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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is the awesome points about Eagles? Personal achievment, help with college application, or job hunting? [/quote]

You wouldn't know it from our area but earning Eagle Scout is still relatively rare. About 5% of all Scouts starting in a BSA Troop earn Eagle. It takes patience, perseverance, and service over a period of years when a good number of kids choose to leave Scouting. Our area is a bit different because there are a lot of people who understand that earning Eagle or the Girl Scouts equivalent, the Gold Award, is helpful for college applications and can be helpful in job hunting as an adult. But, Eagle means that Scouts have worked through every rank in BSA, which is time consuming and requires a good amount of effort. It takes at least 3-4 years of active participation in a Troop, most kids take closer to 5-6 years. The service project is the bigger hurdle for kids. This is supposed to be something that the Scout develops, advertises, and coordinates. It shows a level of organization and commitment that is not necessarily common in the teenage crowd.

I know that if you have earned Eagle and join the military, you earn an additional rank when you complete basic training. Eagle Scouts receive a boost on their college applications. We have friends with college age kids who bemoan their child not completing Eagle because it is becoming one of the rare items on a college application that stands out. It also helps with writing essays and the like because it provides different experiences on a college essay that helps the student stand out. With more schools going to test optional applications, more kids adding on layers of extra curricular activities, and more kids taking AP/IB classes, the Eagle and Gold awards stand out.

NOVA has enough people involved in Scouting and invested in kids earning Eagle that there are merit badge classes you can send your Scout to in order to complete a merit badge, this makes earning a merit badge easier then in other parts of the Country. In other areas, Scouts have to take more ownership of their merit badge work because they need to see out a merit badge counselor for specific badges and that is not always easy to find. The Scouts in the NOVA area still have to complete the merit badge requirements, learn the material, and demonstrate that they know the material but the classes certainly make it easier to complete the merit badges you need in order to earn rank, including Eagle. But this area has enough people who are very interested in their kids attending a top 10 school that they see the Eagle rank as a good way of helping kids stand out on their applications.

There are Troops in this area that have a rep for pushing kids through Eagle. They know the merit badge classes, they have identified the easiest merit badges to complete, and the Troop is structured to get kids through the ranks and service projects. It is not uncommon to see some Troops in NOVA with 5-6 Scouts earning Eagle in a year. All the Eagle Scouts I know, and I work with a bunch, have mentioned how their Eagle achievement is discussed in interviews  even in their 30's. And the Eagle Scouts have a decent network that they can operate in which I am sure is helpful when job hunting and the like. I know of two Troops, not going to name them, where none of the people who are active in the local Cub Scout Packs bridge to but the Troops are large and there are lots of Eagle Scout ranks earned. It seems like the kids join in Middle School and are active for 4 years and then gone when they earn Eagle.

DS is looking at Troops this year and removed two from his list because he thought all the Scouts talked about was advancement and it felt like a bit much for him. Every Troop that we visited spent time discussing their support for Eagle because they know it is important for some parents and kids.

Here are the requirements: https://www.scouting.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/3321621-08-Eagle.pdf[/quote]

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