Recently, the SOA announced new ways to get credit toward an actuarial credential via university credit. The approach was viewed with mixed results. The SOA claimed the initiative was motivated to foster inclusion. The Organization of Latino Actuaries wrote a public letter asking the SOA to withdraw the program on the basis that it is counterproductive to inclusivity goals.
Whether or not the SOA goes back to the drawing board remains to be seen. In the interim other means of credentialing actuaries are emerging.
A box top approach involves having actuarial students mail in their cereal tabs in order to earn enough credits to become an actuary. They only need 42,000 box tops that span a range of cereal types, not to exceed more than 12,000 sugary cereals, and at least 50% of them must be a good source of dietary fiber.
Another approach is one that is based on inheritance. You can have a designation bestowed upon you if you can prove you are a genetic descendent of actuarial pioneers such as: Edmund Halley, James Dodson, Richard Price, Nathaniel Bowditch, Jacob Shoemaker, Elizur Wright, Charles Gill, or writer Douglas Adams.
The third approach coming out of the woodwork is a sort of last one standing style cage match. Students are equipped with standard study materials such as pencils, calculators, and heavy textbooks. However, rather than use those materials in a conventional way, they are encouraged to use them as weapons against other potential candidates.
Time will tell if any of these methods prove to be more effective that current approaches.
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