Society of Actuaries or the Casualty Actuarial Society. Graduates
from
the University of Pennsylvania with an actuarial science concentration have
become a part of one of the most challenging
and highly paid business careers, and job opportunities for Wharton's
graduates are consistently superior. The Department will reimburse
students' exam fees.
In addition, the Department has created a University Minor in
Actuarial Mathematics, administered jointly by the Undergraduate Chairs
of the Insurance and Risk Management Department and the Mathematics
Department. Graduates from the University of Pennsylvania with an
Actuarial Mathematics Minor are expected to be in great demand by the
insurance and banking sector. The demand for qualified actuaries far
exceeds the supply, a trend that the U.S. Department of Labor predicts
will continue into the foreseeable future. To enroll in the University Minor in Actuarial
Mathematics, Wharton students should visit the Insurance and Risk Management
Department, and College students should visit the Mathematics Department.
Course Requirements - Insurance and Risk Management Concentration
Prerequisite: INSR 205 - Risk Management
Students must select four courses in the following list. At least three of these courses must be INSR courses.
| INSR 210 | - Financial Strategies and Analysis: Insurance |
| INSR 221 | - Employee Benefit Plan Design and Financing |
| INSR 222 | - Business Insurance and Estate Planning |
| INSR 232 | - Risk Management and Treatment |
| INSR 251 | - Fundamentals of Actuarial Science I |
| INSR 811/812 | - Risk and Crisis Management / Markets for Pure Risks |
| HCMG 202 | - Economics and Financing of Health Care |
| FNCE 205 | - Investment Management |
| FNCE 206 | - Financial Derivatives |
| FNCE 219 | - International Markets |
| OPIM 220 | - Introduction to Operations Management |
| OPIM 261 | - Risk Analysis and Environmental Management |
| OPIM 290 | - Decision Processes |
The Society of Actuaries (SoA)
will again change its examinations system in 2007. To become an Associate of
the SoA, a candidate must
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The Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) has a different examinations system. Exam 1, 2, and 4 of the CAS are exams P, FM, and C are the same for both actuarial societies. The CAS will accept SoA exam M as a replacement of CAS exam 3. The SoA does not accept CAS exam 3.
The concentration in actuarial science consists of four courses - three required and one elective.
Required Courses (3 cu):
| INSR 251 | - Fundamentals of Actuarial Science I |
| INSR 252 | - Fundamentals of Actuarial Science II | INSR 260 | - Applied Statistical Methods for Actuaries (formerly INSR 250) |
Electives: choose one of the following (1 cu):
| INSR 210 | - Financial Strategies and Analysis: Insurance |
| INSR 221 | - Employee Benefit Plan Design and Financing |
| INSR 230 | - Managing Pure Risks: Operations and Markets |
| INSR 253 | - Actuarial Statistics |
Students concentrating in actuarial science should have taken two calculus and two statistics classes before enrolling in their first actuarial class. Statistics 430-431 is recommended in lieu of Statistics 101-102.
The university minor in actuarial mathematics consists of eight courses - seven required and one additional course.
Required Courses (7 cu):
| MATH 240 | - Calculus, Part III |
| MATH 320 | - Computer Methods in Mathematical Science I or MATH 530 - Mathematics of Finance |
| STAT 430 | - Probability |
| STAT 431 | - Mathematical Statistics | INSR 251 | - Fundamentals of Actuarial Science I |
| INSR 252 | - Fundamentals of Actuarial Science II | INSR 260 | - Applied Statistical Methods for Actuaries (formerly INSR 250) |
Additional Course: choose one of the following (1 cu):
| INSR 253 | - Actuarial Statistics (recommended) |
| STAT 202 | - Intermediate Statistics |
| INSR 220 | - Life and Health Insurance Company Management and Policy |
| INSR 221 | - Employee Benefit Plan Design and Financing |
| INSR 230 | - Managing Pure Risks: Operations and Markets |
Deviations from the above requirements must be approved by the Chairperson of the Insurance and Risk Management Department. Changes in the mathematics requirements of the University Minor in Actuarial Mathematics must be approved by the Undergraduate Chairperson of the Mathematics Department.