Partnership for a New American Economy

Des Moines Register
May 5, 2012

Yoobin Choi is one of the exceptions.

The junior at Drake University came from South Korea to study actuarial sciences, and despite the obstacles she faces as an international student, she has an internship lined up this summer with Cigna, an insurance company in Bloomfield, Conn.

Iowa has two of the best undergraduate actuarial programs in the U.S. — at Drake and the University of Iowa. Both programs attract a high percentage of international students, but almost all of them won’t stay in the U.S., let alone Iowa, when they graduate.

It’s not because they’re not qualified or because there’s no demand. Actuaries do the fundamental work that sets rates and directs strategy for insurance companies, and in Des Moines no industry has a greater presence. No, it’s because U.S. immigration law discourages companies from hiring international students.

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