Vijay Fisch (CDS‘26)

Internship

US Countrywide Risk Analytics for Personal Lines Auto, Liberty Mutual Insurance

Tell us about your internship.

I spent last summer delving into large complex datasets on Liberty’s nationwide trends, asking questions about the frequency and severity of accidents nationwide, our appetite for different types of customers (high vs low risk, AKA good vs bad drivers), and other macro-level economic indicators of profit.

What are you enjoying most about this experience?

Before my time here at Liberty Mutual, I didn’t realize how fascinating the world of car insurance is (I know, hard to believe). As someone passionate about the intersection of economics and data science, the highly competitive insurance market has a lot to offer; the volatile supply and cost of car parts, climate-induced weather events and other catastrophes, and an increase in accidents post-Covid require data-driven problem solving to maintain profit levels.

I also enjoyed the huge availability of data at the company. Car insurance is a data-driven industry, and I had access to a tremendous trove of datasets on everything from company finances to accident statistics to car repair costs nationwide. My dataset for my main project was over 200 million rows and nearly 40 columns, which I have loved exploring in Power BI!

What CDS courses prepared you for the internship role? Please explain.

My first project in this team was a proof of concept: My manager asked me to transfer a set of Excel charts into a large Power BI slide deck. Thankfully, the final homework in my DS310 "Data Mechanics" course was the exact same assignment with different data — thank you very much, Professor Seferlis! I feel incredibly prepared to move on to my larger project: an analysis of the impact of new car safety features like lane assist and brake assist on the frequency of accidents and cost of car repairs. In my opinion, the data visualization and statistical analysis skills taught by the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences have prepared me well to work at Liberty!

How did you find and obtain this internship?

I found it online and applied through the regular application on the website. The process consisted of submitting my resume and cover letter, followed by a 15-minute recruiter interview, followed by a larger two- to three-hour interview with a one-hour behavioral interview, a one-hour case test, and a 30-minute Q&A with a recent hire.

What tips would you offer other CDS majors to help with the internship search?

Broaden your search! There are so many industries in which data scientists can enter with little to no expertise, from pharma to energy to finance. I know nothing about car insurance but am succeeding in this internship due to my data skills.