Syaza Nazura

Wa'alaikumsalam.

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Well, I can't say what is important and what is not, considering how choosing a university largely depends on you and what you want to get out of your university life. Some of the things to consider while choosing / finding universities to apply to:

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(a) Cost of living in the area / town / university. Attending university in a big city (NYC, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, etc) can be significantly more expensive than in a smaller town (Madison, Urbana-Champaign, Des Moines, etc). Also look into average apartment rent prices at the place, monthly allowances (if you're under a scholarship / loan), etc.

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(b) Your program / major of choice. Certain universities are better recognized for certain majors or programs, so look into which universities are more recognized or have the programs that you want to do. For example, a lot of universities who are very good in engineering may not have good business programs. This is also the reason to why I didn't apply to Ivy League universities except for Penn when I did my application, as only Penn has Actuarial Science (my intended major back then).

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(c) Weather and climate. Midwestern states are typically colder during winter months as compared to states that are further south like California or Florida. Look into the typical weather patterns and see if you are fine with the cold winters / hot summers / anything in between.

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(d) Research universities (as in research activities and opportunities). If you're a Science major or are interested in doing research (either in Sciences or Arts or Social Sciences, etc), find a university that would provide you with the opportunity to be a part of some sort of research lab on campus.

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(e) Malaysian community. If your parents are skeptical about you being away from them, perhaps it can give them some peace of mind if you attend a university with some Malaysians students or community in the area. Places like Ohio State University, Purdue University, Penn State University, UW-Madison, Uni of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Iowa State University, etc have a lot of Malaysians in their community. The same thing goes to the Muslim community (i.e. finding Halal meat in the area, etc).

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Hope this helps a little bit. :)

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Also read:
1) http://ask.fm/syazanazura/answers/128620974930
2) https://twitter.com/nazu2308/status/674885550508126208

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Waalaikumsalam. In short VEE tu kira macam academic validations. Kan kalau the professional actuarial papers, just about anyone boleh ambil, not just Actuarial students. So students from Medicine fields, from Mass Comm or Law or Linguistics ke apa boleh je nak belajar sendiri and sit for the Actuarial professional papers. Tapi to qualify as a Professional Actuary (either bawah SOA or any other actuarial body), mungkin ada requirement education (like VEE dan sebagainya), di mana dia nak tahu yang you ada the basic knowledge in Economics, Finance & Statistics. Usually Actuarial students akan ambil all these classes masa degree so most probably kalau dapat a good grade (B and above?), boleh je lepas all VEE requirements. Tapi students from non-Actuarial backgrounds, kalau tak ada classes Economics or Finance or Statistics semua, dyorang either kena ambil sendiri the courses or fulfill it some other way.

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Err membantu tak?

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