<p>It would be nice if some context was offered about this anecdote. How many very selective are there that have adcoms conducting interviews? Was this part of a scholarship interview? Or some other event? </p>
<p>This is rather important because one ought to make a difference between the usual (and usualy meaningless) alumni interview and the most rare interviews conducted on campus by people who DO have a say in the decisions. The most common scenario entails having readers digging in a folder that has been reduced to its essential components. Most if not all interviewers do not have access to the full application.</p>
<p>For heaven’s sake, if one committed to scouts and accomplished something, claim it. Unless it is zip next to the rest of what you have done and achieved. (But realize that, if you are a stellar achiever, something like scouts is going to make you look real, rounded, interesting, not just unilaterally driven.)</p>
<p>All this fussing about whether the line matters is the same as speculating about the rest of the admissions process. You don’t know, someone said, someone heard the opposite. Ime, if all you did was show up, pffft. if you accomplished something, feel free to claim it.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that I understand the question about my son’s interview. I posted that information for the OP so that he could be ready for that question in some of his interviews this year. My son thought it was notable that he was interested in his commitment to troop/community AFTER earning the highest award. My son thought he was checking to make sure that he just didn’t earn Eagle to put it on his college application.</p>
<p>Also, a boy scout can affiliate with a troop after they graduate. My husband grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. In his troop they had a Princeton student that joined the troop as an assistant leader. He attended weekly meetings and went on some of the camping trips with the troop. My husband said he was just a really “scouty” undergrad!</p>
<p>Oh, the question was about defining what kind of interview it might be. You mentioned interview, adcoms, and very selective schools in the account, and since very few schools (to my knowledge) might fit those criteria, I suggested that it might be helpful to offer the context of the interview. The value and importance of the interviews has been a theme debated ad nauseam on CC. I happen to be in the camp that alumni interviews are not worth neither the trouble nor effort, as their importance is between zilch and a few degrees over nada. On the other hand, I believe that the rare interviews on campus with an admission officer (not a traveling junior one) are quite different. </p>
<p>oh, sure. It was an on campus interview. I did notice another student that was waiting with us had her interview with a student that was working in admissions for the summer. I don’t know why we got the regular admissions officer. Maybe just lucky as I have no connection to the school. They did mention that it was their busiest day of the summer so far so maybe it was just an “all hands on deck” situation.</p>
<p>I think small colleges are better at interviewing students. I do alumni interviewing for my college and I can assure you it does count in certain situations. The objective for my college seems to be to know the applicant pool as well as they can and from as many angles as they can so they can make the most informed decisions. However, I agree with you if you say that an alumni can not “get you into the college”. They can’t! Sometimes they can’t even get their own kids in! Many times I have witnessed this in the past 8 years.</p>
<p>Alumni interviewing can come at a busy time of year for students. It’s most important that they keep up with their schoolwork/exams etc. When students are too busy to meet I just suggest we talk by phone so that I can send in a few notes.</p>
<p>About 25%-30% of the Eagles in our troop wait until just before their 18th Birthday to complete their requirements for the rank. I have parents in scouts that are happy that their son has achieved the rank, but annoyed that they did not do so in time to place this on their college applications. We call some of them “death bed” eagles because they race to get the rank in the last few possible days.</p>
<p>And I am the mother of one of them!!! Rising senior needs to work on his Eagle Project and get it done soon or I’ll be the mother of two “death bed” eagles!</p>
<p>They can send their Us updates, with a note that their Eagle has been achieved, brief blurb about their project and other relevant honors since their apps, as appropriate. Have known several eagles who have done this. Congrats!</p>
<p>We live in the Bible Belt, but S was applying to schools in the much more liberal northeast and California. Was told by our college counselor that being an Eagle Scout is not a big differentiator, and to competitive schools outside of the conservative south, it can be viewed as not necessarily positive. </p>
<p>It was explained that being too closely aligned with a private organization with openly (some say proudly) discriminatory policies is a potentially unhelpful reflection on the student, whether or not the student agrees with the policy. Schools want students that will fit in well with the diversity of the milieu. They are not looking for kids that will make value judgments against fellow students, which unfortunately Scouts is associated with recently. </p>
<p>S was actually advised to de-emphasize Scouting on the Common App. He didn’t do it even though he had other great extra curriculars, and he didn’t get into a couple schools that his counselor thought he had a great shot at. He got into others that had values in line with more conservative thought. Coincidence? Maybe. </p>
<p>My advice is that if you are an Eagle Scout that doesn’t have other strong extra curriculars and you really want to be considered for a highly selective college in a more progressive part of the country than here in the south, write an essay on the existential conflict of being an inclusive, broad-minded person in a discriminatory organization. Write about how you led by example through mutual respect with people who may have had different values or upbringing. Demonstrates maturity in a world with lots of gray areas.</p>
@xanderben It’s a nice article but “how colleges see it” is dependent on them, no? 1) most colleges don’t rely on non-statistical attributes. Send the transcript and test scores. That gets punched into an algorithm: you’re in or you’re not.
Colleges that consider other attributes normally recognize the dedication required to become Eagle. But does Eagle > top 100 ranked tennis player or Eagle > STEM wannabe who grew up in single parent home and is val of his urban HS?
Who is to say? Eagle is valuable without argument. But what seems to be a consistent theme is that the BSA promoters are hot on the proselytizing trail. Nothing wrong with that per se but don’t expect everyone to simply swallow it whole.