Sigma Chapter Intern Testimonials

Zan D Ali

Major: Actuarial Science
Graduation Date:
Company: Chartis
Location:
Date: May 31st - August 12th

My internship began May 31, 2012 and ended August 12, 2012. Extra time off was available if it was needed, for example to take an actuarial exam or something during business hours. Details just had to be worked out with our managers in advance.

Chartis is located in Manhattan and it was the corporate office. I had never been to New York before, however all the interns had the option to stay at some of the NYU dorms. Everything was within walking distance (Chartis was about a mile south and the cafeteria was about a mile north of our dorm). The subway didn’t take too long to figure out either. There was a resource center in the dorm that could answer questions and they supplied maps and NY information at check-in. 

The internship was a great experience. I was given a main project, which took about two weeks, and the rest of the time, I worked on any projects that people gave me. My main project was a profitability study. I was also studying for Exam P, so when I didn’t have any projects, I focused on that. At the end of the internship, all the interns presented their projects to the actuarial recruiters and the other interns. The employees were great to work with. I am sure there were moments where I was annoying with all the questions I asked, but they always took the time to explain things again if I didn’t understand. In addition to our individual work, we had presentations from actuaries on different actuarial topics such as loss development, reinsurance, reserving, pricing, etc. Those were about once a week.

The Actuarial Science classes I had prior to the internship (1501, 2502, 2101) were primarily focused towards exams. They gave me a good background for some of the math I was doing and helped me understand some of the topics better. I wish I had taken Casualty Contingencies before the internship, I think that would have helped a lot. The only RMI class I have taken is 2101 (Intro). That was beneficial because I had some understanding of how insurance worked. All the interns were given presentations that covered similar information, which was a nice review for me. 

We had round-robin style interviews where we met with 3-4 different people for about 30 minutes each.

My main project was a profitability study. I think that each year, the intern for the group I was assigned completes this project. I learned a lot from it. At the end of the internship, I helped to create a loss ratio trending tool in Excel for one of my mentors to use in his profitability studies.

That was a fun project because I was able to experiment with Excel and see how automated I could make this trending process.

We were housed in NYU dorms and we only had to pay 20% of the cost. We also had the option to participate in the NYU meal plan. We were taken out to lunch a few times also, once with the recruiting team and once with the chief actuary. Both of the lunches were very informal and we were able to ask any questions we had. All the interns had a luncheon with the CEO also, which was pretty informative.

The atmosphere was great. I really did not know what to expect in this regard. I would describe it as relaxed and collaborative. I sat next to another intern and we helped each other out all the time. I asked many questions to my mentors, and they always helped me out. This wasn’t just for interns either. I noticed that people were always going to each other with questions or answers. I felt like there was good camaraderie amongst the employees, which I really liked.

I was asked this question at the end of my internship and I didn’t have an answer. I enjoyed everything they had to offer. I would recommend Chartis to anyone interested in P&C.

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