It is extremely rare for a person to be hired as a quant with just a bachelors. In fact, I've never heard of it. As far as I know, most quants are PhDs with years of specialized experience in programming complex mathematical models with C++. Even a masters in financial engineering is not enough since graduates from these program do not have much experience implementing models in C++. Some of the skills investment banks can be very specialized. For example, a quant friend of mine was looking people with experience in GPU programming and he's willing to shell out >250K USD.

Also, the average base starting pay in Goldman Sachs is around 110 to 130K USD for a physics PhD with zero finance experience. That sounds like a lot until you realize that you'd have to live in NYC...

To be fair, the base salary for a PhD quant rises very quickly after 2 years. Also, the pay for a quant is adjusted for Singapore's tax level. Fresh quants in Singapore make less than quants in NYC after taxes. Then again, the level of quant work in Singapore is much less demanding technically speaking than those in HK, London and NYC.