[dsacco]

That depends on your degree level. If you have an MSc or a PhD you should be able to more or less walk onto an interview at many hedge funds, including relatively well-known ones. With less than that, it's going to be more difficult (but doable).

Many quantitative funds specifically hire math/stats/comp sci without a background in finance. The interviews will be very math/stats focused with coding (maybe algorithms) thrown in.

Don't expect $300k your first year (or second, honestly). Expect more like $150k. The lucrative compensation will be in bonus, and you (or your team) will eat what you kill. You should research the industry more so you're not walking in blind. "Quant" is an overused term and means different things. That skillset can land you in roles for execution (mostly development), strategy research (much more math/stats), risk management, trading, etc. There are few roles that will start off at $300k+ without any time in the industry, and where it happens those are generally cases of very well-known firms poaching someone from academia.