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I have head of Culver and it is a very good school. There definitely are lots of private schools that are way more competitive in admissions than the public schools named in another answer: Cate, Thacher, Choate, Groton, Exeter etc The service academies take account of the competitive level of the high school measured in terms of the percentage of students continuing on to 4 year and 2 year colleges when evaluating the class rank based on weighted Gpa which along with the weighted Gpa and course schedule make up the PAR(prior academic record.) The PAR + Sat or Act scores comprise the Academic Composite which accounts for 60% of the Whole Person Score. At the moment you have a blank achievement record as far as the service academies are concerned. The service academies do not consider the extracurricular record prior to 10th grade and as is true for almost every college, they do not consider grades prior to Freshman year. The path to an appointment and the selection process are nearly identical at West Point, the Naval Academy and the Air Force Academy. To be eligible for an appointment, a precandidate needs a nomination. There are several sources of nominations but for most the nomination comes from the Members of Congress(MOC) that represent the Candidate- the house member and his two senators. When a precandidate obtains a nomination he becomes a candidate. Each MOC may have 5 Cadets he nominated and were charged off to him at West Point, 5 Mids he nominated and were charged off to him at the Naval Academy, and 5 Cadets he nominated and were charged off to him at the Air Force Academy at any point in time. For each vacancy due to graduation or otherwise, the MOC may nominate 10 candidates to compete for the appointment.
There are three rounds of competition in which an appointment can be earned;
1) National Competition for an Loa(letter of assurance)
http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/steps10.htm
[Cadets/Mids receiving an Loa are not charged off to the nominating MOC as one of his 5 Cadets/Mids.]
2) Competition within nominating sources.
3) National competition among waitlisted candidates for declined offers of appointment, strictly according to whole person scores. [Appointments off the waitlist are not charged off to the nominating Moc.]
An MOC may:
1) Choose a Principal Nomination and rank alternate nominations.
2) Choose a Principal Nomination and not rank alternate nominations.
3) Offer an unranked slate of alternate nominations.
Approximately 70% of MOC offer an unranked slate of alternate nominations. An MOC can choose whichever method to fill each vacancy at each service academy.
With the exception of triple qualified-scholastically, physically, medically-candidates holding Principal Nominations or ranked alternate nominations in the round of competition within the nominating source, the whole person score is used for selection decisions for service academies. A very similar whole person score is used for selection decisions for rotc scholarships.
Whole Person Score=Academic Composite(60%) + Extracurricular Composite(20%) + Admissions Panel(20%)
Repeating what was stated at the outset....
Academic Composite= PAR + SAT/ACT
PAR=Weighted GPA+Class Rank based on Weighted GPA
[PAR is an abbreviation for prior academic record.]
Admissions Panel: CFA + Interview + Letters of Recommendation + Writing Sample+ Summer Seminar Squad Leader's written evaluation
The weighting of the whole person score is detailed at the top of page 7 of the 2009-2010 Usafa Catalog. It is helpful to read the entire "Admissions" chapter of all three Dod Service Academy Catalogs:
http://www.academyadmissions.com/img/assets/PDF/Entire_Catalog.pdf
It is helpful to read the outstanding advice offered on the Air Force Academy website to students prepping for a service academy, rotc scholarship or any highly selective university:
http://www.academyadmissions.com/#Page/Preparation
[Be sure to open all links to the left of the dialog box. Full CFA instructions at the end of the physical prep link.]
The Class of 2013 Profiles detail the academic and extracurricular accomplishments of candidates who successfully competed for appointments. Common activities include participation in varsity athletics, over 90%, Varsity letters, around 80%, Athletic Team Captain, around 2/3: and NHS membership, around 2/3.
http://admissions.usma.edu/moreInfo/Profile2013.pdf
http://www.usna.edu/admissions/documents/Class%20Portrait%202013.pdf
https://admissions.usafa.edu/RRC/Class_of_2013_profile.pdf
My suggestion is to carefully read the prep advice given on the Air Force Academy site along with the accomplishments of candidates who successfully competed for appointments. Be sure to have test scores well into Loa range, generally above the 75th percentile, in other words, above the middle 50% range, especially for Math. The SAT Math tests Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry. The ACT also tests Trigonometry.
Apply for the West Point Summer Seminar in mid December of junior year. It closes to applications on April 1. According to Colonel Batchelder in the West Point SLS video at the link, 50% of students who attend SLS are offered an appointment to West Point.
http://admissions.usma.edu/MoreInfo/summer.cfm
I suggest also applying to Usna Summer Seminar as it is beneficial to attend at least one and it is over twice the size of West Points, 2250 v 1000 precandidates invited. It usually opens for applications Feb 1. Usna Summer Seminar also closes to applications on April 1. Usafa Summer Seminar opens for applications Dec1 and closes Feb 28.
Good Luck!

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