PSU Act Sci Students Excel at Case Comps

Case competitions are one of the many ways that actuarial students can get involved and learn more about the industry. They are often a great way to apply some of the concepts you learn in actuarial courses, as well as meet other actuarial students and actuaries. Over the past few weeks, we have had two of our club members win at case competitions! Nevin Kara participated in the Travelers case competition on the CAS team and Daniel Berlin participated in the Deloitte case competition. Here are some of the comments they have about their experience, and the benefits of doing case competitions.

“Before I participated in the Travelers Case competition, I had a difficult time understanding what a day in the life of an actuary would look like. During the competition, I leveraged Google Sheets to analyze data related to Loss Development Factors in the P&C industry before and during Covid-19. It was exciting to be able to use some of the knowledge I acquired from Excel classes and Risk Management classes. I found that participating in the competition reaffirmed my decision to major in actuarial science and made me more confident in my abilities. I also got to meet a lot of amazing people. I would definitely encourage students to at least try out one case competition during their college career.”
​-Nevin Kara
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“The case my team was trying to solve was how to safely bring back employees to the workplace for a mid-sized software company. Even if the work I did was not quite work an actuary would do, I had the opportunity to problem solve and present my findings on a team. These skills will prove to be valuable in any line of work, as we will always be given tasks and work with other members of a company. In addition, developing the skill of presenting your findings to others who may not be as knowledgeable in a certain field is something that is important to an actuary. I was able to practice this skill by presenting to a panel of judges and answering a few questions at the conclusion of the presentation. Overall, the case competition was a great learning experience and I was proud to represent Penn State as the winning team.”
-Daniel Berlin