My S was in Boy Scouts, and I think that parents start off thinking at the beginning of scouting that being an Eagle is a big deal for admissions officers. I’m sure that it doesn’t hurt, but I have never seen it mentioned in any of the college guides except for one that basically said that tri-team captains and Eagle Scouts were a dime a dozen. It went on to talk about winning national awards. I know things are tough, but how much does being an Eagle Scout help?
<p>I previously thought Eagle Scout was a big deal. Now, I think it will be better on, say, a job app than a college app. Also, at a state school or non top-30 or so, it will be more impressive than at HYP. I would put it as the same thing as being captain or president of maybe 2 activities. But if you show that you spent a lot of time scouting, are dedicated to it, and show how you've learned (maybe right your essay on that?) you can make it count for more.</p>
<p>quick reply, Yes
Why: It is the epitamy of community service</p>
<p>Let me modify my original post to ask whether or not Scouting gets the respect from adcoms that it deserves. Of course, regional/national recognition is the best you can have. At the local level, I have only heard of Captains of teams, Editors of newspapers/yearbooks and people on Debate Teams getting special consideration.</p>
<p>Becoming an Eagle Scout requires way more work than being president of two clubs and is attained by 2-4% of those who join scouts (different sources give different numbers). Liberal schools might not like it as much as more conservative ones tho.</p>
<p>It's a nice EC but not a hook.</p>
<p>trust me...colleges know how hard it is to be eagle. it took my friend since 4th grade to get it...he got it in 11th grade. There is so many requirements and community service that it defeats the work presidents do. u should also know, only 4 out of 100 boy scouts ever become eagle scouts.</p>
<p>I am not trying to say that Eagle Scout doesnt require a lot of work. I'm sure it is actually worth more than 2 prez positions. But the point is I get the feeling that some top schools don't consider it that, for reasons unknown. Maybe it is because everyone has talked and said, adcoms REALLY love eagle scouts, so adcoms don't want to look on it favorably if it kind of unshrouds some of the admissions process. They also don't want any one thing to mean something solid. Why do you think they reject some of the exceptional people? They want to prove that there is NO majic formula, and that one thing, like being an Eagle Scout, Olympiad winner, or having a 1600, will not get you in by itself. That being said, I believe that the liberal colleges have come to favor (in the community service area) things like Amnesty International and Habit for Humanity over what may be their equal, being an Eagle Scout.</p>
<p>very good EC to have</p>
<p>2 eagles at my high school got rejected, one from Duke and the other from Stanford. Amazing stats, but all the EC's they had was some science bowl stuff and the Eagle.</p>
<p>So while it is the "sum of" the EC, you definately need more in addition to it, it'll be a big supporting structure for your application though, no doubt.</p>
<p>^ no doubt man.</p>
<p>College admission people don't value Eagle Scouts as highly now as formerly because they know too many are cheaply earned. If a Scout's Eagle project was getting 50 people to a blood drive, painting a 10 x 8 room at a church, or building four birdhouses, the boy hasn't demonstrated much leadership. On the other hand, if the Scout built three bridges in a state park, constructed 1000 feet of boardwalk in a bog, or built an addition on his church, he has done signficant work. (All of the above are examples of actual Eagle projects.) </p>
<p>Scout folks all know about merit badge mills, a.k.a. Scout summer camps and merit badge trail drives. At those places, merit badges are often handed out without the boys truly doing the requirements. I don't mean to offend anyone who has truly earned their merit badges, but many Scouts do not. </p>
<p>If Scouting wants the designation of Eagle Scout to regain its former importance, they need to clean up their program. But that's a discussion for a different forum. The bottom line is that college admission people and the general public are beginning to be aware that Eagle Scouts may not have significant leadership, community involvement, volunteering, etc. Perhaps a recommendation from a Scoutmaster or an essay illustrating a Scout's involvement might help the admissions people differentiate a boy who has worked very hard and dedicated thousands of hours toward his goal from one who has been handed his badge on his mommy's silver tray.</p>
<p>I would agree that getting the eagle is not always as impressive as it could be. Some of the eagle projects can be less than stellar. The standards for the eagle-required merit badges are generally still high, but some of the other badges can often be gotten in about one day. However, the most minimal eagle has done far more than what a senior class president or the editor of the school newspaper has generally done.</p>
<p>Ellenf, What is the deal with "three bridges", "built an addition on his church", "thousands of hours", and "mommy's silver platter"? I wasn't suggesting that every eagle scouts is in the same category as Olympic gold medalists. I was just asking why a great leadership program is often overlooked by adcoms.</p>
<p>Also, the scouting program is excellent even without the eagle designation. I have never met a person who has gone thru the final four years of scouting that I would not immediately want to give a job to.</p>
<p>My dad is an Eagle Scout and I would say the Eagle Scouts are the most impressed by other Eagles. So, if there is an Eagle on the adcom, it will mean a lot more.</p>
<p>The top colleges do consider Eagle Scouts as being a distinction, but due to the top colleges' plethora of outstanding candidates, being Eagle Scouts doesn't act as a hook or mean that an applicant is a shoo-in for admision.</p>
<p>The Eagle Scout whom I saw get into a top Ivy also was an excellent musician, had state honors in an academic team and national honors in an academic team in another subject plus was holding a job doing computer programming. The student also was a legacy, National Merit Commended or finalist, salutatorian and got in after being deferred EA.</p>
