Financial Advisor Career...seeking guidence?

I'm just out of college, and currently looking strongly into a career as a Financial Advisor. Ideally I'm looking for a non-cut-throat environment where the culture is honest and focused on helping clients as much as themselves...Having said that, this is a sales career where hard work and high pay go hand in hand, and there is a lot of competition. Naturally, each company I look at is claiming to be 'the best' for starting such a career, but it seems you probably won't know the truth until you're actually working for one of them. To sum up, I was wondering what specific companies people may have had experience with...bigger names out there include Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, etc. One company that seems to be geared more towards selling insurance rather than investing is Northwestern Mutual. My major concerns are environment (as friendly and relaxed as possible), support/training, opportunity for advancement, career-outlook, compensation, etc. Thank you for any and all advice.