Major: Mathematics and Actuarial Science
Hometown: Enterprise, Alabama
After living in Alabama for his senior year of high school, Jacob moved to Nebraska to attend the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Since his first year, he has been an active member of the Triangle fraternity. He enjoys hockey, is a big fan of coffee and tea, and will graduate this May.
Jacob began university as a math major. His parents had suggested actuarial science, but he initially felt it might not be the best fit. However, in the spring semester of his sophomore year, he decided at the last moment to switch his MATH 471: Intro to Topology class to ACTS 440: Interest Theory since he felt it would broaden his internship possibilities. The rest, Jacob shares, was history.
"Very thankfully, after taking a great liking to actuarial science, I was able to reorder my degree plan . . . I maintained my math major but added actuarial science as an additional major through CAS. I think what I like about actuarial science is that it gives me a very applied field to work with and see a lot of the math theory come to fruition."
Jacob is currently participating in CAS experiential learning with Ameritas as a life product development actuarial intern. In his internship, he assists with product life benchmarking and initiatives, is involved in department training, and performs data analyses.
"I chose my internship with Ameritas because I saw that it was a well-respected, modestly sized company that put a lot of effort into advancing the actuarial science program at UNL," says Jacob. "Ameritas offers a wide range of life insurance products, and I work on the team that develops those products, reprices them, and explores new, competitive products in the market to make sure our products are still good."
He appreciates that the internship offers him hands-on experience applying the theory and foundational understanding he has gained in his classes.
"One of the best experiential learning moments I've had at work was when I was able to seek out a project on my own and choose who I worked with. I decided I wanted to learn more about life product management rather than development," says Jacob. "I was able to greatly simplify a problem with a process they had to do regularly, such that what once took about a solid day or two of work could be condensed into an hour or less. A lot of Python programming, Excel data visualization, and networking and social skills went into this experience."
Jacob looks forward to applying the experience and skills gained in his internship to his post-graduation job as a full-time actuarial analyst with Ameritas this June.
"I will shift to a role working in experience studies and assumptions. This area is different from a lot of actuarial areas as it takes a large step back and uses a lot of data science knowledge and techniques to assess the assumptions that go into actuarial models," says Jacob. "I am very much looking forward to learning a lot more in this role!"
