Taking care of the brother IS an EC.
I do alumni interviews. I had a student that didn’t appear to have many ECs. But we were talking about that…and it turned out that he watched his little brother after school. His parents were getting divorced and he started to notice his brother falling through the cracks. So he started making sure he did his homework, and also signed him up for a baseball league. He took him to practices and games.
So not only did he babysit his brother, he showed leadership in making sure his brother had opportunities and support.
Family Support (9-12 grades, 20 hours/week): Care for significantly disabled brother, including getting him up for school, feeding breakfast and getting dressed and on bus. After school, help him with snacks, recreation and cook dinner. Perform xxxx medical procedures daily.
Eagle Scout IS also a big deal… for people who apply to the Service Academies (e.g., West Point), Eagle Scout is a significant leadership boost…it includes teamwork, service and leadership over a long period of time.
Also have him apply to his Big State U…they will have engineering and will have good scholarships and will mostly admit on GPA/SAT/ACt numbers.