Is life at senior military schools worse than the Academy life?
Or are they about the same?
I was just curious.
Anyone out there transferred from a senior military school into a SA and experienced both?
The experience is not the same, but it is similar. A key difference is that at an SMC you are not on active duty (if not on scholarship you pay tuition), and there are a few areas which resemble traditional colleges. Case in point, the schedule. You will get a full summer break, as well as a month or so off for Christmas. ROTC obligations may occur during this time; however, unlike the SAs, you will only engage in military training over the summer if you are contracted. Otherwise, you can work or go to summer school during that time. Also, some cadets at SMCs can finish early or late (5 years).
The curriculum in the major fields of study more closely approximates the coursework you'd see at a traditional college. SAs require a heavy math/science core curriculum, regardless of major, whilst SMCs (and I speak as a VMI graduate) only require math and science beyond the introductory level for those in technical degree programs. That is, an English major at VMI will take statistics and chemistry(geared for liberal arts students) as a Rat, and then maybe one or two more introductory science electives. That's pretty much it. An English major at USNA, for instance, has calculus, physics, and much more than that over the course of the four years. Of course, an engineer at VMI takes all the super-hard science/math classes as well.
As far as the "suck factor," which is what I assume your question is alluding to, it's even. Being a Rat at VMI sucks, and so does being a Plebe at one of the SAs. Comparing the degrees of "suck" would be purely an academic exercise. In no way is being at VMI like being at a traditional college on the social life front; however, it gets better as you build more time at the school. SAs, I assume, are similar.
A BIG difference, is that choosing to enter the Armed Forces at an SMC is exactly that, a choice. You don't have to know you want a commission right away once you get to an SMC, and you don't have to go onto active duty. SAs exist to produce officers for the Armed Forces, so you better be very sure that is what you want when you accept the appointment. An SA education means a committment to serve, an SMC education gives you an opportunity to serve, if you want it (but no guarantee).
If I knew for sure that I wanted to go on active duty, my first attempt would be for the SA. Having said that, an SMC experience is a great plan B that gives you something similar to the USXAs.