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Sponsored by the Office of the Provost
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2021-2022

Financial Technology

School of Business

Concentration(s):
Actuarial Science
Program description

The Actuarial Science program prepares students for careers as actuaries. It helps them learn material that is in professional examinations administered by the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society. As a VCU graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Financial Technology with a concentration in actuarial science, students will enter a specialized career field ranked among the highest in the United States for job satisfaction, and opportunities for advancement—as well as starting salary.


Students will complete the core business curriculum, which includes a combination of accounting, economics, finance, math, statistics, and other business courses. Courses in our program are approved by the Society of Actuaries and the Casualty Actuarial Society as satisfying Validation by Education Experience (VEE) requirements.

Career opportunities

Actuaries are problem solvers with expertise in understanding and managing financial risk. They use historical information and models to predict the future. Actuarial scientists may specialize in life and health (risk of illness, disability, or death), pensions (develop and analyze retirement programs), or property and casualty (personal property risks and risks associated with business).

 

Alumni find employment in such diverse organizations as insurance companies, consulting companies, municipal and state government, and other areas where quantifying risk is needed (e.g. management consultants and investment firms.


The early career path of an actuary is to complete one or more paid summer internship while in college, to begin the credentialing process while in college, to find a full-time job after actuarial degree, and to finish the credentialing process while being paid to work.

Change of major requirements

Students must place into or have completed MATH 200 and must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5. 

Bachelor-level job titles
  • Actuarial Analyst
  • Actuarial Data Analyst
  • Actuarial Software Developer
Professional associations and resources
Degree requirements in Bulletin
Plan of study in Bulletin
Requirements
Highest level of math required
  • MATH 307
Science required
  • Natural Sciences requirement only
Foreign language requirements
  • No
Additional tuition/fees
  • Yes
GPA requirements (to progress/graduate in the major)
  • 2.5 to declare and progress, 2.5 to graduate

Contact information

Department name:
Department of Finance, Insurance and Real Estate
Building/room location:
Snead Hall, Room B4163
Phone:
(804) 828-1620
Email:
usib@vcu.edu
https://business.vcu.edu/academics/finance-insurance-and-real-estate/bs-in-financial-technology/
Campus (where 75% of courses are taken):
Monroe Park
Major map compass icon
Major map

Explore
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING
GET CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
DEVELOP CULTURAL AGILITY
EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS
PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE

Experience
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING
  • Schedule an appointment with your advisor to explore minors, certificates, and plan your required REAL experience.
  • Get familiar with the research process with the VCU Libraries Research Basics Guide.
  • Talk to professors about your research interests, electives, and strategies for success in your classes.
  • Explore innovation and business/non-profit creation classes with the da Vinci Center.
  • Meet with Sang Ahn to explore course planning.
  • Take FIRE 319 in fall and FIRE 320 in spring.
GET CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
DEVELOP CULTURAL AGILITY
  • Make friends with diverse perspectives and join a cultural or identity-related student organization.
  • Explore social issues, develop cultural competency skills, and engage with faculty through iExcel pop-up courses.
  • Investigate globally-focused courses in your major by pursuing language coursework or setting language proficiency goals with advisors and faculty.
  • Apply for the Critical Languages Scholarship.
  • Complete a career exploration appointment with Business Career Services to learn about the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to find work in a multinational company.
  • Investigate spending a summer abroad with the International Consulting Program (ICP).
EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS
  • Complete a gap analysis with your career advisor to identify key skills required for your professional field.
  • Seek out practical experience through independent skill-building, internships, shadowing, or part-time work.
  • Explore global career options with a career advisor to set goals for getting your dream job.
  • Organize examples of your academic and professional experiences, accomplishments, and reflections in an ePortfolio.
  • Attend career and internship fairs and other professional development events.
  • Pursue a digital badge to highlight the knowledge, skills, and experiences employers and graduate schools value.
  • Internship recruitment season for Financial Technology is the fall of your junior year so be sure to have your resume reviewed by Business Career Services before the end of the summer.
  • Take a free CliftonStrengths assessment with the Office of Student Engagement to learn your strengths and how to apply them academically and professionally.
PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
  • Connect with alumni on VCULink for career advice, industry contacts, and meaningful professional relationships.
  • Conduct informational interviews or shadow someone in a field of professional interest.
  • Ask a faculty or staff member to be your academic and professional mentor and to provide future letters of recommendation.
  • Meet with a coach at The Money Spot to set financial goals, understand student loans, and create spending plans.
  • Conduct three informational interviews on VCU Bizconnect to expand your network and gain more knowledge into potential career paths.
  • Talk to Business Career Services about applying to externship opportunities specifically for second-year students.

