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A little preamble-
Okay, this is really a question out of curiosity, Not in any way meaning to start a debate here. </p>
<p>As far as I know Quaker’s are not atheists. And the Boy Scouts have an award for Quakers. Is this a different kind of Quaker?</p>
<p>Edit:
Nevermind. I found it on wikipedia as usual. Under “nontheist Friend.”</p>
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<p>I totally disagree – the Boy Scouts IS a religious organization that believes in some sense of religion. Any kind is acceptable, but institutionally and practically it is religious. Therefore to restrict membership on that criterion is not discriminatory but rather exclusionary.</p>
<p>It depends on the how many EAgle Scouts and how many Model UN kids are in the applicant pool as which one makes a bigger impact. Around here, I don’t know many Eagle Scouts among those kids who are aspiring to the most selective schools, so I have no feel for how that works as even a tip for any school. Tons of Model UN kids who are selective school aspirants to the point that I don’t think it’s such a special designation. None of kids did this, but I can name a dozen kids right off the bat who did and ard are top students. The two Eagles I know are not top school material. When I looked at my son’s Naviance like college info for his school, there was only one girlscout who made top ranks int the 10 year history shown in the school She went to Barnard. Model UN peppered the pages, and yes, many of them did go to top schools, but many were not accepted despite the designation AND top profiles. And ALL of those accepted would have been candidates for those schools without that Model UN. I didn’t see a single case where it would have made a difference for the kid.</p>
<p>^^^^
Obviously. I just picked Model UN at random.</p>
<p>Just to stir the pot—2 yr ago I took the 10th gr Girl Scout troop to visit Princeton U for the info session & tour. None of them intend to apply there because “It’s too close” even though several would be candidates academically. We did it as part of their Career Award work—and also to get them out to “do the drill” before they were visiting schools seriously with their families. </p>
<p>They all were at that time working on the steps towards their Gold Awards and most of them today have obtained the approvals from the Council to start their projects.</p>
<p>After the info session, I asked the presenting AO how Princeton feels about Gold Awards (because the girls did not believe me, natch) – and he had me gather them around so they could hear his response–which was that they absolutely want to see Golds & Eagles on apps; that to them these awards signify many years of commitment to many types of community service, and they also know that there are several cumulative steps involved in getting these awards, most of them involving development of leadership skills, etc. with 30 & 40 hour time logs attached. </p>
<p>I don’t know about the Boy Scots, not having had any boys, but nearly all GS gettng a Gold have been in since kindergarten, and they have been doing several different kinds of service projects annually the entire time. It does shape the women they will become. </p>
<p>Obviously, not all Eagle or Gold earners are going to appy to Ivies. The Scouts aren’t basing these awards on academic transcripts. Not all Eagle or Gold earners are even going to go to college — I know one young lady who has Down’s Syndrome who will be working on her Gold. The real benefit of these Awards relates to the personal development of the young person who is working towards them.</p>
<p>That said, when college admissions officers see that an applicant has achieved one of these, s/he knows the person has been learning people skills, organizational skills, has been committed to community service for years, etc.</p>
<p>As I mentioned before, it’s not just being an Eagle, Gold Award, NHS etc. It’s what you do with those opportunities that you can “sell” on your transcript. Show how you’ve developed leadership and civic responsibility for those organizational opportunities. That’s what’s important, not just being involved.</p>
<p>When my son applied to Georgetown 10 years ago, the brochure that they sent bragged about all of the awards and talents the class has. There were concert musicians, tremendous athletes, celebrity kids, the list went on with the % of kids who were yearbook editors, president of their student class, National Merit Scholars, Presidential Scholars. I did not see scouts in that group. If anyone can find a similar brag, take a look and see if it appears on the college brag sheets. That is an indicator as to how prevalent the hook is and if it is something that the school considers important.</p>
<p>A very good book by Chuck Hughes, former senior admissions officer of Harvard, “What it Really Takes to Get inot the IVy League” lists activities and awards that catch the eyes of highly selective college adcoms. The Eagle and Girl Scout Gold/Silver designations are included on the list.</p>
<p>My son didn’t play an organized sport in high school, yet he is an avid outdoorsman. Scouting provided an avenue to do many of the things he loves, like rock climbing and backpacking. I imagine seeing Eagle Scout on his EC list may have helped colleges see him as the active outdoor person he is rather than someone who spends most of his time indoors, which his other interests such as web design, film production and yearbook editor may have led them to think, otherwise. Every kid is an athlete these days, it seems. My son was the only person in his entire graduating class who was not involved in a high school sport, so I think his years of scouting filled in what may have seemed a missing piece without it.</p>
<p>DS is not involved in a HS sport, although he skis, bikes, plays golf, and got a junior Tai Kwon Do black belt before he went to HS (since quit martial arts). He is a scout also.</p>
<p>Rre Scout participation (both Boy and Girl Scouts) on college brag sheets:
[United</a> States Military Academy at West Point](<a href=“http://www.usma.edu/Class/2013/profile.asp]United”>http://www.usma.edu/Class/2013/profile.asp)</p>
<p>With a simple Google search, front page only:</p>
<p>Vasser:</p>
<p>[Vassar</a> College || Statistics](<a href=“http://admissions.vassar.edu/about_statistics.html]Vassar”>http://admissions.vassar.edu/about_statistics.html)</p>
<p>College of Charleston:</p>
<p>[Class</a> of 2013 Profile - College of Charleston](<a href=“Page not found - College of Charleston”>Freshman Class Profiles - College of Charleston)</p>
<p>UCLA</p>
<p>[UCLA</a> admits 12,098 freshman students for fall 2009 / UCLA Newsroom<a href=“almost%20300%20Eagles%20in%20the%20class%20of%202009”>/url</a></p>
