How do you define quant?

ya its close to a quant desk...Quant in its actual sense is someone who designs and implements mathematical models for the pricing of derivatives, assessment of risk, or predicting market movements and even works on structuring new products.Like the creation of mortgage backed securities is to some extent the work of quants at the big investment banks. Generally a Quant is paid more than a simple trader..i dont know about the firm at which you applied..

If they asked you anything related to Ito calculus, I'd say it's pretty quantitative. Most undergraduate pure mathematics majors don't study that topic and I've heard it's essential for understanding much of modern probability theory.

quant is someone that doesn't come to WSO.

in all seriousness most quants are MS/PHD from science fields who work on models for banks.

there are undergrad quants, but much much less as there is no incentive for banks to hire an undergrad when they can hire a MS student who "knows" more.

in response to your question. Maybe is the best answer i can come up with. it really depends on the place.

"Generally a Quant is paid more than a simple trader..i dont know about the firm at which you applied.."

this is not true.