Experience
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING
  • See your academic and career advisors to discuss graduation progress and career planning.
  • Enhance your business, software, technology, and creative skills using LinkedIn Learning.
  • Consider taking additional object-oriented programming classes if pursuing a quantitative development role.
  • Sit for the second actuarial exam before starting your 4th year.
GET CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
DEVELOP CULTURAL AGILITY
  • Build language proficiency and cultural competence by carrying out your plans for study abroad, internships, and service-learning.
  • Get required REAL experience and effect community change by using iExcel’s Active Citizen’s Toolkit to vote and volunteer.
  • Explore new cultures at one of Richmond’s wide array of festivals.
  • Prepare for future work on multidisciplinary and multicultural teams by showcasing your interpersonal skills on your resume.
  • Apply for a Chartered Financial Exam (CFA) scholarship to help pay for your licensure and then offset those savings toward a semester abroad.
  • Learn about global trends in risk management and quantitative investing in the Student Managed Investment Portfolio program (SMIP).
EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS
  • Take advantage of mock interview opportunities through InterviewStream or meeting with a career advisor.
  • Update your ePortfolio.
  • Apply for the Graduate School Mentorship Program to learn more about graduate school and the graduate student experience.
  • Attend alumni panel events like Black in Business, First 100 Days, or Women in Business to hear from business professionals who were once in your shoes.
  • Complete practice interviews with a career coach in Business Career Services ahead of your internship interviews in actuarial- and analytics-focused fields.
PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
  • Make a plan with your academic, career, and faculty advisors for applying to graduate school or land a micro-internship.
  • Study for and complete any standardized exams required for graduate school the summer before senior year. 
  • Prepare for job offer negotiation by researching salaries, benefits, and other opportunities for flexibility.
  • Sign up for the Connect Mentoring program on VCU Bizconnect and get matched 1:1 with a business mentor for the academic year.
  • Talk to advisors, faculty, and Business Career Services about graduate school versus a job.

Excel
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING
  • Schedule an appointment with your academic advisor the semester before you graduate to ensure that all graduation requirements will be met.
  • Choose REAL electives to diversify your skillset and round out your degree.
  • Continue meeting with Professor Sang Ahn to discuss career paths.
  • Sit for an actuarial exam before starting the fourth year.
GET CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY
DEVELOP CULTURAL AGILITY
  • Carry out globally-oriented research projects with multilingual faculty and international partners.
  • Read scholarly articles about diversity in your field.
  • Master your answers to interview questions about your experience working with diverse populations.
  • Plan for how you will grow your cultural agility after graduation.
  • Attend meetings of professional organizations like the Risk Management Association (RMA) and seek out presentations by internationally-renowned professionals in the field.
  • Gather all you’ve learned about global issues in the finance sector, reflect on how you've applied this knowledge through experiential learning, and discuss both with current or potential mentors.
EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS
  • Meet with your academic or professional mentor and identify examples of your experiential learning to share with employers.
  • Publish your original research in Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creativity.
  • Consider becoming an educator through programs like RTR, which prepare graduates from a variety of majors to become teachers in high-need schools.
  • By serving as a mentoring liaison to international students through the Connect Mentoring program, develop your leadership skills as you recruit, educate, and train fellow School of Business majors.
PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
  • Prepare for graduation by making a plan to complete licensing exams, applications, and self-marketing activities.
  • Single out prospective employers and create a job or graduate school search strategy at least 8 months before graduation.
  • Have a personal statement or cover letter reviewed by Career Services. 
  • Connect with the Office of VCU Alumni Relations at Grad Fair, Grad Bash, and the VCULink Industry Network or alumni chapter.
  • Gain your second 1:1 mentor through the Connect Mentoring program on VCU Bizconnect.
  • Prepare for and pass your second actuarial exam.
Visit majormaps.vcu.edu for the online version with links.
Sponsored by the Office of the Provost
Major map compass icon
2021-2022

