I am getting old, some day, I will probably admit it. And I have been wondering, over the past months, if things have changed in the actuarial profession. And how. I have seen things changing in Europe, mainly due to Solvency II requirements, and I know that the ‘culture’ of actuarial studies is not the same in Europe and in North America (in Europe, as far as I know, student discover actuarial science in graduate programs, usually after a bachelor program in mathematics, or economics and business, with a strong quantitative background). But in North America, I had the feeling that actuarial studies are more ‘business’ than ‘mathematics’. So I wanted to get a better understanding of that feeling I had. When I was working on the associateship exams (while I was working as an actuary in Hong Kong), I remember reading the Loss Models, trying to get a better understanding of ruin theory and credibility concepts. But in the new edition, ruin theory has been removed, and I keep wondering when (in their studies) actuarial students in North America hear about solvency. I am still working on that, reading past syllabuses (or syllabi, I don’t understand what should be the plural) of the SOA preliminary exams.