Note: This specialization, available to any Bachelor’s degree student at MSU, is administered by the Department of Mathematics.
The Specialization in Actuarial Science, which is administered by the Department of Mathematics within the College of Natural Science, is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in any bachelor’s degree program at Michigan State University. This specialization complements a number of major fields such as mathematics, statistics and probability, finance, and economics. It is intended to prepare students for work in insurance companies, banks, investment firms, government work, hospitals, and business firms where there is a need to weigh the financial consequences of risk. With the approval of the department that administers the student’s degree program, courses that are used to satisfy the requirements for the specialization may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.
Specialization Requirements
The student must complete 7 courses (21 credits) as specified below:
(1)All of the following courses(18 credits):
| Course | Credits | Prerequisites |
| FI 311 Financial Management | 3 | ((ACC 201 & ACC 202) or ACC 230) and STT 441 |
| FI 321 Theory of Investments | 3 | FI 311 |
| FI 379 Advanced Derivatives (D) | 3 | FI 311, Co-requisite FI 321 |
| MTH 360 Theory of Mathematical Interest | 3 | MTH 234 or concurrently |
| STT 441 Probability and Statistics I: Probability | 3 | MTH 234 |
| MTH-STT 455 Actuarial Models | 3 | STT 441 and MTH 360 |
(2)One of the following courses(3 credits):
| Course | Credits | Prerequisites |
| MTH 457 Introduction to Financial Mathematics | 3 | MTH 309 and (MTH 235 or MTH 340) and (STT 441 or STT 351) |
| STT 442 Probability and Statistics II: Statistics | 3 | STT 441 and (MTH 314 or MTH 309) |
Upon completion of the requirements for the Specialization in Actuarial Science, the students should contact the Undergraduate Director of the Department of Mathematics and request certification for the completion of the specialization. After the certification is approved by the Undergraduate Director of the Department of Mathematics and the Associate Dean of the College of Natural Science, the Office of the Registrar will enter on the student’s academic record the name of the specialization and the date that it was completed. This certification will appear on the student’s transcript.
Course prerequisites can be found in the University catalog of course descriptions, which can be accessed from Registrar's website at www.reg.msu.edu
MTH 360 or STT 441 may be used as a 300 level MTH elective for the major in Mathematics or Computational Mathematics.
MTH-STT 455 may be used as a 400 level MTH elective, one of the four required 400 level courses in Mathematics major.
NOTE: A current list of MSU courses qualifying for Validation by Educational Experience (VEE) may be found by going to the Society of Actuaries website at SOA.org.