<p>Ursinus</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.ursinus.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=429]Admissions”>http://www.ursinus.edu/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=429]Admissions</a> - Process - Freshman Profile](<a href=“http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/ucla-admits-12-098-freshmen-students-87095.aspx]UCLA”>Newsroom | UCLA)</p>
<p>Texas A and M has a whole program for Eagle Scouts tied to their Corp program</p>
<p>I think that it is clear that it is a valuable award and activity. However, it is not a big hook in most cases. It could play a big role in some merit awards.</p>
<p>It is a great thing to have as it does fulfill a lot of the things that colleges do want such as community service, sports, extra curricular activities, leadership, awards, etc. Some kids find that those spaces look mighty sparse if they are not involved in a lot of activities. My college son had no awards, leadership, recognition, at all other than National Merit. Though I hate it when I hear people say to do something for the college app, it is not a good feeling when you do have a lot of blanks. And some kids just are not really active in those things. Eagle Scout is a great thing for that purpose, as are a number of other activities.</p>
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I don’t know about the first one, but the second could have been a pretty significant project, depending on what had to be done. I think this suggests that if you are referring to your Eagle project on an application, make sure you describe it in a way that puts across what it entailed–i.e., “led 30 helpers in a project requiring 200 man-hours to renovate a gazebo at my church, including removing and replacing a cedar shake roof,” as opposed to “fixed an old gazebo at my church.”</p>
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<p>The BSA is a youth organization, not a religious organization. Never has been, never will be.</p>
<p>I have heard that being an Eagle Scout does help, which makes perfect sense, since it is a time consuming EC. That said, I have never heard it considered to be a true “hook” like the classic “hooks” (URM, 1st generation college student, and legacy students).</p>
<p>As a note - there are troops and councils that are working to change the homosexuality issue. The Boston council has been in open rebellion for some years now.
Eagle still takes a long time - a passel of badges, a leadership position, and quite a few other things besides the final project.
It’s a time consuming EC but it’s also an EC that shows a long term commitment and a degree of honor and ability to work with others.
Lots of very good colleges like Eagles.
And yes, there are lots of Eagles who aren’t aiming at the elite schools. Two very fine Eagles I know are heading for careers in firefighting and the culinary arts. Another is considering the military.</p>
<p>“it is not a good feeling when you do have a lot of blanks.” - That’s true. I noticed scholarship applications for my son with a “Leadership” category (in one case it was 1/4 free-form part of the app). Kids should never do any activity purely for college apps, but as they pick and choose priorities base on time limitations, keep that in mind. </p>
<p>My own son never got past Tiger Scouts. (It would have spread him too thin in 1st grade to do piano and church activities and soccer and scouts). But I do know from other boys that Eagle Scout is a whole lot more than just the final project! There are years and years of commitment, with many badges and leadership chores involved as they get older.</p>
<p>I was told by several college reps (military academy, Georgetown adcom) that what makes Eagle Scout attractive is the fact that it is a quantifiable accomplishment. To attain the rank, a Scout must be active in his troop for several years, complete a project that is a minimum of 100 hours, complete a minimum of 21 merit badges -both required & elective - and demonstrate leadership over a series of 6-month periods. The project must then be written up as a report with documented details. These requirements establish a predictable standard for the attainment of Eagle Scout. In other areas - athletics, clubs, etc. - a student’s accomplishments may be more subjective and open to interpretation. We’ve all known of students who are officers of an organization that never do anything beyond their title. But most colleges and the military are familiar with the amount of time and the level of commitment required to reach Eagle.</p>
<p>It is by no means a hook. I agree with Dean J (#106) that reaching Eagle is more common now than 10 years ago. Over the past few years, I have sat on Eagle Boards of Review for almost a dozen boys in our troop. Our Scoutmaster has seen over 65 boys make Eagle in his 15 years as scoutmaster. We do not “rubberstamp” their Eagle application - their applications are closely scrutinized at the troop, district, council, and national levels to make sure that all the requirements listed above are met and documented with the appropriate signatures before they can be awarded the rank. </p>
<p>That said, I also see more boys picking more “redundant” and less creative projects just so they can “punch the Eagle ticket” on their college apps. “Removing invasive species” (aka weed pulling) at local parks is a particular favorite choice which I have come to dread. It is not at all creative or even interesting, but yet it fits the bill in terms of meeting the requirements for an Eagle project.</p>
<p>Quote:
“I know one young lady who has Down’s Syndrome who will be working on her Gold.” </p>
<p>And the Boy/Girl Scouts will get sued if they discriminate, so they have to water down the program to make it fair and accessible to everyone, since everyone has equal rights. And soon they will need to provide special, seperate transportation for special needs. </p>
<p>And if there were gay troop leaders, everyone’s parents would pull their kids from the troop. Who would want a gay male troop leader having a sleepover with their boys? But it isn’t fair. Everyone should be accepting. </p>
<p>What a strange world.</p>
<p>I won’t argue how parents feel, or their undeniable right to choose who cares for their children, but gay men are not pedophiles .</p>
<p>I have several gay men who are wonderful people, that have had the joy of being a part of my childrens lives. I also had a neighbor move in across the street, a very family, suburban neighborhood. He was married with children. Before anyone knew them the wife and kids were gone. A year later he was arrested for child pornography.</p>
<p>A strange world indeed that my friends are presumed guilty of something they find equally as abhorrent, and yet my previous neighbor could have easily been welcomed as a scout leader.</p>
<p>This is not unique to scouting. It is anywhere children are in contact with adults. There is misinformation and fear. That is not an issue with scouting, that is an issue in a large portion of society.</p>