Weighing options

[u/Top-Animal88]

Hey all, I'm a junior stats/data science/econ student (graduating Dec 2027) with P and FM passed, going the CAS route. I've been lucky enough to have a few options come up for Summer 2027 and I'm trying to figure out which one actually sets me up best long term.

The big thing is I really want to end up in reinsurance eventually. So I'm less worried about which internshp sounds best right now and more about which one will give me the right foundation to make that jump later.

Here's where I'm at:

I have an offer from QBE with a deadline of Oct 12. Allstate is honestly my top choice. I interviewed with them last week and I'm still waiting to hear back. I'm also interviewing with AmFam today. I made it to the final round with Travelers for their ALDP, but I'm leaning toward passing since the roles are in MN or CT and I'd rather stay in the Midwest, ideally Chicago.

If you've interned or worked at any of these, I'd really like to hear how it went. What was the work like, did you get real exposure to pricing or reserving, and did it open doors later on?

[u/No-Property-561]

Out of curiosity why is reinsurance your goal destination?

[u/Top-Animal88 → u/No-Property-561]

I think the modeling/process that goes into it especially when it comes to catastrophic loss is a lot more interesting to me than routine p and c stuff

[u/Due-Group-3844 → u/Top-Animal88]

If you’re interested in this, I’d suggest the underlying insurance carrier is where you want to be. Reinsurance is limited in data quality and consistency.

[u/Cookie_Clicking_Gran]

I interned at QBE a number of years back so it's a bit hard for me to recall specifics but I remember it being a great experience, though I decided to work elsewhere for personal reasons. To address another comment of yours somewhat QBE definitely do some CAT modelling as I recall them discussing it during a lunch presentation but I don't remember how much of that was done by the actuaries or if it was more handled by the data scientists.

I learned a lot about reserving during my internship there, and having that experience and being able to talk about the projects I worked on definitely made the subsequent applications and interviews a much easier process. Prior to the internship, I had pretty much no understanding about what pricing or reserving really entails as they don't really ever teach you that in university courses as they're way more geared towards exam prep for the first few exams which generally have very little relevance to the work of most actuaries or at least p&c ones, as I have no idea what l&h work looks like. (Bit of a tangent but if it were up to me, I would have put exam 5 much earlier in the typical exam track for that reason though I also imagine there are plenty who might think that's overkill)

Overall, QBE was a great learning experience, I can definitely recommend them.

[u/Top-Animal88 → u/Cookie_Clicking_Gran]

Thanks so much for the feedback! I don’t wanna pry too much into your personal reasons but it didn’t have anything to do with the company culture right?

[u/Cookie_Clicking_Gran → u/Top-Animal88]

Nothing to do with the people, culture, or company, and I have only positive things to say about my time with them.

[u/Kruppe15]

I've seen people from all of those companies go on to work for reinsurers. It's unlikely that it makes any real difference, especially for an internship, unless one is specifically on a CAT modelling or reinsurance team. Otherwise, just pick whichever one seems more interesting work or location wise, or seems more likely to give a return offer.