A math student's winning words
Steven Ma has an unexpected $2,500 more for his studies. The Department of Mathematics and Statistics undergraduate is not only great with numbers — he’s also got a way with words. An application essay he wrote earned him the inaugural Morneau Shepell Scholarship in Actuarial Mathematics.
“I did not think I was going to win, as our class has a lot of competent students,” says Ma.
The native Montrealer shouldn’t be that surprised. He received the Golf Classic Entrance Scholarship when he was accepted at Concordia and was on the Dean’s List for 2010-11. He’s also enrolled in the Actuarial Mathematics/Finance Program, jointly offered by the Faculty of Arts and Science and the John Molson School of Business, which is quite selective: only about 15 students are accepted each year.
“Steven has a cumulative GPA of 4.11 and he has already passed two professional exams of the Society of Actuaries,” says Yogendra P. Chaubey, chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.
Those achievements earned him the Morneau Shepell scholarship award, which was established for second-year actuarial math undergraduates who maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0.
Ma says he loves his program and wants to pursue a career as an actuary. He’s currently deciding whether to work for an insurance company or a consulting firm. The firm that sponsors the scholarship he won, Morneau Shepell Ltd., provides human resource consulting and outsourcing services.
Related links:
• Department of Mathematics and Statistics
• Concordia Actuarial Mathematics/Finance Program
• Concordia Financial Aid and Awards Office
• Morneau Shepell Ltd