Pros
AGC is an awesome place to begin your banking career. Analysts receive a significant amount of ongoing training and support that enables them to gain an invaluable skillset that can differentiate them from other bankers. AGC offers a significant amount of deal flow and industry experience to analysts. It is not uncommon for Analysts to close 7+ deals in their first two years, which offers many benefits to career development as opposed to other banks where analysts only close one or two deals per year. AGC offers a unique career path which sees bankers promoted at a significantly quicker rate than other banks. Often, high-performing analysts are promoted to Associate after 18 months with the ability to scale all the way up to partners in ~10 years, which is significantly faster than other firms. AGC has an awesome culture, with frequent (once every 2-3 weeks) outings as well as a general camaraderie amongst all junior bankers who are friends inside and outside of the office. AGC has very strong placement to growth and private equity, with a majority of analysts in each class receiving offers. The firm provides training on LBO's to all analysts as well as bringing in EX-AGC'ers who are now on the Buyside to offer guidance on the PE recruitment process. AGC offers great flexibility, with 15 days of PTO that analysts are encouraged to use. Analysts are generally covered and not expected to work during PTO, although there may be a little work depending on the situation. This is very rare for investment banks, as typically full PTO protections are not granted to analysts.
Cons
The first 9 months at AGC are hard. Late nights, weekend work, etc. This is by design, and those that are able to excel past this period are in a great place in their career as they are on the fast-track to associate. The pay at AGC is largely in-line with other investment banks during down years as AGC does not miss their target bonuses regardless of market conditions, however during very strong years in the industry other larger banks significantly exceed the pay as they can receive inflated bonuses AGC gives more responsibility to analysts than other firms, which requires a significant amount of intuition and confidence to succeed. This heightened responsibility can create some additional stress on junior bankers.