DD is a Sophomore. She will be going through this process next year. When glancing through the admissions process on the USNA website, it doesn't say anything about an essay, resume, etc. being part of it. Just GPA, Rank, SAT Scores, school transcript, and an interview after all is submitted. But if she does a significant amount of out of school activities (such as years of muay thai and jiu jitsu training), where is that information applied?
Also, how hard is it to get a nomination? Is that half the battle ?
You'll see everyone on this forum recommend to apply to
every nomination source your DD for which she will be eligible. My DD followed that advice to the letter - to include applying for a VP nom. She applied for all the nomination sources even though she had a Presidential nom in her portal in late summer 2018.
As a sophomore, your DD will be applying for noms in the summer/fall 2020 timeframe. Your MOCs will have varying times in terms of when nom apps become available and when they are due.
Let's say, for example, your senior senator won't have nom apps open until 1 July 2020. That doesn't mean she has to wait until the nom app opens to work on them. My DD got a hold of the nom app from the previous cycle (oftentimes, they're still on the MOC website) and looked at the requirements. For example, when she saw one of the apps required 2 letters of recommendation, she asked a couple of her junior year teachers in Apr/May if they would be willing to write an LOR for her in the Jul/Aug timeframe. The app also required a 4x6 picture. When she took her grad pic in late June, she made sure she ordered enough 4x6 pics to include in nomination apps. So when the nom app finally opened on 1 July, she already set the conditions for her to get all the requirements done by 31 July. She knocked out that nom app by the first week in August.
The rep for our district didn't open her app until 1 Aug. My DD called the office and asked the staff if the app on the website is still relevant for the upcoming app cycle. The lady told my DD that the app would be the same but they just needed to change the dates to reflect the new cycle. Once she got that confirmation, my DD started working that app in July. When the app opened on 1 August, she was ready. She submitted that app within a couple of weeks if it opening on the rep website.
The big thing is she didn't have to wait until classes started in late August to ask for LORs for noms. She had greased the skids with her junior year teachers during the spring that she would need LORs over the summer. The teachers were more than happy to do it for her. They put the LORs in envelopes and left at the school office for my DD to pick up during the summer.
How hard is it to get a nomination? Our rep gets less than 10 apps per SA every year. Basically, my DD was competing against less than 10 other students for the 10 slots our rep has on each slate. For the noms from the senators, the letters sent to my DD from both said they got over 350 apps for the 10 slots on the slate. I don't think any of the MOCs did the primary nom thing. I think they just submit 10 names on a slate to the SA and let each select from the 10. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is I'm echoing what someone mentioned previously. It depends on your district on difficulty on getting a nom. If you live in a district around the DC area, then it'll be difficult to get a nom from the rep or senators.
Read your local paper. Many times, the reps will put out a news release on who they nominated and to which SA. If you see the rep is nominating less than 10, then either 1) they got less than 10 apps or 2) they got more than 10 apps but chose to nominate less than 10 because maybe the MOC didn't feel the others were competitive. On the whole though, it seems the MOCs try to maximize the names on their slates. Also, ask the staff member in the MOC's office on how many apps they get in a typical year.
The reality though, it doesn't matter who else is in your district. Your DD just needs to put forward the best app she can and things will take care of itself. DD can control what goes into her app. She can can't control who else in the district/state applies.
Good luck!!! Wish you and your family a good ride in this long process.