Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 10:15     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:Colleges like to see actual interest and commitment to activities.

If your son has a genuine interest in Cub Scouts, her advice isn't so bad. If he isn't so interested in joining Cub Scouts now, don't force him just for the future college applications.

Help him find an activity he is interested in and he will be committed to. What you don't want to do is not really join anything or go from actvity to activity and not really be committed to any one activity. You don't want him to join a whole bunch of activities his junior year of high school because he thinks it will look good on his college applications.


Forgot to add, that being said - he's in 4th grade. He's young enough to try certain activities at this point.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 10:15     Subject: Is this a thing now?
There are 1900 freshmen at Harvard and this includes all the athletes, minorities, VIPs, etc.
There are 70,000 Eagle Scouts.

Do the math. The admission rate for these Eagle Scouts is no better than the average admission rate to Harvard.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 10:14     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Colleges like to see actual interest and commitment to activities.

If your son has a genuine interest in Cub Scouts, her advice isn't so bad. If he isn't so interested in joining Cub Scouts now, don't force him just for the future college applications.

Help him find an activity he is interested in and he will be committed to. What you don't want to do is not really join anything or go from actvity to activity and not really be committed to any one activity. You don't want him to join a whole bunch of activities his junior year of high school because he thinks it will look good on his college applications.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 10:07     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Ivy and Eagle Scout shouldn’t be in the same sentence. You’re applying to college, not the Salvation Army. Get creative and pursue something you actually care about. Make your own opportunities outside of an organization with cookie-cutter achievement ranks. Do you really think Harvard cares if you know how to tie a slip knot? Or if you’ve tied it a hundred or a thousand times? How obnoxiously trite and boring.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:57     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Maybe I am late to the game but I met a parent who told me to sign up for cub scouts with her kid so the boys can ear badges and become Eagle Scouts and put that on their college applications.. I was a bit shocked that a parent of a 4th grader is planning to do this.. is this a thing? Kids do scouts for college applications? Cub scouts gets you into an Ivy ?
Do kids do anything just for their own interest or love/passion? Or is it only because of what would look good on their applications?


Yup. Cub scouts guarantees you an Ivy.

100%


+1

Many people are saying this.

ok, people, stop teasing OP.

No, OP, it's not a guarantee. It might help later in life for an internship, but not in college admissions.

DS is an Eagle Scout, now in college. It didn't help DS get into his top 2 choices, but then again, he is a CS major. But, being an Eagle Scout can be like being in a fraternity in that when another Eagle Scout sees your resume with Eagle Scout on it, they may put that resume in the "follow up" pile, rather than the discard pile.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:51     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here- so Eagle Scouts is a big boost?


In many situations yes. But do you realize how much time and commitment it takes over many years to achieve this?


Isn’t that true for everything? Which activity doesn’t require time and commitment? If anything, scouts seems easier than say travel sports and swim teams, ice hockey and other sports.


Eagle Scout represents reaching the top of an organization and is not something most achieve. Few kids reach the pinnacle of team sports. That takes inherent talent in addition to time and commitment


Well in this case it's 70K. Not exactly like being among the 100 high schoolers that will enter the MLB draft (or the 10 who go to the Olympics for track and field), etc, etc.


It’s just over 60k, which represents about 6% of kids who started Boy Scouts.

I’m first pp and would also like OP to know that once you have a 14/15/16 yo you will not be able to compel them to do anything against their will. Maybe they will like the hiking, biking, camping, scouting and maybe the won’t by that time.


This is it, 100%. I couldn't force my 14-17 year old to do extracurriculars against his will. He had zero interest (less than zero actually) in Scouts beyond the Cub Scout years.
My husband (former Eagle Scout) was dismayed for about a day but our son quickly developed interests an passions of his own.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:48     Subject: Is this a thing now?
^^ first person in thread saying it’s not a thing
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:47     Subject: Re:Is this a thing now?
Not new, and can always be trotted out. Like my uncle, every conversation about cousin's drug addiction includes, but he made eagle.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:47     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here- so Eagle Scouts is a big boost?


In many situations yes. But do you realize how much time and commitment it takes over many years to achieve this?


Isn’t that true for everything? Which activity doesn’t require time and commitment? If anything, scouts seems easier than say travel sports and swim teams, ice hockey and other sports.


Eagle Scout represents reaching the top of an organization and is not something most achieve. Few kids reach the pinnacle of team sports. That takes inherent talent in addition to time and commitment


Well in this case it's 70K. Not exactly like being among the 100 high schoolers that will enter the MLB draft (or the 10 who go to the Olympics for track and field), etc, etc.


It’s just over 60k, which represents about 6% of kids who started Boy Scouts.

I’m first pp and would also like OP to know that once you have a 14/15/16 yo you will not be able to compel them to do anything against their will. Maybe they will like the hiking, biking, camping, scouting and maybe the won’t by that time.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:43     Subject: Re:Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:It might be a thing, but it won’t help your child get into an elite school.


How can you be so sure? If its a thing and people are doing it for that purpose then how can you say that?
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:41     Subject: Is this a thing now?
I guess people justify try everything and see what works when its time to apply for colleges..
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:41     Subject: Re:Is this a thing now?
It might be a thing, but it won’t help your child get into an elite school.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:38     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Yes this is a thing
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:37     Subject: Is this a thing now?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:OP here- so Eagle Scouts is a big boost?


In many situations yes. But do you realize how much time and commitment it takes over many years to achieve this?


Isn’t that true for everything? Which activity doesn’t require time and commitment? If anything, scouts seems easier than say travel sports and swim teams, ice hockey and other sports.


Eagle Scout represents reaching the top of an organization and is not something most achieve. Few kids reach the pinnacle of team sports. That takes inherent talent in addition to time and commitment


Well in this case it's 70K. Not exactly like being among the 100 high schoolers that will enter the MLB draft (or the 10 who go to the Olympics for track and field), etc, etc.
Anonymous
Post 10/08/2023 09:36     Subject: Is this a thing now?
About 70,000 kids are named Eagle Scouts each year in the US.

It's not exactly an extraordinary accomplishment.