370K Compensation First Year out of College Possible?

the guy was probably just lying..

I hear Blackstone PE for undergrads pays very well.

okay theres very well at 70K plus another 80k for bonus and then theres outrageous 370K all together 270% bonus. Can anyone vouch if thats possible at all?

Impossible.

Unless hes some badass trader..which actually could be possible. I just spoke to a VP at Bear in the Fixed Income trading desk and he was telling me about a 27 yr old kid making 9 figures (he turned down trader magazine's request to be in the top 30 under 30). Anything is possible on Wall Street...

9 figures? But thats like top HF manager level pay. Do you mean he makes 9 figures for the firm, or his actual take home pay?

my friend works at bear, no vp is making 9 figures, the head of his desk only makes low 8 figures....

I don't know ANY traders at Bear Stearns - but 9 figures is outrageous. 8 figures? I'll buy that.

Impossible to extremely unlikely. The truth is people in finance love inflating their pay because that is how they measure success and they have the extreme need to flaunt it in front of people. I wouldn't believe a word about any of this nonsense.

except we're not talking 27. I'm talking fresh out of college, first job (w/possible internship experience) kind of experience. I'm willing to overlook the difference in pay. and I'm only asking because if the pay is that much for 1 year, I might just go for it for 1 year so I can pay for my own place and do what I really love to do afterwards (which is not spend 85+ hours a week working).

except we're not talking 27. I'm talking fresh out of college, first job (w/possible internship experience) kind of experience. I'm willing to overlook the difference in pay. and I'm only asking because if the pay is that much for 1 year, I might just go for it for 1 year so I can pay for my own place and do what I really love to do afterwards (which is not spend 85+ hours a week working).

The reality is you already have some of the brightest students from the best schools in the world taking these positions and working their brains out. I don't care how spectacular someone is, right out of college you're still going to make the same amount as everyone else at big banks. Besides, I was under the impression traders' bonuses were capped for the first couple of years.

Your friend is full of shit. Those numbers (100 base, 270 bonus) are totally legit for a 1st year out of an MBA program, but not out of ugrad at a bank like UBS.

And even if he were a "badass trader", as someone put it, there is no way someone directly out of ugrad will get there own book quickly enough to generate the $2.5-5MM P&L needed for that bonus.

badass traders I know in Chicago made zero in the first few years while being backed by someone senior. Going back in time I would say first year would be mid 100s maybe total at an IB/HF (and you would spend all that in NYC anyways), but going into 2008 not so sure....

If that 27 yr trader is raking in 9 figure, assuming for whatever reason he takes a 5% commission on his trade, then he would have to generate double 10 figure profit for his company. IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

Even at banks you can pull in closer to 10% of your P&L (trading, sales, and structuring can all pull in that high of a percent of whatever profit they bring in).

And even the wild estimates on the street only had maybe 2 or 3 guys at banks getting 9 figure bonuses--and they were all commodities at J. Aron (i.e. Goldman).