Okay newbies I'll clear some stuff up.
I'm in my 3rd year in actuarial studies and I do enjoy it. I highly recommend against taking advice from anyone who hasn't given actuarial studies a go yet, there is a lot of misconceptions going around. Yes its hard, perhaps one of the most challenging courses in university so yes you do have to put in a lot of effort and also maintain a level of consistency. First year isn't so bad, you learn all the basic finance/economics/accounting stuff plus you touch a bit on actuarial studies.
On average the cohort starts 180-200 people, by the third year there's about 80-100 left. Fourth year is NOT compulsory (unless you do a double degree), there are certain courses that you may wish to do to grant you further actuarial qualifications. These courses have about ~50 people enrolled, but this does not mean 3/4 of the cohort has dropped out by then. A lot of them chooses to work for a while first (very useful for these courses), a lot of them find non-traditional actuarial jobs or even other finance related jobs (not necessarily because they can't find an actuarial job) and realises that they do not need the further qualifications. I'd say the true drop out rate, i.e. people found it too hard or failed and then quit, is 50% at best. Still high, but there is so little info on this career before university that most people choose it without thinking it through.
In all honesty it is hard, but not at the level that you'll die doing it. Most people get destroyed because they fall behind, and actuarial courses are not ones you can magically catch up 2-3 weeks before the exam. Consistency is the key if you want to do well, and by well I mean like 80+. It's all relative as well, average for a final in a course in second year was 40%, but that doesn't mean everyone fails. Think of 4U and the ridiculous scaling. I ended up with a 97 in that course, but I'll admit I studied a lot for that subject and I liked the content.
For me its not boring, but it definitely isn't for everyone. With good time management and hard work I kept my WAM hovering just under 90 and I'm not a genius or anything so it's doable.
If you have any other questions just PM me.
