Just wondering- did anyone apply for a position on a Student Conservation Association National Crew for this summer?
I submitted my application in mid-February and can’t wait to hear back! We all officially hear back by April 1, but according to the website, acceptances might have been rolling out since January.
I figured applicants could post our results as the decisions roll in.
I decided that I’ll post any updates to my application so that there’ll be more information for future applicants.
Update:
I got accepted on April 1! I seriously thought I got waitlisted or denied because the website said that those who are waitlisted or denied get their email on April 1. I was out of the country when the email came, so I almost missed the deadline of 5 days to accept their offer, but made it in time!
I submitted the necessary paperwork last night (April 6).
According to the website, I’ll receive my assignment before May 31, but most assignments come in during April. I’ll post here again when I receive it 
I got my assignment on April 19! I got assigned to working on the Appalachian Trail in Maine from July 11 to August 7. Here’s an excerpt of the email I got:
"Where You Will Serve:
This position is in partnership with Appalachian Trail Conservancy and will take place in ME. The Appalachian Trail is a 2,180+ mile long public footpath that traverses the scenic, wooded, pastoral, wild, and culturally resonant lands of the Appalachian Mountains. Conceived in 1921, built by private citizens, and completed in 1937, today the trail is managed by the National Park Service, US Forest Service, Appalachian Trail Conservancy, numerous state agencies and thousands of volunteers.
Nestled in the shadow of Mount Katahdin, just south of Baxter State Park, The Nature Conservancy’s Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area (DLWA) is a vital link in nearly 500,000 acres of contiguous conservation land. Debsconeag means “carrying place,” named by native people for the portage sites where they carried their birch bark canoes around rapids and waterfalls. The DLWA contains the highest concentration of pristine, remote ponds in New England, as well as thousands of acres of mature forests.
The crew will camp on the shores of Rainbow Lake in a primitive campsite maintained by the Nature Conservancy. Water will be filtered on site, and the crew will follow Leave No Trace practices to maintain the wild setting of the campsite.
What You Will Be Doing:
After getting your assignment, you have 3 days to accept it or decline. If you decline, your application goes back into the application pool, but there’s no guarantee of getting a second assignment.
Unfortunately, I had to decline this assignment due to a change in my family’s schedule this summer 
I changed my availability and my application went back into the pool, so fingers crossed that I get another assignment! I’ll post again when I get more information.
SoCcErTrAcK2016, if you decline your placement what are the chances that you will get another one for this summer?
Hi @elise303 ! Everyone who’s accepted is guaranteed one acceptance, but there’s no guarantees if you turn down the first assignment. I think I’m technically on the wait list right now, so there’s a small chance!
Oh okay. What are the considered to be the best placements? Does experience determine what kind of placement one gets?
I’m not sure what the best placements are, or even where placements can be! I emailed one of the directors of the program before I applied, and she said that the national parks that they work with change year to year, but they’ve worked with Boston Harbor Islands, Hopewell Furnace, Yosemite, Great Smoky Mountains, Cape Canaveral, Cumberland Island National Seashore, Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy (the one I got placed with) in the past.
I think the ‘best placement’ depends on the person- since I’m from the east coast/ midwest, my ideal placement would be somewhere out west: I was really hoping to get assigned to Yosemite, Denali, or Glacier, though I don’t know if there even are crews going there this year.
As for best placements in general, I suppose it’s easier to list factors that make an assignment bad rather than good. For example, I was really excited about getting to work in the backcountry, hike on the Appalachian Trail, and camp by Rainbow lake, but my work location was one drawback- since I would have installed stones in a boggy section of the trail, there would’ve been TONS of bugs. Even if my family’s schedule hadn’t have made me decline my assignment, it would’ve been a hard decision whether or not to accept- did I really want t spend 8 hours a day for over a month slogging through the mud and getting bit by flies in the backwoods of Maine? My ideal placement would be somewhere high in elevation, relatively dry weather-wise, and on the cool side, rather than like a desert.
As for experience determining placement, there’s two types of crews: backcountry and frontcounty, most of them being frontcountry. The website says that in order to be placed on a backcountry crew, you have to have experience with sustained heavy labor, living in the backcountry, or both. I think that it’s relatively common for kids to be placed on a backcountry crew if it’s their second or third summer doing a SCA National Crew.
When I emailed the director, she said that I definitely would not be placed on a backcountry crew since I have no experience with backpacking. I think that my assignment was backcountry though! We would’ve stayed on pre-existing campsites, but wouldn’t have access to toilets, showers, or even running water as the website says that frontcountry crews have access to. I was really surprised that I got placed on one, but exited- I’ve wanted to try living in the backcountry for a while now, and stressed that in my application. I also wrote about my experience with trailbuilding, frontcountry camping, and hiking, which I’m guessing might’ve qualified me to be on a backcountry crew. I also play a lot of sports and work as a referee, so I’m guessing they assumed that I’m in shape and would be able to adapt to the physical labor relatively easily.
Final Update:
I received an email on May 17 stating that they would be taking kids off the wait list since there was still open spots on some of the crews!
However I’ll never know if I would’ve made it off the wait list- I got accepted to another summer program that was my first choice, so I declined my position on the list.