Recently, a student about to start first year who wanted to become an actuary, was seriously concerned as to whether to accept an offer of direct entry to an insurance company from his Leaving Certificate or to do a degree first. We advised the degree and to keep his options open. He has since graduated and gone on to a well paid position in the Financial Analysis department of a London bank. Should he decide this is not for him, he still has the option of studying to be an actuary but with a mathematical maturity that his earlier starting colleagues will never attain. He is also considering obtaining a postgraduate qualification in applied statistics.
Careers chosen by mathematicians fall into three categories.
Those directly related to mathematics. These include all forms of teaching and academic work, and a variety of positions in industry or the Civil Service which involve using the mathematical, statistical, and computing knowledge they have acquired. Increasingly this includes positions in information technology and in finance where deep mathematical results are used and even derived. It is widely accepted that for such careers the path should be mathematics in depth first and then finance, information technology, or other applications. Those that involve thinking logically and quantitatively.