Do quants have a lot of upward mobility?

Title pretty much says it all, do quants have a lot of upward mobility in investment banking? Do they have upward mobility in other sectors?

Also - what kind of summer jobs should I be doing as a first year university student hoping to be a quant some day? Should I aim for the typical summer analyst positions or should I be seeking academic research opportunities? Particularly because I most likely need some kind of graduate degree to make it as a quant.

2 Comments
 

Quants seem to be like engineers (financial engineers) - they start out well out of the gate, have in demand skills, and do interesting work, but at the end of the day they'll only make big bucks if they move up, start a firm, or sell. So that must be kept in mind when you set on that path.

 

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