<p>Now I’m wondering if D2s BFF had a related merit award to his Eagle.
D met him at her directional state university- which is about 100% more rigorous than it was in my day. Its a gorgeous area and for students without need admitted to more prestigious & expensive schools, its a great choice.
Still I remember how irked a friend of D1s parents were when all the school offered her NMF daughter was a whopping $1,000 to attend. ( she did anyway)</p>
<p>That was almost 13 years ago, tuition has gone up a * lot* since then, because support from the state has been slashed by half. So every bit counts.</p>
<p>I know that the awards the eagles I knew which were awarded by the school of engineering at their private U were NOT need based. I do believe the BSA eagle scholarships are need based. Private Us have considerable latitude in making merit awards. :).</p>
Right, I was just referring to the BSA scholarships as being all need-based. There may well be some scholarships for Eagle Scouts from colleges or other entities that don’t consider need, and that would be worth investigating.</p>
<p>I would just like to reiterate that “looking good for college” is not a reason to get involved in Scouting, or to work on Eagle Scout rank–it might be worth mentioning to a Scout who needs more motivation to finish those last few requirements. The real value is elsewhere.</p>
<p>Definitely, the Eagles we know all got this honor because working toward it was something they valued. Getting merit awards was a very nice surprise. None have any regrets about their hard work or achieving their Eagles.</p>
<p>I would expect that the vast majority of scouts worked toward Eagle because it was a difficult achievement in front of them and a challenge, yet a realistic one. I can assure you that my son, who entered scouting as a Tiger Cub at age 5, was not thinking of college admissions when he became involved in scouting! He became hooked into it because of the camaraderie, the outdoor activities, the fun of taking on leadership and the challenging skills achieved. Later, it was the fact that he recognized the valuable contribution he was making to the younger scouts in the troop, as well as earning the respect of older boys and adults for his contributions. Scouting provides opportunities for growth that are hard to come by these days. Even the intense athletic involvement my daughter experienced through high school didn’t provide the opportunities for “giving back” that is an integral part of the scouting program. </p>
<p>As a college student, my son would take time off school to help his old troop set up a ropes course at Joshua Tree, or mentor a young scout. The rewards have to be very intrinsic for a young adult to be willing to go out of his way to continue service long after any external recognition is forthcoming. </p>
<p>I do think it’s difficult for those not involved to truly appreciate what achieving Eagle Scout means in terms of character building. I can honestly say that scouting played a huge role in shaping who my son is today. (And as a politically liberal family, we’re extremely happy that the tide is finally turning regarding the discrimination issue.)</p>
<p>One thing that pleasantly surprised us about S is that when he started college, he started and was president of a rock climbing club. He continues rock climbing, which he enjoys and I think his love for the great outdoors is partly due to scouting and partly because we went to a lot of national parks when he was young. He also developed significant leadership skills in scouting, which have also been useful for him, as well as speaking before and with adults.</p>
<p>In a past job, my boss was an Eagle Scout, and the organization we worked for sponsored a Boy Scout Troop. As his secretary, I typed up several letters of recommendation (for college) he’d written for Eagles from the troop. I also typed many letters of recommendation for youth who were part of the organization, but not Eagles (and sometimes not Scouts). The letters about the Eagles were always glowing endorsements, and some of them actually brought tears to my eyes. So one possibly-overlooked benefit of reaching Eagle status is having adults who know you well, are impressed by you, and can/will write glowing letters of recommendation on your behalf.</p>
<p>That is true, axw. The adults who camp , hike , and go to places like Philmont with kids actually do get to know these kids pretty well and are usually glad to help with recommendations.</p>
<p>Sorry, Xiggi, but it is never a bad idea to write an essay about religion, politics, or anything else you feel strongly about. Any ad com rep who would reject an individual Eagle Scout because he/she had issues with the BSA 's policies probably isn’t of high intellectual caliber anyway. A first-rate mind is capable of disagreeing with an organization as a whole and still seeing the beauty of an individual member’s talents and the logic of his arguments.</p>
<p>I should preface this by saying that I haven’t read the entire thread. When this topic comes up, as it often does on CC, some people always say “everyone knows what attaining the Eagle rank means.” The fact is, they don’t. As a female from a non-scouting family, I <em>still</em> have very little idea what it really entails. I’ve seen some eagle projects described that I find less than impressive and seem to emanate from troops that are “eagle factories.” I know a very fine young man who didn’t get into our HS NHS junior year apparently because he just put down that he was an Eagle Scout, rather than describing what he had actually done in some detail.</p>
<p>I’m sure that <em>experienced</em> admissions officers have a reasonable idea of what it entails, even if they have no scouting experience themselves. But a lot of ad coms are recent grads, and they might not have the faintest idea. </p>
<p>So I would suggest that any kid who has done significant work towards an eagle rank or in scouting in general describe their projects specifically, so that they can stand on their own merits, and tie them into their other interests, if possible. Don’t depend on others having inside knowledge or an emotional attachment to scouting.</p>
