<p>I agree with kathiep. If your child is deeply involved in other activities, the Gold Award may not matter that much.</p>
<p>For my son too, the Eagle was significant among his ECs, and one that demonstrated the most leadership and committment. For my D who had other major ECs, even though she did her Gold Award, it was not a factor in her acceptances.</p>
<p>Neither of them based their essays on scouting or the Awards. Both of them proudly list it in their resumes though.</p>
<p>Choc, how can you be sure the Gold was not a factor in your D's acceptances?</p>
<p>My D has her gold. I don't know if it made a difference in her college apps (state u for which she was overly qualified). But she interviewed for (and got) a job right after she graduated HS - it is a job in the career area she is planning on and she will be able to work there her the 4 years she is in college - her interviewer was very interested in her gold project and what it entailed.</p>
<p>I don't think anyone should stay in scouts (or any EC for that matter) just for how it looks in college apps. My daughter loved scouts and wanted to stay in it and involved. Her troop (which was down to 4 girls at this point) did a 4 week trip to Europe last summer before senior year which they payed for totally through 3 years of hard work and fundraising. Pretty amazing experience for them and they really saw the rewards of hard work - probably learned as much from that as from the gold project.</p>
<p>dt123, obviously I don't know for sure, but it's just from my D's profile that I feel very strongly that she would have been accepted to all those schools anyway. There were other impressive EC's that she was a lot more passionate about, that showed more dedication.</p>
<p>My D was in GS since 2nd grade, but it was just something she did whenever the troop got together. Please don't take this the wrong way, anyone, but most people know that even if you were never a GS, you can become one in 10th grade and get your Gold Award.</p>
<p>On the other hand, no matter where you go, even 20 years from now, you will be recognized for the achievement.</p>
<p>my best friend was a gold award winner and scouting has had such a positive impact in her life (she was a troop leader throughout college and now volunteers as a specialist helping urban troops go on camping trips) that it makes ME wish I hadn't dropped out of Juniors back in elementary school!</p>
<p>so that's another vote for going for it--unless she has another strong interest that she'd rather spend her time doing, or she's so overscheduled that she'll hate it.</p>