Husker Internships: Madelyn and Daniel Get Early Start on Actuarial Internships

College of Business Author

01/25/2024 Added

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Madelyn Craft and Daniel Sutherland talk with Actuarial Science Program Director Sue Vagts about getting an early start on doing actuarial science internships during their first year of college. They also discuss the career prep and experiences they have had at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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[00:00:00.660]Hi, I'm Sue Vagts,
[00:00:01.890]and I'm the director of the Actuarial Science program
[00:00:03.780]here at the University of Nebraska.
[00:00:05.610]And I'm here today with actuarial science students,
[00:00:07.950]Madelyn and Daniel,
[00:00:09.510]and I'm gonna be asking them some questions
[00:00:11.040]about their internships
[00:00:12.420]and about some other experiences
[00:00:13.770]that they've had while on campus.
[00:00:15.510]First I'll ask them to introduce themselves.
[00:00:17.820]Yeah, thank you so much for having us here today, Sue.
[00:00:20.250]My name is Madelyn.
[00:00:21.180]I'm a junior actuarial science major
[00:00:23.160]with minors in statistics and computer science,
[00:00:25.650]and I'm from St. Louis, Missouri.
[00:00:28.530]And my name is Daniel.
[00:00:29.460]I'm a freshman actuarial science major from Tucson, Arizona,
[00:00:32.280]with minors in math, statistics, and computer science.
[00:00:35.850]Madelyn, can you tell me a little bit
[00:00:37.380]about your internship with Humana?
[00:00:39.480]What did you do as an intern for them?
[00:00:41.280]Yeah, so this summer I had the privilege
[00:00:43.140]of interning with Humana.
[00:00:44.730]I was working in their
[00:00:45.900]Corporate Actuarial Valuation Department,
[00:00:47.940]which is their internal business department for actuaries.
[00:00:51.270]And with them, I was able to work
[00:00:53.040]on a few different reserving models,
[00:00:54.570]I did monthly reserving.
[00:00:56.040]And then I also worked on an IBNR
[00:00:58.140]or incurred but not reported
[00:00:59.910]statutory filing process for them.
[00:01:03.000]Great.
[00:01:03.833]And Daniel, you haven't started your internship yet,
[00:01:05.580]but you'll be starting this summer.
[00:01:06.810]Do you have any idea what area you will be working in
[00:01:09.390]or what area you'd like to work in?
[00:01:11.010]Yes, this summer, I'll be starting
[00:01:12.600]at Ameritas Life Insurance,
[00:01:14.580]and I hope to be in the group insurance department,
[00:01:17.580]which covers dental and vision insurance.
[00:01:20.820]That'll be really interesting. Great.
[00:01:22.830]How did you guys locate your internships?
[00:01:25.170]Yeah, so I was actually able to find my internship
[00:01:28.080]through the College of Business
[00:01:30.000]Actuarial Science Career Fair.
[00:01:31.710]And when I went, there were tons of employers,
[00:01:35.160]and I was able to walk around and land a few interviews
[00:01:38.040]that I had the very next day, which was super convenient.
[00:01:40.830]But through that process, I stuck with Humana,
[00:01:43.170]went through their whole interview process
[00:01:44.760]and was able to accept an offer from them.
[00:01:47.863]And I found my internship on Handshake,
[00:01:49.650]which is a platform that the university provides,
[00:01:52.110]that allows students to find jobs and internships,
[00:01:54.720]and it's really useful. I'm so proud of both of you
[00:01:57.180]for getting such great internships.
[00:01:58.980]How did the College of Business
[00:02:00.090]prepare you for the career fair?
[00:02:02.010]Yeah, I would say the College of Business is instrumental
[00:02:04.890]in preparing us for internship's full-time jobs.
[00:02:08.160]I particularly love the program for their resume review.
[00:02:12.390]I was able to build a resume that I am really proud of.
[00:02:15.360]They also helped me a lot on my elevator pitch,
[00:02:17.520]so when I was walking around at the career fair,
[00:02:19.620]I could effectively introduce myself
[00:02:21.690]and make a good first impression.
[00:02:24.750]Personally, I got a lot of help from upper level students
[00:02:28.320]and older students in the College of Business.
[00:02:31.680]The tight-knit community really allows,
[00:02:33.270]like, a nice environment,
[00:02:34.710]so you can feel comfortable speaking
[00:02:36.870]and talking to the older students
[00:02:39.000]about anything you want or need. (chuckles)
[00:02:42.870]That's great. I'm really glad that both of you reached out
[00:02:44.910]to resources within the college and among your peers.
[00:02:48.870]Daniel, as a freshman,
[00:02:50.790]you had only been on campus for about four weeks
[00:02:53.130]when the career fair started.
[00:02:54.660]That took a lot of courage to attend the career fair.
[00:02:57.720]How did you approach it as a freshman?
[00:02:59.730]Yeah, I approached it with lots of uncertainty,
[00:03:02.400]but I stuck to what I knew
[00:03:06.270]and talked to people around the College of Business
[00:03:09.210]about what I needed to do
[00:03:10.890]to ensure my chances of getting an internship,
[00:03:13.830]and I crossed my fingers,
[00:03:15.480]and luckily I got one, so... (chuckles)
[00:03:16.580]So you were successful. That's great.
[00:03:17.897]That's awesome.