<p>I'm sure that being an Eagle Scout helped, but he had a lot of other remarkable things going for him, too.</p>
<p>Dufus - my illustration of projects was to compare different projects. While some take a significant amount of time, others require very little time or effort. As for "mommy's silver platter," anyone in Scouts for any length of time will know some mothers/fathers of Eagle Scouts should be presented with the awards instead of their sons.</p>
<p>Sure, being an Eagle Scout takes more time than being a typical class president, but when was that effort put forth? Many Eagle Scouts earn their badges by by ninth grade. What has the boy done since? Middle school awards of any type don't count for much in college admissions. </p>
<p>Furthermore, Scouting has dumbed down the requirements. Merit badges are now written for 12 or 13 year-olds. Colleges know that so value the award less. What college admissions people don't know is whether the Eagle Scout award on an application means the student put in significant effort and gained character, citizenship, and mental and physical fitness, or waltzed through doing sometimes less than the minimal requirements. </p>
<p>Some Eagle Scouts are truly outstanding young men; others are not. Boys very involved in Scouting spend more than 1000 hours per year in the program. Others spend less than 100. If your son is the outstanding type of Eagle Scout who has continually been very active, his essays and recommendations can signal that to college admissions people. But don't expect that merely putting "Eagle Scout" on the application will be a "Wow!" (BTW, UCs <em>do</em> give significance to being an Eagle Scout in their admissions formulae.) </p>
<p>You asked why Eagle Scout is not valued by college admission people, and that's the answer. As someone who has been involved in the program for many years, I'd very much like to have Scouting upgrade its program so becoming an Eagle Scout consistently reflects excellence.</p>
<p>Here's</a> a long thread about the same topic.</p>
<p>Here's</a> another thread about the same topic.</p>
<p>Here's an interesting quote from the second thread:
[quote]
I have a 1580 on my SAT, speak German fluently, am from the South, was on national TV several times, in an independent film, have leadership at the state level through a service organization, am salutatorian of my class, and was co-captain/varsity on my cross country team.</p>
<p>I was also an Eagle Scout.</p>
<p>I was deferred from Yale.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I think being an Eagle Scout would be very helpful if you made it the focus of your application. It worked for me, at least. :)</p>
<p>Scouting at the national level encourages scouts to become First Class by the end of the first year. In my S's troop, many are Life by the end of the first year. I agree that it would be good to slow that down so that the scouts are mature enough to appreciate the lessons being taught. In his troop, however, nobody is allowed to get Eagle until 11th grade. I didn't know what you meant by "mommy's silver platter", but any organization run by volunteer parents is going to have problems. 1000 hours per year sounds like a lot. That would be 20 hours per week for 50 weeks per year. I don't think that is reasonable, although camping hours include sack time. </p>
<p>The difficulty of upgrading the program is the same problem that happens when a school district decides to make grades really mean something. Suddenly A's are really hard to get at those schools, and it just results in disadvantaging the students since everyone now have low gpa's when they apply to college. </p>
<p>I'm not really disagreeing with you at all, and perhaps what you said is why adcoms don't value scouting. I still think that it should be worth more to them. Of course, the main thing is that scouting is good program. Not everything needs to be oriented towards impressing an adcom. Scouting is well worth it no matter what.</p>
<p>Someone said the eagle scout means more on a job application than a college application. My S is actually wanting to go to grad school in Japan, and I think it will help him there since scouting is probably more highly valued in Japan colleges than US colleges.</p>
<p>There were two threads last week ripping the Natl Honor Society apart.</p>
<p>Also, there's virtually no activity that adcoms at elite schools automatically revere. It's up to the applicant to explain in their interview and/or essay what their activity has meant to them and what the applicant has accomplished and learned as part of being involved in the activity. Simply writing "Eagle Scout" is not enough information.</p>
<p>I'm not sure differentiating between grades is disadvantageous to students. If everyone earns an A, what is the value of an A? How about students who would earn an A no matter what? Aren't they imposed upon if B and C students are also given an A? </p>
<p>I find the same thing happening with Scouting. Some boys work very hard to get their Eagle rank. When the rank is given out to many who don't work nearly as hard, the rank is devalued for all. Those who have truly earned the rank aren't receiving due credit, while those who haven't are credited with slightly more than they have merited.</p>
<p>However, as others have mentioned, Scouts who are very active and make their achievement a focus of their college applications will likely receive significantly more credit from college admissions people than those who merely list it as one of many ECs. These applicants might want to secure a supplemental recommendation from their Scout leader.</p>
<p>BTW, Life Scout by the end of the first year? It takes 30 days minimum to become a Tenderfoot, 4 months minimum to go from 1C to Star and 6 months minimum to go from Star to Life. That doesn't leave much time to go from T to 2C or 2C to 1C. Furthermore, 1C requires 10 activities outside normal meetings. Although those date from joining, most troops don't do 10 activities outside normal meetings in a 2-month period as would be required to make Life by the end of one year. But if a Scout is that active, he will probably get in those 1000 hours per year! (1000 hours isn't unreasonable: 2 hours per meeting x 52 meetings per month. 35 hours per camping trip x 12 camping trips per year. 6 days of summer camp x 18 hours per day. You are already well over 600 hours per year, without all the other activities/community service/planning/merit badges, etc.)</p>