This is my DS's opinion - so someone from TAMU may offer a different perspective. When he went to Spend a Night with the Corps he found it just as intense and as structured as SSA and visits to VMI. BUT, when he went to observe classes he found that the instructors were not sympathetic to the Corps or the additional duties that they had. "When I left the corps area I suddenly went from Academy to civilian and the civilians didn't appreciate what the cadets were doing." So for him, SA or VMI or Citadel were far more viable.
Well, just to cap this discussion: DS and I went to Aggie Eagle weekend last week and enjoyed it very much. The Corps there did an excellent job of showing us TAMU and the Corps. He has been admitted and visited all the SMCs (except North Georgia, and Virginia Tech, where he did not apply). A very tough decision, but he has opted to attend VMI in the Fall as it seems like the best fit for him personally. And VMI just gave him a nice Institute Scholar scholarship to boot. Good luck to all in their decisions.