Combined BComm/BSc Program !?

[Team_Mclaren]

I'm currently in facuity of science plenning to switch over to Haskayne to get a bcomm degree in my third year (GPA needed is 3.4). After some reading i see that a Bcomm/Bsc (Actuarial Science) combined degree is offered for 5 years. question is, is there an advantage in taking the combined over just the bcomm? Is it worthy to take an extra year and get a combined degree? and what bcomm major would you suggest? I would assume somewhere along the line of RMIN, finance or finanace, risk management? What about OPMA? is it kinda useless toward actuary?

thx

note: tuition here is not an issue, everything i do in school are paid for. As long as I get the best option out there.

[Gondi Stylez]

I dont really know but my GF's uncle is an actuarist and his BComm is in risk management.. he told me he would recommend it to somebody.. but that is all i know since i didnt understand the rest... hope that helps!

although he live in toronto.. and the the combined degree helped him out there! i can try and get more information for you...

good luck!

[Weapon_R]

Of course its worth it to take an extra year to get a joint degree

[eblend]

I think its worth it for the resume and for your own sense of pride, otherwise just the bcomm is good enough if you ask me. I did a third year transfer to haskayne from sci..and it seems that the only 2 degrees that most places care about around calgary are engg and bcomm

also, are you sure 3.4 is all you need? when i transfered last year (did this whole year as MGIS major), they only accepted 163 transfer students in total with no garanteed gpa. Maybe things have changed, or maybe its less competative now don't know, I had a 3.6 and I got in, but it can be tough so goodluck. Once your in business u will quickly realize whatever you were doing before may not be so important around calgary

[Team_Mclaren]

3.4 is what they told my friend. It's not garanteed of course but yes they lowered it. Thx for the hands up.

more inputs anyone

[Gainsbarre]

If you get into Haskayne I would not recommend concentrating in RMIN. I have taken two RMIN courses as options (RMIN 317 which was the introductory course to insurance/risk management and RMIN 439, which covered life insurance and estate planning). Even though both of the RMIN profs I had were great (Anne Kleffner and Ryan Lee), I didn't really enjoy either course. To me, the course material wasn't rigorous enough, and if you're also taking actuarial science, you'll be bored to tears. RMIN courses are completely devoid of math beyond the grade 6 level and you don't really cover much...they just seem like watered down ACSC courses. They're also apparently going through a transitional phase with the RMIN courses...for example, the calendar description for RMIN 439 only describes about 10% of the course content...the remaining 90% of the course is on estate planning, something that wasn't even touched upon in the course description.

My BComm concentration is in finance and let me tell you...the finance profs are a pretty sad group of people. One that I have this semester is completely (and I mean TOTALLY) aloof, another one that I had last semester snapped at me on several occasions for no reason, another seems to have no knowledge beyond the scope of the elementary text...and good luck finding a prof for FNCE 451 that you can understand. It's a required course for FNCE majors and nobody in the department who has taught it in the past couple of years (Diao, Cottrell, Osakwe, Sick) can seem to teach it effectively.

But hey, good luck getting in. And if they don't accept your application for next year, trust me, you won't be missing out on much.

[eblend]

OPMA is somewhat intersting if you like to get a job in the operations type of environment, like factories and such. I am taking intro opma right now, its not that bad, i just don't do much in there since the class is pretty slack, so i just cram for exams and thats that

[sexualbanana]

Senior OPMA courses involve work with Excel. Nothing terribly difficult, but tedious.

Vince, I thought you were a CPSC major?

[604-Mico]

Im in acsc
and yea like Gainsbarre said....RMIN is nothing more than ACSC without the math....which leaves basically nothing since math is what its all about.

If you want a to be an Actuary, I dont see much use in getting a bcomm degree as it doesnt add much to your resume than doing 3-4 SOA/CAS exams

Besides Im pretty sure all the stats/acsc courses will keep you busy


P.S.
Be sure you know what you're getting into before entering ACSC


Best of luck

[604-Mico]

Im in acsc
and yea like Gainsbarre said....RMIN is nothing more than ACSC without the math....which leaves basically nothing since math is what its all about.

If you want a to be an Actuary, I dont see much use in getting a bcomm degree as it doesnt add much to your resume than doing 3-4 SOA/CAS exams

Besides Im pretty sure all the stats/acsc courses will keep you busy


P.S.
Be sure you know what you're getting into before entering ACSC


Best of luck

[AsianCaucasian]

It's 3.45 Vince. Screw the B.Sc portion and just do a BComm man.

[Team_Mclaren]

thx all..

so does it even matter if i choose a bcomm major that has noth to do with Actuarial Science?I kinda want to take OPMA. I mean, just so I get more options when I come out?

[604-Mico]

my opinion is, take anything but RMIN if you take ACSC

some acsc courses are interrelated partially with bcomm courses

eg. ACSC325 & FNCE317

[thich]

i took RMIN317 last semester... worst mistake eva... concepts were easy - tests were brutal

go for the BComm

[sexualbanana]

You might want to consider something like Business Process Management (BPMA). It's basically a mix of OPMA and MGIS.

[AsianCaucasian]

Why not International business Vince? You already know two languages + you got connections back in HK.

[thich]

it's usually recommended that for International Business you also have another concentration to help back it up, ie. acct or fnce or mktg

[AsianCaucasian]

Originally posted by thich
it's usually recommended that for International Business you also have another concentration to help back it up, ie. acct or fnce or mktg

Really? I didn't know you could do a double concentration with it. I'm currently enrolled in the program...

[604-Mico]

kinda off topic but what exactly is international business?

I was always under the assumption that its basically a general business degree with not much of a concentration