When students want to join college they are often confused which course to study between Statistics and Actuarial science.Well,it all depends on your passion, how long you want to stay in school and how much you intend to earn after completing training.
Statistics
A degree in Statistics will enable you be a statistician, policy analyst,biostatician,data analyst, database administrator,economist,monitoring and evaluation officer or project manager. To complete the course, you need at least 4 years of college training and at least 1 year of training in statistical tools .
Actuarial science
Actuarial science degree takes at most four years in college but that is not enough to make you an actuary. You need another 3-10 years to complete actuarial professional courses.
The professional papers are offered by the Society of Actuaries and the Institute of Actuaries.
Alternatively you can pursue Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) course to become a Financial Analyst.
The best course between the two courses
It is hard to determine the best course between Actuarial science and Statistics but generally when it comes to salaries,actuares aearn more than statisticians.The gap in their salaries is $500,which is significant.
The average salary for a qualified statistician is $ 3,000 per month across countries while that of statisticians is $2,500 across countries.
But when it comes to workload, statisticians enjoy their work more than actuaries-their work is not more involving. Actuaries are forced to come up with new models which can reduce risks in organizations.
Time of study
Statisticians are not forced to undergo extra training after college but actuaries must study professional courses in order to be competitive in their field.
The only thing needed for statisticians is to study important tools like SPSS,Excel,GIS tools,R and Stata.
In order for a statistician to earn more than an actuary he must at least complete a PhD in statistics but an Actuary does not require even a masters degree once he has pursued professional courses.
Marketability
Actuarial science is more marketable than statistics in many countries in the world. This is because many students fear pursuing professional courses in Actuarial science and opt to study statistics.
Consultancy
Actuarial consultants generally earn more than statistics consultants. But it takes actuaries longer than statisticians to complete a task.
Future of statistics and actuarial science
Any graduate can analyze statistical data but it’s hard for any graduate to come up with models actuaries do.So,studying actuarial science will be more beneficial to you in future than statistics.
Career options
A statistician can be an accountant,policy analyst,market analyst etc-he simply has a wide range of choices but an actuary is limited to his profession.
