Cornell University Registrar

Program Description

An actuary is a business professional who analyzes the financial consequences of risk. In the Actuarial Science minor, students will learn mathematics, statistics, and financial theory essential to study uncertain future events, especially those of concern to insurance in health, life, and properties, as well as how to mitigate them.

Questions about the minor should be directed to: Julia Aquadro, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Advising.

Academic Standards

Grade Requirements

All qualifying courses must be taken at Cornell for a letter grade. Grades of S/U or SX/UX will not be accepted.

Each course must be completed with a grade of C or better to count toward the minor. 

Minor Declaration Information

Complete the Actuarial Science Minor application once you are enrolled in or have completed the final courses that you need for the minor.

Submission Deadlines 

If graduating in May or August, the form is due by May 31. If graduating in December, the form is due by December 31. Late submissions will not be accepted.

Program Information

• Minimum Credits for Minor: 15

Minor Requirements

Five courses are required in total to complete the minor. This includes two foundational required courses and three electives.

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Required Courses
STSCI 3090	Financial Math for Actuarial Science	4
Select one of the following:		4
ECON 3110	Applied Probability and Statistics
ECON 3130	Probability and Statistics
MATH 4710	Basic Probability
ORIE 3500	Eng Probability and Statistics: Modeling and Data Science II
STSCI 3080	Probability Models and Inference
Electives 1
Select at least three electives from the following list:		12
AEM 4210	Futures, Options and Financial Derivatives
or HADM 3230	Introduction to Investments
or AEM 4670	Investments
CS 3780	Introduction to Machine Learning
STSCI 3740	Data Mining and Machine Learning
STSCI 4090	Theory of Statistics
STSCI 4270	Introduction to Survival Analysis and Loss Models
STSCI 4550	Applied Time Series Analysis
STSCI 4750	Understanding Machine Learning
ORIE 3741	Learning with Big Messy Data
ORIE 4630	Operations Research Tools for Financial Engineering

¹

Biometry and Statistics or Statistical Science majors cannot overlap their three minor electives and STSCI 3090 Financial Math for Actuarial Science with major requirements. Probability courses can be double counted.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be able to evaluate risk.
• Students will learn methods to reduce the likelihood and decrease the impact of adverse events that do occur.
• Students will learn material to prepare for the first five exams administered by actuarial societies, such as Society of Actuaries (SOA) or Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). The minor will teach courses that map the SOA/CAS syllabus to the course contents so that students are well-equipped to take the first five exams during college or after graduation.