[00:03:19.350]What will you guys do during the year
[00:03:20.970]to prepare for your internship?
[00:03:22.410]Or Madelyn, what did you do last year
[00:03:23.910]to prepare for your internship?
[00:03:25.860]Yeah, I was working in Louisville, Kentucky this summer,
[00:03:28.800]which was super exciting,
[00:03:29.940]but I had also never been there before.
[00:03:31.890]So, a big part of my internship prep
[00:03:33.690]was looking at the area,
[00:03:34.770]figuring out where I would be living.
[00:03:36.510]And then I just brushed up
[00:03:37.950]on the skills I thought would be useful.
[00:03:39.570]I made sure to pay very close attention in my classes,
[00:03:42.900]work on my Excel skills, so that way,
[00:03:44.670]I felt really prepared by the time I got there.
[00:03:47.970]Yeah, this next semester, I'm planning on taking
[00:03:50.010]this new class called ACTS 250,
[00:03:52.350]which is actuarial technical skills,
[00:03:55.290]which should help me improve Python and Excel coding.
[00:04:00.210]We're really excited about that new classes coming up.
[00:04:02.850]We think it'll really help our students
[00:04:04.620]to be better prepared for their internship,
[00:04:06.330]so I'm glad you're gonna enroll in that one.
[00:04:09.450]Madelyn, what did you accomplish at your internship
[00:04:11.460]that you're most proud of?
[00:04:12.780]Yeah, so I mentioned I was able to work on their IBNR
[00:04:16.260]statutory filing process.
[00:04:17.970]And that's a process that typically happens
[00:04:19.920]once a year for them,
[00:04:21.150]but it's pretty tedious
[00:04:22.470]and it takes them about two weeks using Excel VBA,
[00:04:25.410]which is a coding language.
[00:04:26.490]I was able to automate the process
[00:04:27.990]to take about four hours, maybe a day at tops.
[00:04:30.900]So, I was able to save my team a lot of time
[00:04:33.210]and I'm really proud of that.
[00:04:34.560]I'm sure your team was very happy with that as well.
[00:04:36.840]Yes. Good work.
[00:04:37.673]Thank you.
[00:04:38.520]What have both of you done
[00:04:40.440]to study for your professional actuarial exams?
[00:04:43.080]And what has the College or the Actuarial Science Program
[00:04:45.870]done to help you?
[00:04:47.400]Yeah, I think one of my favorite things
[00:04:49.110]about the Actuarial Science Program, here in particular,
[00:04:52.080]is we have such a close-knit community.
[00:04:54.240]I think the upperclassmen are a great resource
[00:04:56.970]in helping you figure out what works and what doesn't.
[00:04:59.310]There's a pretty big learning curve
[00:05:01.080]associated with the exams.
[00:05:02.640]But also, our coursework is super helpful.
[00:05:05.580]I am currently enrolled in STAT 462,
[00:05:07.890]which is a statistics class that aligns with exam P,
[00:05:11.070]and I am becoming very prepared for that exam
[00:05:13.800]through that class.
[00:05:15.210]Great.
[00:05:16.043]This semester, I'm enrolled in ACTS 440,
[00:05:19.020]which is interest theory,
[00:05:20.220]which helps you prepare for the financial mathematics exam.
[00:05:24.270]And in the class, we use study materials
[00:05:26.490]that you could use on other exams
[00:05:28.440]that the university doesn't have classes for.
[00:05:30.270]So it's really helpful in preparing me to use those.
[00:05:33.510]Very good.
[00:05:34.710]What have been some of your favorite
[00:05:36.600]experiences that you've had while on campus?
[00:05:39.180]There's so many. It's hard to just pick a few.
[00:05:41.340]But one of my favorite involvements
[00:05:43.950]is I'm a part of the Raikes School,
[00:05:45.360]which is a business and computer science-focused program,
[00:05:48.810]with cohort-based learning.
[00:05:50.100]So we have a tight-knit group of people
[00:05:52.320]that go to our whole four years together,
[00:05:55.020]and they have become some of my very best friends,
[00:05:57.240]and they're really wonderful.
[00:05:58.980]But I'm also involved in Greek Life.
[00:06:00.750]I'm in Gamma Phi Beta,
[00:06:01.860]and they have provided me many leadership opportunities
[00:06:04.830]that have really helped me grow
[00:06:06.000]throughout my collegiate years.
[00:06:07.170]And I've met a lot of people
[00:06:08.310]that I would not be able to without them.
[00:06:11.190]One of the most memorable experiences this year
[00:06:13.050]was the volleyball day in Nebraska.
[00:06:14.970]It was just such a huge event and it was so cool to attend.
[00:06:18.090]I'm also a part of the Nebraska Swim Club,
[00:06:21.390]and we meet a few times a week and swim and have fun.
[00:06:25.470]All right.
[00:06:26.303]Well, thank you so much
[00:06:27.510]for spending a little time with me today.
[00:06:29.490]Madelyn, it's been such an honor
[00:06:31.020]to watch you grow as a leader
[00:06:32.190]over your freshman, sophomore, and junior year on campus.
[00:06:34.950]And Daniel, I really am looking forward
[00:06:36.750]to spending the next four years with you as well.
[00:06:40.380]Me too. (chuckles)
[00:06:41.220]Thank you so much for having us, Sue.
[00:06:42.510]We really appreciate it.
[00:06:43.350]Thank you. You bet.
[00:06:44.711](bright music)

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Husker Internships: Madelyn and Daniel Get Early Start on Actuarial Internships

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