[c0ldfusion]

There is no way an associate in operations makes 200k and frankly that seems a bit high for engineers as well. Are you speaking in general and is your source anecdotal?

Also _most_ people do not ever make MD, let alone in 9 years.

[rayiner]

The salaries are for investment banking and sales & trading. Not the same sort of job, obviously, but when Facebook and Google head to Stanford to do recruiting, these are the other options those kids are considering.

[c0ldfusion]

Thanks for the clarification, I'm still curious as to what your source is. In light of the current regulatory environment, do you think there is still sizable demand for quantitative professionals on Wall St?

[rayiner]

I have family/friends who are in the industry. Re: demand, it's size-able, and quantitative skills are becoming more, not less, important. To paint with very broad brushes, the recruiting emphasis on Wall Street has shifted towards math/science majors at the top of their class at top schools. There are less opportunities out there to make money, so the value of precise analysis has really gone up. Also, given the current regulatory environment, the value of risk management, which is intensely quantitative, has gone up.