<p>If RSI or Intel/Siemens Finalists are a 10 on the scale of impressive accomplishments, what is getting an Eagle Scout?</p>
<p>Is it even that impressive?
What do you guys think?</p>
<p>Maybe 8? It's a staple good that I think admissions officers would always like, but not ... "WOW THAT'S SO UNIQUE AND COOL."</p>
<p>What is that? Are those for guys?</p>
<p>Juicebox- There have been a number of threads on this topic. Here's two excellent threads:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=68050%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=68050</a>
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=30366%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=30366</a></p>
<p>Being an Eagle Scout (which only 4% of Scouts achieve, btw) is an excellent combination of commitment and leadership, qualities adcoms are looking for. It will help, but it depends a great deal on how much you play it out. I made it the focus of my essays, which I think significantly helped my applications. </p>
<p>FYI- Being an Eagle Scout is something that can help you for the rest of your life. My experience as senior patrol leader helped me get a job at Duke TIP this coming summer, which is only one example.</p>
<p>thats pretty sweet OP and warblers.</p>
<p>2% of scouts...</p>
<p>good stuff, lots of fellow eagles here?</p>
<p>I'm not an Eagle Scout, as I am female, but I'm about to complete the Girl Scout equivalent ... the Gold Award.</p>
<p>I hope Gold Award and Eagle Scout are worth something, because gosh it is so much work!</p>
<p>The percentages don't matter. Give me the percentage of scouts who make eagle who actually stay in it until they're 17-18...i'm sure it's much higher than 2-4%. Anyway, I think it's a very solid thing to have on one's app. I'd certainly have a lot of respect for an applicant who was an eagle scout. That being said, a friend of mine who was an eagle scout, a varsity athlete, had a 1470 SAT, was 4th in the class (out of 400), and had a lot of other things to his credit was outright rejected at Brown, Cornell, Columbia and Princeton. He's now at Tufts.</p>
<p>It is very impressive, but it doesn't seem to make that big of an impression on adcoms. On the scale that you stated, it is not even on it. My son was an Eagle and I was on some CC threads about it. One of the threads in post #4 agrees with what I have said, while the other thread is more encouraging but not overly so. If you were totally involved in scouts, then it can be a good EC that shows passion and long-term commitment. Just listing it by itself, it is in the range of being president of the NHS in your school, if that much.</p>
<p>However, I do NOT want to demean the accomplishment. What you did will help you in a lot of ways.</p>
<p>I agree, mostly. When I visited colleges as a junior, I specifically asked about it. Many of the admissions officers said it was an ideal ec. As you know, being an Eagle Scout is standardized, like AP and IB. Presidents of NHS at some schools don't do diddly squat, so I think colleges take common leadership positions with a grain of salt. For that matter, I've known people with state-level leadership positions to be rejected or deferred at top schools. No, adcoms will not give you an "OMG!!! AN EAGLE SCOUT! ADMIT HIM!!!" However, they probably will, all other things being equal, go for the Eagle scout over many other ecs. </p>
<p>cavalier, you've been on CC too long. Don't forget that Tufts is a very fine school in its own right- it's not Ivy, but it's still in the top 1% of colleges. That's pretty good. :p</p>
<p>To the OP- There's also scholarships available, so you might want to check them out...</p>
<p>Thanks man. I've already applied and received the one from BSA. This is an interesting discussion...</p>