My usual comments for this common question:
SA grads, of all the comm sources, are by far the most professionally prepared for their military service. They have already been immersed in the life 24/7, and have been exposed to a variety of senior military leaders, officers in various branches, professional experiences, and soaked up the culture of life in uniform. They have a superb foundation going into their career, whether short or long. ROTC/OCS/OTC grads are equally smart and motivated, and will quickly catch up. In the field, it is all about performance, not where you got your butter bars. In my experience, the “SA effect” wears off in 1-2 years. No resting on laurels.
ROTC and OCS/OTS grads are usually more socially prepared for life as a junior officer, having dealt with apartment rentals, bill-paying, commuting, balancing real-life logistics, interacting with others not headed into the military, personal relationships with fewer restrictions as to time, and other factors. The SA grads catch up on this stuff, just as the other grads catch up on professional stuff.
There are successful grads out of all sources, whether you define success as going on to 4 stars or separating as a junior officer and becoming a CEO of a large corporation or retiring after a full career and going on to achievements in a new career.
The one element that I have observed that is unique and matchless, is the bond present in SA grads with classmates, other grads, and also other SA grads, even 50+ years after graduation. That is a significantly valuable advantage in career transition and networking. In general, military officers are highly valued in the working world for their leadership experience and other qualities. But a hiring official who is a SA grad knows a SA grad candidate went through a massive, highly pressurized experience in both the application experience and the 4 years at an SA - they get that about each other, even if it’s different SAs. The hiring official will certainly highly respect MIT as a reflection of intellectual ability, plus whatever else the candidate brings to the table, but they know what an SA grad went through, the grit and determination it takes to grind out 4 years in a full-immersion military setting completely unlike a civilian college. I watch the bonds my DH has with his USNA classmates, and the instant camaraderie with other USNA grads and SA grads, and it is a unique way of relating that is not matched. As vets, both of us enjoy that broader sense of family with other vets. The SA grads, though, enjoy a closer “blood relation” type of feeling. I have a few good friends from my college years, my PCM doctor is an alumna, but I don’t relate in the same “what we went through” way. At an SA, unlike a college, everyone joins the same “company” for at least 5 years after graduation, so that further cements the bond.
My DH had a choice of USNA, USMA, a few Ivies, Northwestern, and I forget what else. He knew what he wanted was the SA experience. From close observation over the years, he values that SA experience as something that tested him personally and pushed him to the max, and he made it through to toss his cover in the air at graduation with classmates. He credits that pressure-filled training and the ability to dig deep in chaotic circumstances as a key element in his survival in AD experiences that involved cool-headed decision-making in live operational situations with life or death elements.
USMA and MIT are two fine choices, with great potential for success in and out of uniform. The military values officers from all sources. It is a matter of what the individual wants for him or herself, and where they feel they will best thrive.
As noted above, many SA grads go to MIT, Ivies, Stanford, etc., for grad school, and that diploma glows very nicely on the wall next to the SA degree. The USNA alumni in our “sponsor mid” family have attended (in no particular order) Harvard (Kennedy), Columbia, MIT, Stanford, Georgetown, Tufts, Duke, Yale, Penn (Wharton), UVA (Law) and many others, either while still serving or by using their post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefits.