Comp progression at Wellington/D&C for undergrad roles?

Curious as to what the salary progression would look like in early years at a top AM research associate program. I've seen numbers between 120-170k quoted, but that seems pretty low for a whole 3 year program. My situation is that I'm coming out of a summer at at top BB group but realized I'm not cut out for back-to-back 100 hour weeks, but still love investing, so these roles seem like a great fit. I'm just curious if I'm giving up a significant amount of early career salary -- I'll be graduating with a significant amount of debt so the money matters to me in the short term more than it probably should. (Though I understand the WLB upside is a significant tradeoff).
Also, if someone can add more color, would love to hear about career optionality from these seats regarding HF exits. I'm assuming those who finish the 3 year program could get looks from the pod shops, but how about SM HFs?