GS MDA PIA - Would you take it?

It's been a while since any post mentioned GS merchant banking division and their corporate buyside groups. With the firm's announced restructuring (seems like a BX strategy), thought it would be interesting to revive some conversation around this notoriously elite group on the street. I've a friend at another bank who is at the superday stage with GS PIA for their entry associate position, and wasn't sure how good the opportunity is given what he heard about the culture, long grind (100+ hours during a deal and 80 hours normally??), and uncertain vertical placement, and possibly not much deal flow compared to other PE firms. I figure I'd ask the brilliant people in this forum about the group, opportunity, culture, and anything you can share about if you think it'll be a good opp (he's not desperate to jump ship).