It's over. Can't believe it. It has been nearly seven years since writing the very first exam.
Friends of mine are actually having a tough time believing that I'm actually finished. After I passed my last SOA exam, my message to everyone was that, "I'm done exams!!", which was a true statement, but I was still over a year away from being designated because of all the modules and the Fellowship Courses (both US and Canada). So when I had let people know that I was about to become a Fellow, most of my friends were confused because they thought I was already done! Hahaha. I guess I cried wolf.
Anyway, I finished up my FSA modules in late 2011. A month or so later, I received an invitation to the Fellowship Admissions Course in Atlanta, Georgia for March 19-21. Out of all the FAC's, I heard Atlanta was the worst, but the hotel changed this year to the Four Seasons. How bad can the Four Seasons be? Not that it really mattered - I was going to go no matter what the venue!
My wife and I then booked our flights. My wife, being a teacher, could not come down for the entire week (she would be on her own anyway, since the days at the FAC are completely course-filled), but did come down on the second day so she could be with me for the final ceremony. I'm glad it was her and only her. While there were obviously many people responsible for me getting my designation, no one has sacrificed more than my wife (especially in the year that I passed my FSA exams....it was night upon night and weekend upon weekend of studying, and she kept encouraging me all the way through) who has been there with me since I started writing. My wife booked her flight out of Buffalo instead of Toronto, which saved her nearly $500. Insane. It was a no-brainer for her to drive the extra 1.5 hours to the Buffalo airport and fly out of there.
I had pretty high expectations of the course. I had heard that the food is amazing, the booze flows freely, and it is simply a great time in general. Sometimes when I build up those expectations in my head, it ends up disappointing. Not this time. In fact, my expectations were exceeded. First of all, the hotel was AMAZING. It was a first-class treatment, which I guess makes sense since it was the Four Seasons. But honestly, for the level of service it was, you'd expect a place like that to be upwards of $300-$400/night, but the price paid was only $209. Yes, that's generally on the high end for hotel prices, especially hotels in a place like Atlanta, but $209 is not crazy. When I stayed in Manhattan a few years back, the price was close to $300 and the quality wasn't NEARLY as great. But wow. Every meal was amazing. The booze served was top-of-the-line (especially on the final night - the bar served the Macallan for their scotch, for example). There were tables of food inbetween sessions during the day with candy bars, popcorn, soda pop, Krispy Kremes, smoothies, cookies, ice cream bars.....it was insane. I no doubt gained some weight that week!
The course itself was fine. You basically spend three days in ethics/professionalism classes. The only requirement, aside from showing up on time, is a 8-12 minute presentation on your DMAC (the final module) subject. This presentation was not the best I have ever delivered, but I made it to the 8 minute mark, so was happy!
Oh - another note on the hotel. On our first day, one of our ethics cases had to be moved because the Boston Celtics - who were playing the Hawks that night - were having a film session in that room. Apparently some people could hear Doc Rivers yelling at his guys. Hahaha. I actually walked by Doc Rivers at one point, but no sightings of any Celtics. Some of my colleagues said they saw Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen though! After the Celtics checked out, the Cavaliers checked in. This time, I did run into a few players.....all bench guys though. I didn't recognize them right away. And as if THAT wasn't enough, when my wife and I were checking out of the hotel, there was a gentleman checking in that I recognized RIGHT AWAY as Stephen King! I was just watching the Shawshank Redemption on AMC the night before! Hahaha. He actually looked MY way and said, "Oh my you look like my son!". I shook his hand, had a quick 15 second conversation just basically to tell him I was a big fan, and then he left. Awesome!! If the hotel is good enough for two NBA franchises, and Stephen King....in the span of a couple of days.....I guess it's good enough for me too! Haha!
So the main event of the week was obviously the final dinner. It was the only event that guests could attend, and wow, most people had guests. It was actually kind of refreshing to be in a room full of people in the same 'situation' as me......late 20's/early 30's, married. Some people even brought their kids along. I thought writing exams as a married person was hard enough. I can't fathom how difficult it would be with KIDS as well. I respect these passers a lot. That can't be easy.
The dinner was a four-course affair that rivaled the fanciest dinner I have ever had. My wedding reception's dinner was classy, but I think this topped it! There was an endless supply of wine served as well (this was AFTER the cocktail hour beforehand as well). After the dinner came the designation ceremony. Everyone was called up one by one to get their Fellowships, and a picture with the President of the Society. With over 200 Fellows at the course - one of the biggest FAC's ever I think - that could get a little boring after a while, so they made a rule that when someone from your table was called up, the whole table needed to be loud. Noise was not a problem (I think all the wine helped with this!). The table adjacent to ours sat all these guys from Montreal who broke out in the "Ole" chants every time someone from their table got the call! The guy sitting beside me was from Iowa and asked me if that was how all Montrealers are. I said yes, obviously. Hahaha!
Eventually, my name was called. It was awesome. I high-fived some of the Montreal guys on my way up to getting my certificate. The crowd was even all chanting, "Paul! Paul! Paul! Paul!" on my way up. Hahaha! Because there was a professional photo taken with the President, my wife took a video of it instead. Glad she did! I'll keep that one forever! Again, I was so happy that my wife was the one there with me. She really deserved to be the one and only one there with me.
The party continued on the terrace afterwards.....back to the Macallan, and champagne from Champagnes. We didn't stay too long, maybe 11:30 or so. Took some additional photos of me with the certificate, and called it a night!
Most memorable week of my actuarial career, no doubt.
Anyway, so that's about it for this blog. I looked back at my first post, and that said that my goal was to obtain the FSA by December 31, 2010. I ended up being about 15 months off that mark, which isn't too bad actually!! At the time I wrote that first post, there were still only two FSA modules instead of three, I forgot about having to do the PEC (the Canadian Fellowship course) and I definitely underestimated how long those modules would take me to power through. I will say that when I started my actuarial exams seven years ago, I said that I wanted to be an FSA before turning 30. I reached this goal....with seven months to spare!
For anyone reading this thinking about starting the exams, all I can say is to be ready to spend time on these exams. Some people fly through them very very quickly, others take much much longer than I did. You have to be ready for any event. The exams are passable though! The amount of material on the exams is unlike any college/university exam you have ever written, but I feel all exams follow the same rule: If you put the time in, you'll pass. The key is time. These exams require a LOT of time, but if you put it in, you'll get through them.
If you are in the middle of exams (sometimes the worst spot! Too far into exams to stop, and not yet far enough to be thinking of the Fellowship!), keep at it! They will come to an end. Same rule applies....put the time in, and things will work out. One thing you also have to do for the FSA exams is figure out what kind of studying works best for you. Everyone has their own way of studying, so it's no use to ask people how they studied, because your experience is going to be different. You have to spend some of that study time figuring out how to study and getting into that groove of doing it day after day.
If you ever want to reach me for any reason, you can find me on the SOA directory. My name is Paul Kennedy.
Good luck, and take care!!
Paul Kennedy, FSA, FCIA
Here are a few photos from the FAC:
The menu from the final night's ceremony:
My wife and I after getting the Fellowship:
Seven years later, this is what I have to show for it:
And why not? Here's the video of the "big moment"!
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