Is an Eagle Scout rank helpful to the application process?

Parents Forum
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<p>Is there a merit badge for Recognizing Bogus Statistics?</p>

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<p>**you might want to do a little research before accusing someone of creating bogus stats. Clearly, you never made Eagle. **</p>

<p>Notable</p>

<p>[List</a> of Eagle Scouts (Boy Scouts of America) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eagle_Scouts_(Boy_Scouts_of_America)]List”>List of Eagle Scouts - Wikipedia)</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nesa.org/scholarships.html[/url]”>http://www.nesa.org/scholarships.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://therealtroop555.com/ScoutmasterMinutes/Scouting%20Statistics.pdf[/url]”>http://therealtroop555.com/ScoutmasterMinutes/Scouting%20Statistics.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://www.troop683.com/stats.htm[/url]”>http://www.troop683.com/stats.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Those numbers are published on endless websites, but it doesn’t make them true.</p>

<p>One of the many such “sources” at least says:</p>

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<p>(<a href=“http://scoutingaround.com/boy-scouts/43-leadership/63-scouting-statistics.html[/url]”>http://scoutingaround.com/boy-scouts/43-leadership/63-scouting-statistics.html&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

<p>THE FIGURES ARE PLAIN STUPID:</p>

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<p>Yeah, right.</p>

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<p>I suspect that some of those stats may have been true, but maybe in 1965 or 1972. There are real stats that are impressive enough.</p>

<p>To me, the best advice given was this:

I would drop any discussion of how much it helps in college applications, jobs, or anything else. That’s not the reason to finish. The reason to finish is that it’s almost finished. If you want to lay on a little (appropriate) guilt, you might mention all the other people who will be disappointed if he doesn’t finish, such as the Scouting leaders who helped for years (for free) and the boy leaders who went ahead of him.</p>

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<p>This is my 13th year as being a scout parent. I have two sons, one Eagle and one Life. My husband and I have never told them they have to achieve the Eagle rank. We had lots of disagreements such as time management issues with my eldest son when he was doing his Eagle project but I kept telling myself that this was not the fight I would choose. He did finish because he wanted to. No it did not help him to gain admission to colleges or any scholarship including scouting related ones. It did help him to obtain his first part-time job!
OP-The trail from Life to Eagle is difficult and long to some scout families. I remember sharing my frustrations with other scout moms. Let him put school,sports and EC as priorities at this point. I know many boys in my sons’ troop finish the Eagle requirements just DAYS before they turn 18 in their second semester of senior year. So there is still time.</p>

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<p>As another parent of an Eagle Scout who is going off to his freshman year in two days, I’d say that I have NO IDEA whether it helped my S in his college applications. Completing something he started and reaching a goal is one of those things that I believe will help him in the future, however…and one other thing to keep in mind is the saying “once an Eagle, always an Eagle”.</p>

<p>All that said, if the OP’s S isn’t interested in reaching the rank then I’d say don’t push it.</p>

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<p>Has he really done everything except the project? All those merit badges, and all that leadership, and all that time in the other ranks?</p>

<p>Ask him this question, “If you do decide to finish and get your Eagle, who would you give a Mentor pin to?”</p>

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<p>My younger son would never have made Eagle if not for his mentor, who was also an Eagle Scout. I totally backed off and made it clear that it was no skin off my nose if he did it or not, that he was the one who had to decide if he wanted to pursue it as his older brother had done. It was his mentor that had a personal conversation with him, out of our presence, who made the difference. He told him he would help him IF and only IF this was something he really wanted and would commit to doing his best to accomplish his goal.My son decided he wanted to reach that goal. The Mentor pin obviously went to this man. Son took it to almost the 18 year limit but he did get it done and I think he’s glad he did but it was his choice. Had to be.</p>

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<p>Just a heads-up - we did find that the final paperwork /approval process took us longer than we expected. So it’s a good idea not to to wait until the last minute, although I know several Scouts who did. Their moms were tearing their hair out! One boy got his in the day before his 18th birthday.</p>

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My S had his Scoutmaster conference done two days before his birthday. Not sure how other councils run things but we didn’t have to submit the application before his birthday, we just had to get it in so that his Board of Review was within the 90 days after his birthday.</p>

<p>Seems like there are a lot of last-minute Eagles out there…</p>

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<p>I believe that now all the paperwork must be in before the 18th birthday–there was a recent change to this effect, at least in our council. The Board of Review can be after the 18th birthday, but of course that’s too late to fix any problems (which are very rare, but still).</p>

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<p>It does help with the college app process. I have 2 family members who are Eagle Scouts and they both benefited from some parental commitment or push.</p>

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<p>We made it clear to our sons that we were committed , that we would support them, help them with their badges, Eagle projects(which were very time consuming as most know), but tried not to push too much about having to make Eagle rank. Not sure if it helped with college or not as older son did ED before he achieved the rank. Younger son got off a couple of waitlists that his EC’s may have had a part in but will never know for sure. I know my older son did put it on his resume and has done very well in his job 2 years out of college, so it may help career wise.</p>

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<p>Personally, I find it a bit depressing that in this day and age, an institution with such discriminating policies is so well-respected. While I understand that individual charters can be much more open, and the people themselves are often great, the official policies sadden me. If BSA decided to ban all non-whites, it’d be well within their power to do so, but I expect the backlash would be much greater than it is today.</p>

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<p>It seems there are a lot of parents with Scouts here. We should start our own thread.LOL.</p>

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<p>I know I said that how it looks to colleges and employers shouldn’t matter, but I did have one thought about this. If a resume says, “Eagle Scout,” my first thought as an interviewer is going to be, “Eagle Scout–that’s a lot of work, leadership, etc.” If the resume says, “Life Scout,” my first thought is going to be, “How come this kid isn’t an Eagle Scout?” Fair or not, that’s the truth.</p>

<p>And if the interviewer doesn’t like Scouting, then it won’t matter if it says Life or Eagle.</p>

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<p>Hunt I agree if he doesnt make it to Eagle leave it off the resume/application.</p>

<p>I am an Eagle Scout and I truly believe that the general population just does not understand the grind that goes into this accomplishment. Sure it is enjoyable and a challenge but with all the distractions that young people have today it is NOT EASY.</p>

<p>My son just started as a freshman. He didnt stick with scouting, becsuse his passion was running track and tae kwon do. He received his second degree black belt. I urge all parents to suggest to their children to put such accomplishments on the applications.</p>

<p>Anything that shows dedication, hard work and commitment looks great on paper.</p>

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<p>I heard that MIT really likes Eagle scouts. to the point where it could make up for a low test score. Can anyone back this up?</p>

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I find that somewhat unlikely, and I think it’s even more unlikely that any college would ever be that specific about how much they like an EC.</p>

<p>One point about being an Eagle Scout, that I’ve mentioned in previous threads: it’s not an academic achievement. There are Eagle Scouts who are top students who will be going to Ivy League schools, and Eagle Scouts who will be going to the local community college, or not going to college at all. It reflects skills and achievements of a different sort.

Well, I wouldn’t go that far, especially if the boy had a lot of leadership roles in Scouting, and left because of conflicts with other activities. But it’s something to consider.</p>

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<p>Yes, I do think it is very unlikely for a school like MIT to give such weight to being an Eagle Scout. The reason I mentioned it is because a friend of mine is an Eagle Scout and he “said” he talked to an MIT admission officer who said being an Eagle Scout who is otherwise qualified would be a sure admit. I am not sure how truthful this is, but whatever.</p>