FAQ in Actuarial Science and Statistics

You may follow any Calendar that has come out since you have been studying as an undergraduate student at Waterloo. Just fill out a plan modification form and see your advisors. The default is to follow the calendar from the year you started in the Math faculty.

Only students using the 2015/2016 (or later) Calendar are required to complete MTHEL 300. So unless you change your Calendar you won’t have to take the course.

Students who are at least in their 4A term, and have 10 or fewer courses to finish, can request a graduation check by emailing the SAS advisors.  

You can use our program sheets to check which course you need to pass. 

Students in co-op sequence B and D need to be careful because they end with 4A and 4B both in winter. In order to complete all the required ACTSC courses in time, students must get into Statistics (STAT) 330 and STAT 333 in their 3A term, so that they can complete ACTSC 431 & 432 (ACTSC) or ACTSC 431 & 445 (ACTSC Finance) in their 3B term. ACTSC 431, 432 and 445 are all only offered in fall and spring terms.

Typically students select their major in 2A or 2B, but you can do it in 3A or later too.

First check that you meet the Actuarial Science admission requirements.

To declare your major, you need to complete a plan modification form and email it to the SAS advisors for approval.

If you do not meet the requirements, you will be told to wait a term and try again. Additionally, we only admit students from within the Mathematics Faculty, so if you are in a different faculty you must transfer to Mathematics before you are eligible for entry to Actuarial Science. If you don't meet the requirements by the end of 3A you should strongly consider another major, as fourth year courses are open only to Actuarial Science majors.

Please refer to our program sheets.

Students automatically use the Calendar from their first term in the Math faculty. So if you started in fall 2014 you are assigned the 2014/2015 Calendar. The only way it changes is if you change it with a plan modification form. You can find a list of Calendars on the Undergraduate website.

The CAV (Cumulative Average) is the overall average grade of all courses while a student is in the Faculty of Mathematics.

The SMAV is your Special Major Average, and the calculation depends on what program and calendar you are in. For the Actuarial Science, Actuarial Science Predictive Analytics Specialization and Actuarial Science Finance Specialization programs, the special major average, on 2014 and later calendars is the average grade from the following courses:

• ACTSC 231 and ACTSC 232
• STAT 230 and STAT 231
• All 300-400 level math courses: math courses include ACTSC, Applied Mathematics (AMATH), Pure Mathematics (PMATH), Combinatorics and Optimization (CO), Computer Science (CS), and STAT. A MTHEL or COMM course is not considered a math course.

• You must maintain a CAV of at least 60% to stay in good standing and remain in the Math Faculty.
• Students using the 2014 or later calendar must maintain a SMAV of at least 70%.

You may take six courses if you have an overall CAV of at least 80%. This requirement may be relaxed for students in 4B who need six courses to finish, but requires a petition to the Standings and Promotions (S&P) committee. Please contact the SAS advisors.

Students are always allowed to take one course while on co-op. Students may be permitted to take a second course during co-op terms if it has been approved by their employer.

Yes. It contains more material and is more in depth. We will not accept ACTSC 221 in place of ACTSC 231 regardless of your grade.

You will have to ask the Actuarial Science advisors if they are willing to sign a course override form. In most cases you will be told to wait until the first week of classes and try to sign yourself into any free spots that open in the course.

The advisor will only sign you into the course if resources and the instructor permit. If the advisor does not sign the override form you cannot take the class. In the future make sure you course select for you upcoming terms to avoid this problem.

Any course which does not have a subject code of Mathematics (MATH), ACTSC, AM, Pure Mathematics (PMATH), CO, Computational Mathematics (CM), Math Business (MATBUS), CS, or STAT.

See the FAQ from first-year Actuarial Science students.

See the admission requirements on the Undergraduate website.

The Major AVerage for Statistics is comprised of all math courses. This average should be at least 65%.

No. If you want a Statistics major or minor, you must take STAT 330 and STAT 333. You will lose the credit for STAT 334, meaning you would have to take 41 courses overall.

No, just pass the course.

Yes. If you don't get a grade above 60% the first time you take STAT 230 and you want to do a Statistics major, you must retake it. You will need an override from the SAS advisors to do so. Both marks will count in your average. You will only get credit for the course once, so you will need to take another course later to replace it (41 courses overall).

Yes. If you don't get a grade above 60% the first time you take STAT 231 and you want to do a statistics major, you must retake it. You will need an override from the SAS advisors to do so. Both marks will count in your average. You will only get credit for the course once, so you will need to take another course later to replace it (41 courses overall).

For a general guideline, look at the pre-requisite for the 400 level course. If you enjoyed the 300 level course(s) that it requires, then you will likely enjoy that 400 level course as well!

Entry to the BMath Data Science is competitive.

The minimum requirements are:

1.  A minimum math average of 65%.

2.  A minimum CS average of 70%.

3.  Are enrolled in, or have completed CS 136.

If you meet these requirements, please complete this form prior to the last lecture day of the term. Application decisions are made at the start of the following term.

We accept about 16 students per term in BMath Data Science.

We look at three averages: CAV, CS and MATH. All three averages have ranged independently from the mid 70s to low 90s.  This depends on the term and the students that apply.  It is impossible to predict what the average(s) will be in the term you apply.

Yes, you can apply again if you are unsuccessful the first time.  However it would be wise to have a back-up plan in place.

An alternative might be a Statistics Major with a Computing Minor.  Aim to take CS 431.  Another alternative might be a BCS (Data Science) or a BMath (CS)/BCS with a minor in Statistics.

No. Anyone who meets the minimum requirements can join.

If you apply in term N you will hear back in term N+1. You may need to wait until after the add period.

Then you may get accepted by all four. If you are, congratulations! Simply accept the one you want and ignore the others.

BMath DS requires you to take MTHEL 300 as your 2nd communication course; BCS DS does not. The BCS DS requires you to take the depth and breadth requirements of CS; BMath DS does not.

Otherwise a BCS student is a CS major with some Statistics, and as such has access to any CS course. BMathDS is a Statistics degree with added CS. It does not let you into any CS course, but restricts you to the list.

No.

If your SMAV is below 70% you should consider another major such as Statistics or Mathematical Studies. You can use your next term to take Actuarial Science courses that are not limited to only Actuarial Science majors to try and bring up your average in order to be readmitted. If you try this and your average is not above 70% after one term you should pick another major, as the upper year courses are for Actuarial Science majors only.

Students using the 2012/2013 Calendar or later need 8 ECON courses.

ECON 221 will not count towards the BMath degree (but will count as one of the ten required ECON courses). ECON 321 is an anti-requisite of STAT 231. ECON 372 is an anti-requisite for ACTSC 446. Taking it as the ECON version will prohibit you from getting credit for ACTSC 446.

No. ACTSC 431, 432, and 445 are only offered spring and fall. If you secure an 8-month work term sometime before fourth year, this problem will sort itself out because your sequence will be rearranged around your 8-month work term and one of your last 2 terms will be spring or fall.

If you have reached fourth year and are still following your original sequence (B or D), you have two options:

• drop one work term. You would have your fifth (and final) work term in spring, and 4B in fall, graduating 4 months early.
• add an extra school term. You would have your fifth work term in spring, school in fall, sixth work term in winter, and an extra school term the following spring. You'd get all six work terms but graduate 4 months late.

If neither of those options appeals to you, plan ahead!