Everett Moseley, Top of the class.....graduated with an overall GPA of 4.13 from UWI in JAMAICA....Moseley has been accepted to read for a master's degree in mathematics and computational finance at Oxford University

By AINSWORTH MORRIS Career & Education writer  Sunday, June 22, 2014  

WHEN Everett Moseley, the 2014 prime minister's youth awardee for academics, and top actuarial science student from the 2012 graduating class of the University of the West Indies (UWI) first applied to pursue a bachelor of science degree in actuarial science, he was rejected.

Everett Moseley. (PHOTO: LIONEL ROOKWOOD)

Moseley was told he was not qualified as his A'Level scores in mathematics were too low, and as such it was recommended that he pursue studies in mathematics and/or computer science instead.

But being the persistent young man that he is, Moseley created a plan to get into the Actuarial Science Department at UWI. And one day in his first semester he overheard a conversation that students who were rejected, but who accumulated a high Grade Point Average (GPA) in their first year, would be considered for actuarial science if they could make a good case.

Moseley said he had got a grade one in Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate math, and grades three and four for units one and two respectively in CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exam).

"To get into the actuarial science programme I had to prove to the programme co-ordinator that I had the ability to do extremely well in this programme; so during my first year, I placed extra effort in getting stellar grades in order to get in, and I did," he said.

Moseley, who resides in Linstead, St Catherine, was admitted to pursue a bachelor of science degree in actuarial science in 2010 and graduated with an overall GPA of 4.13.

In addition to his fight to score the required points for his GPA, Moseley said he faced several other challenges.

"During my first year at UWI, my father's job as an electrical engineer was threatened due to a halt in alumina production in Jamaica. Being the sole breadwinner for a family of five, with two children in college and another child in high school, financial difficulties began to develop," he told Career & Education.

That, said the former head boy of Ewarton Primary and former deputy head boy of Jamaica College, motivated him to go in search of scholarships and he was able to secure a Carlton Alexander bursary in his second year and the Caribbean Actuarial Scholarship in his third year of pursuing the actuarial science programme.

Moseley graduated with a first class honours degree. He is now employed at GraceKennedy Limited in the supply chain unit as a product manager. more