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The MSc in Actuarial Science and Mathematical Finance builds on the UvA's Dutch Bachelor's in Actuarial Science (Actuariële Wetenschappen). Students holding this degree are automatically admitted to the MSc in Actuarial Science and Mathematical Finance.

Students holding a foreign academic degree should basically have the same knowledge to enter the MSc programme succesfully. Typically, a BSc in Mathematics or Physics gives the required level of calculus and linear algebra. But also a rather thorough knowledge of probability and mathematical statistics is required. To give some examples: students entering the MSc should be familiar with moment generating functions, maximum likelihood estimation, sufficient statistics and multinormal distributions.

Knowledge of the linear regression model is also required, e.g. through an econometrics course or included in the statistics course. As for economics, we assume knowledge of finance, for instance a course in Investment and Portfolio Theory.

A degree in quantitative economics (or econometrics) also qualifies students, provided some finance is included. Note that the mathematics and statistics level acquired in a typical economics programme is simply not sufficient.

Additionally, we assume the student to be familiar with actuarial science. In particular, risk theory (the expected utility model and compound Poisson ruin and portfolio models), as well as elementary life insurance.