About the field of Actuarial Science: Actuarial science involves the study of risk. The majority of actuaries are employed by insurance companies as those companies are the ones most often concerned with quantifying risk. Actuaries help businesses to determine the risk of certain events occurring and formulate plans that will decrease that risk. In the insurance industry they help to set rates by determining risk and the amount of money required to offset the risk of insuring a particular venture or venue. Actuaries generally require a solid mathematics background, often including statistics and other higher math. The same sort of statistical basis is needed in similar fields such as biometrics or biostatistics . Actuaries need to be very precise and detail-oriented and able to comprehend and analyze vast amounts of information and synthesize their research to help the companies they work for make good decisions. Working as an actuary also requires the passing of stringent qualification exams.