Russell Greig excelled in mathematics as an undergraduate at Florida A&M University. His goals were to use mathematics in a practical way, to work in the "real world," and to earn a good income. He was planning a career in civil engineering when his calculus professor took him aside. "He said, 'You're doing well enough in math; have you considered actuarial science?' I hadn't, so I checked it out in the Jobs Almanac , which said it was a growing field. After some reluctance—I was already pretty far along in engineering—I decided to give it a try." Now, just 5 years later, Mr. Greig is one examination away from being a fellow of the Casualty Actuarial Society, the rough equivalent of a PhD in actuarial mathematics. He gained a head start by taking the first two actuarial examinations as an undergraduate; 10 are required for fellowship status. As a result, he was offered a job on graduation by the National Council on Compensation Insurance, in Boca Raton, Florida, an insurance advisory company. His first assignment was to produce a new set of summary exhibits derived from detailed claim data needed by insurance companies, actuaries, and legislatures. He is now calculating reserves for the workers' compensation "residual" insurance market. At the same time, he is approaching the end of his studies. "Since I graduated, I've been spending close to 400 hours every 4 months studying for the exams," he says. "The company gives me 120 hours, the rest I do at night and on weekends. The competition is pretty steep, so you have to do well. If you do, job prospects are excellent and you gain high respect in the profession. At the fellowship level you're at the top and you can pretty much decide where you want to work. I'll probably stay in the South; I'm from the Virgin Islands and I can't take the cold." Mr. Greig encourages students who enjoy applied mathematics to look into the field. "I recommend it to those who enjoy number-crunching, who want to see immediate, practical results from what they're doing. You have to be prepared to pay your dues, but there's plenty of opportunity. There are only about 2,500 casualty actuaries in the world, and the field is still growing. "Math majors have other good choices in applied fields. One is the financial area, where there is demand for people who can quantify financial risk models and also can present what they're doing clearly to others who are not sophisticated in math. In fact, when I'm done with these exams I'm going to take the Chartered Financial Analyst exams, which are like a shortcut to an MBA in finance. This allows you to do more asset-related work. "Another growth area is computer science and programming. I often work with programmers who don't understand the math involved. If you know the math to begin with, you'll be able to write your own ticket. The math is where it begins.