Financial Technology

School of Business

Concentration(s):
Actuarial Science
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING GET CONNECTED WITH YOUR COMMUNITY DEVELOP CULTURAL AGILITY EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
Explore Year 1
Experience Year 2
  • Schedule an appointment with your advisor to explore minors, certificates, and plan your required REAL experience.
  • Get familiar with the research process with the VCU Libraries Research Basics Guide.
  • Talk to professors about your research interests, electives, and strategies for success in your classes.
  • Explore innovation and business/non-profit creation classes with the da Vinci Center.
  • Meet with Sang Ahn to explore course planning.
  • Take FIRE 319 in fall and FIRE 320 in spring.
  • Make friends with diverse perspectives and join a cultural or identity-related student organization.
  • Explore social issues, develop cultural competency skills, and engage with faculty through iExcel pop-up courses.
  • Investigate globally-focused courses in your major by pursuing language coursework or setting language proficiency goals with advisors and faculty.
  • Apply for the Critical Languages Scholarship.
  • Complete a career exploration appointment with Business Career Services to learn about the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to find work in a multinational company.
  • Investigate spending a summer abroad with the International Consulting Program (ICP).
  • Complete a gap analysis with your career advisor to identify key skills required for your professional field.
  • Seek out practical experience through independent skill-building, internships, shadowing, or part-time work.
  • Explore global career options with a career advisor to set goals for getting your dream job.
  • Organize examples of your academic and professional experiences, accomplishments, and reflections in an ePortfolio.
  • Attend career and internship fairs and other professional development events.
  • Pursue a digital badge to highlight the knowledge, skills, and experiences employers and graduate schools value.
  • Internship recruitment season for Financial Technology is the fall of your junior year so be sure to have your resume reviewed by Business Career Services before the end of the summer.
  • Take a free CliftonStrengths assessment with the Office of Student Engagement to learn your strengths and how to apply them academically and professionally.
  • Connect with alumni on VCULink for career advice, industry contacts, and meaningful professional relationships.
  • Conduct informational interviews or shadow someone in a field of professional interest.
  • Ask a faculty or staff member to be your academic and professional mentor and to provide future letters of recommendation.
  • Meet with a coach at The Money Spot to set financial goals, understand student loans, and create spending plans.
  • Conduct three informational interviews on VCU Bizconnect to expand your network and gain more knowledge into potential career paths.
  • Talk to Business Career Services about applying to externship opportunities specifically for second-year students.
Year 3
  • See your academic and career advisors to discuss graduation progress and career planning.
  • Enhance your business, software, technology, and creative skills using LinkedIn Learning.
  • Consider taking additional object-oriented programming classes if pursuing a quantitative development role.
  • Sit for the second actuarial exam before starting your 4th year.
  • Build language proficiency and cultural competence by carrying out your plans for study abroad, internships, and service-learning.
  • Get required REAL experience and effect community change by using iExcel’s Active Citizen’s Toolkit to vote and volunteer.
  • Explore new cultures at one of Richmond’s wide array of festivals.
  • Prepare for future work on multidisciplinary and multicultural teams by showcasing your interpersonal skills on your resume.
  • Apply for a Chartered Financial Exam (CFA) scholarship to help pay for your licensure and then offset those savings toward a semester abroad.
  • Learn about global trends in risk management and quantitative investing in the Student Managed Investment Portfolio program (SMIP).
  • Take advantage of mock interview opportunities through InterviewStream or meeting with a career advisor.
  • Update your ePortfolio.
  • Apply for the Graduate School Mentorship Program to learn more about graduate school and the graduate student experience.
  • Attend alumni panel events like Black in Business, First 100 Days, or Women in Business to hear from business professionals who were once in your shoes.
  • Complete practice interviews with a career coach in Business Career Services ahead of your internship interviews in actuarial- and analytics-focused fields.
  • Make a plan with your academic, career, and faculty advisors for applying to graduate school or land a micro-internship.
  • Study for and complete any standardized exams required for graduate school the summer before senior year. 
  • Prepare for job offer negotiation by researching salaries, benefits, and other opportunities for flexibility.
  • Sign up for the Connect Mentoring program on VCU Bizconnect and get matched 1:1 with a business mentor for the academic year.
  • Talk to advisors, faculty, and Business Career Services about graduate school versus a job.
Excel Year 4
  • Schedule an appointment with your academic advisor the semester before you graduate to ensure that all graduation requirements will be met.
  • Choose REAL electives to diversify your skillset and round out your degree.
  • Continue meeting with Professor Sang Ahn to discuss career paths.
  • Sit for an actuarial exam before starting the fourth year.
  • Carry out globally-oriented research projects with multilingual faculty and international partners.
  • Read scholarly articles about diversity in your field.
  • Master your answers to interview questions about your experience working with diverse populations.
  • Plan for how you will grow your cultural agility after graduation.
  • Attend meetings of professional organizations like the Risk Management Association (RMA) and seek out presentations by internationally-renowned professionals in the field.
  • Gather all you’ve learned about global issues in the finance sector, reflect on how you've applied this knowledge through experiential learning, and discuss both with current or potential mentors.
  • Meet with your academic or professional mentor and identify examples of your experiential learning to share with employers.
  • Publish your original research in Auctus: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creativity.
  • Consider becoming an educator through programs like RTR, which prepare graduates from a variety of majors to become teachers in high-need schools.
  • By serving as a mentoring liaison to international students through the Connect Mentoring program, develop your leadership skills as you recruit, educate, and train fellow School of Business majors.
  • Prepare for graduation by making a plan to complete licensing exams, applications, and self-marketing activities.
  • Single out prospective employers and create a job or graduate school search strategy at least 8 months before graduation.
  • Have a personal statement or cover letter reviewed by Career Services. 
  • Connect with the Office of VCU Alumni Relations at Grad Fair, Grad Bash, and the VCULink Industry Network or alumni chapter.
  • Gain your second 1:1 mentor through the Connect Mentoring program on VCU Bizconnect.
  • Prepare for and pass your second actuarial exam.