<p>Well, from my vantage point, I think that it is a VERY bad idea to discuss such subjects in an application essay, especially when there is a multitude of subjects that are both better suited and a lot less problematic. And allow me to add a bit to the WHY this is a bad choice. Such subjects are extremely hard to cover WELL and usually fail to establish a direct connection to the writer. Application essays are not the best format to write about religion or politics as the mere 500 words make it difficult to present a cogent argument. This especially difficult for most 17 years old! What is, in fact, expected is to present a small slice of life that described a meaningful event of a PERSONAL nature. Unless expressly requested by the school, it is best to stick to subjects that are 17th years old centric. Spend some time reading what most teenagers present in the essay forum, and you will see what I mean! </p>
<p>I also believe you missed that I wrote about the choice of using the BSA’s choices as a theme for a personal and argumentative essay. I believe that everyone agrees (here) that mentioning the participation in the BSA and listing the Eagle achievement among the accomplishments of the applicant is a GOOD idea as it shows a number of qualities. </p>
<p>In the simplest of terms, this is all about taking unwarranted risks in a process where adcoms have an overwhelming tendency to reject a LOT more than reaching out for the ADMIT stamp. The chance that a risky and generic essay scores points is small compared to the alternative.</p>
<p>On the matter of numbers, how many of those 40-60k Eagles are Mormons who never apply to top schools (because of the large portion that go to BYU)? The Scouting program is huge within the LDS church, so I would bet that the number of Eagles applying to top schools is actually even further diminished from what you would expect. </p>
<p>On a more personal note, I’m a Life Scout (one step below Eagle) and chose to discontinue Scouting permanently because of the BSA’s discrimination. How do I address this on my applications? I still have quite a bit of service with the organization and don’t want to leave it out.</p>
<p>We were told by three different admissions counselors that the Gold Award (Girl Scouts) and Eagle Scout were separated from the rest of the applications and given very serious consideration before other applications. D (Gold Award) earned many top scholarships and was admtted with honors to every college she applied to. It is a MAJOR accomplishment for many reasons. Congrats to you! Celebrate your accomplishment!</p>
<p>StudiousMaximus, Just put Life Scout BSA on your application. However, if you feel that you need to “discontinue Scouting permanently because of the BSA’s discrimination”, why would you even want to use the BSA to help further your college applications? Seems kind of hypocritical but maybe I’m missing something.</p>
<p>@sevmom: I don’t even care about the Life Scout award (and won’t list it). I was inquiring about the volunteer hours that I have with the organization. Perhaps I’ll just replace “Scout Troop” with “Church,” because they were basically the same thing.</p>
<p>In my own little ime, I’ve never seen comments by an adcom that there was an issue with a candidate because of the organization’s views. Everyone knows it’s a top award in BSA. But, understand that some kids come through with a project description that doesn’t turn any tides. Or no description.</p>
<p>You can write about it. It just needs to be an effectively done essay, same as other topics.</p>
<p>@StudiousMaximus,But the “Scout troop” , even if sponsored by a church and the meetings may take place there, is still a separate entity. I assume you performed the volunteer hours as part of a scouting requirement, not a church requirement? But maybe just list specific volunteer activities that were meaningful to you. Not sure you have to necessarily list troop OR church. However, the source of your volunteerism could come up if you ever had to interview.</p>
<p>I think you’re trading a chance to show you committed to BSA, did all the work, up to Life-- based on speculation about how an adcom may feel about the org. That is a tough trade off. Do you have- are you sure- replacement for the effort, if you omit it? Your decision. But, you are aiming high. </p>
<p>You can put one line in Addl Info that you dropped scouting because… Diplomatically phrased, because this is a college app, not an editorial.</p>
<p>And, i can barely imagine an interview stumble. For all you know the interviewer was a scout- you just explain with the level of intelligence and appropriateness that college would like to hear in all your answers.</p>
<p>My S is at Philmont at the moment and his eagle project is due in October; he has jumped various hurdles to get to this point and has wanted to quit so many times. He knows he’s too far into it but he has a really egotistical leader who wouldn’t advance him (even though S had completed all of the advancements two years ago). </p>
<p>Leader just wanted S to go to more weekend campouts; S is very charismatic and great cook- and where S goes, everyone wants to go too. (S hates camping! Has always disliked it and prefers the volunteer projects. The Dad’s are more into the campouts-living their childhoods through their sons.) We finally found out that what the leader was doing was wrong in not advancing him. </p>
<p>Then S found out through college advisors that Eagle doesn’t make a whole lot of difference. S is still considering quitting because of the ridiculous paper trail involved; he got approval for his project, but given adult Scout advice, he proceeded in the wrong order, so now his project is delayed until everyone comes back from summer status. He hates this so much and I feel for him; we told him he could quit. He’s ready to go-build, but he can’t because he got his 4 approvals in the wrong sequences!</p>
So every bit counts.</p>