People saying debate are just wrong. Colleges love debate students, especially Dartmouth, Georgetown, UT and wake forest. National level debaters tend to make it to national debate in college, which can get you paid. They also tend to be safe bets on mock trial and model un teams, which many colleges have deep investments in.

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Anonymous wrote:Model UN. Also, I once heard being an Eagle Scout is like writing an essay about your dead grandma.

Not true at all, from an AO friend.

+1 colleges adore Eagle Scouts

OP. Do they also adore Gold Award Girl Scouts?

Yes it is impressive but does not get you into a college that is above your stats/rigor. In other words it can help get you noticed/tipped in to an ivy if you are already ivy quality (1500+ highest rigor , all As and top AP scores). No EC makes up for a lacking transcript or scores

Of course.

What about internship applications….should an Eagle Scout write that down as an accomplishment? I’m thinking yes, but I do understand it depends on whose eyes are reading the application.

I think the only one is NHS.

- comm service is minimal and those hours can be dine anywhere.

- the gpa bar is for for nhs and the gpa is separately seen by the AOs.

It is truly a meaningless activity - and I say that having kids who did and still do it.

non profit organization starter
debate
band
orchestra

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Anonymous wrote:The three Eagle Scouts from my son's HS did not fare well in admissions last year. They're all at targets/safeties; none were accepted at their reaches. Not that this is hard data, but interesting to me.

(Kid applied to Ivies: Villanova. Kid who ED1 to BC: Bates. Kid who applied to a ton of schools, including ED to Lehigh: UVM.)

This post tells us nothing. It’s one data point. Was scouting their only EC? Did they take the most rigorous courses? GPA? SAT/ACT?

Exactly. The lack of logic in the post is concerning.

This. My DD is a younger Scout on track for Eagle. Her troop members applying to colleges this year have a range of stats and other EC commitments. Since we're sharing anecdata, one is in at Penn.

No the whole eagle scout thing is very minor. Very old school, like 1970s. It's not impressive to be part of a larger organization, it is impressive to create changes within one. If your kid is doing that, they should shout about it in their essays. If they're not, well ok.

You clearly know nothing about the kind of leadership, teamwork, service, and years of hard work Eagle entails.

I think you're missing the bigger argument. The Scouts is an organisation you join. They have rules and uniforms which is pseudo-militaristic, but also they have systems in place for their outreach programs.

Kids are not coming up with new outreach or innovations on the existing outreach, it is just a wheel that is going around and around in the same way, ad nauseam and the kids jump on and off that wheel.

Do you not see how this shows zero initiative, zero original thought, zero genuine change / impact?

Anonymous wrote:People need to get a grip on the EC landscape - how about let your kid be a kid and do things that make them happy rather than forcing or curating options that they may not even care about. And stop with the do something they are passionate about - I bet 75% of typical teenagers aren't passionate about anything so allow them some freedom to explore. Wouldn't it be great if our EC's could be hang out with friend, screw around at the mall, play a few sports for fun.

I think the assumption that people are forcing their kids to do anything is stupid. It’s a competitive process and kids more than anyone want to go to a good college.

People need to get a grip on the EC landscape - how about let your kid be a kid and do things that make them happy rather than forcing or curating options that they may not even care about. And stop with the do something they are passionate about - I bet 75% of typical teenagers aren't passionate about anything so allow them some freedom to explore. Wouldn't it be great if our EC's could be hang out with friend, screw around at the mall, play a few sports for fun.

The Ivy League is NOT looking for Eagle Scouts. They would prefer well educated foreigners and geniuses from the American farm-lands.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Model UN. Also, I once heard being an Eagle Scout is like writing an essay about your dead grandma.

Not true at all, from an AO friend.

+1 colleges adore Eagle Scouts

OP. Do they also adore Gold Award Girl Scouts?

Yes it is impressive but does not get you into a college that is above your stats/rigor. In other words it can help get you noticed/tipped in to an ivy if you are already ivy quality (1500+ highest rigor , all As and top AP scores). No EC makes up for a lacking transcript or scores

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Anonymous wrote:So this a thread designed to make people feel bad about what their kids are doing? People should decline to participate in this!

+1. And these people are basically listing the ECs that my unhooked white kid dkd — they are now at a top 10 school.

Same

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Model UN. Also, I once heard being an Eagle Scout is like writing an essay about your dead grandma.

Not true at all, from an AO friend.

+1 colleges adore Eagle Scouts

OP. Do they also adore Gold Award Girl Scouts?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The three Eagle Scouts from my son's HS did not fare well in admissions last year. They're all at targets/safeties; none were accepted at their reaches. Not that this is hard data, but interesting to me.

(Kid applied to Ivies: Villanova. Kid who ED1 to BC: Bates. Kid who applied to a ton of schools, including ED to Lehigh: UVM.)

This post tells us nothing. It’s one data point. Was scouting their only EC? Did they take the most rigorous courses? GPA? SAT/ACT?

Exactly. The lack of logic in the post is concerning.

This. My DD is a younger Scout on track for Eagle. Her troop members applying to colleges this year have a range of stats and other EC commitments. Since we're sharing anecdata, one is in at Penn.

No the whole eagle scout thing is very minor. Very old school, like 1970s. It's not impressive to be part of a larger organization, it is impressive to create changes within one. If your kid is doing that, they should shout about it in their essays. If they're not, well ok.

You clearly know nothing about the kind of leadership, teamwork, service, and years of hard work Eagle entails.

Sure I know about that but it is old news. It also shows conformity, and a desire to wear uniform. So really these kids should be applying to military academies or the police. It's not really making a dent in society or intellectual or artistic originality. It's just boring.

LOL.. that's not the reason why kids do Eagle.

These kids spend hours doing community service. How does that not impact society?

I don’t know where people reside…but at my DC HS if there is even 1 Eagle Scout per year that would be high. More like 1 every three years.

Not sure how this is being lumped into the same category as student govt or sports.

fake clubs

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The three Eagle Scouts from my son's HS did not fare well in admissions last year. They're all at targets/safeties; none were accepted at their reaches. Not that this is hard data, but interesting to me.

(Kid applied to Ivies: Villanova. Kid who ED1 to BC: Bates. Kid who applied to a ton of schools, including ED to Lehigh: UVM.)

This post tells us nothing. It’s one data point. Was scouting their only EC? Did they take the most rigorous courses? GPA? SAT/ACT?

All three kids were in top 10% of class and had SATs of 1400+. One was an EMT, another had an internship with a state senator, and all had sport, student govt, other clubs, etc.

They didn't do any better with their admissions than peers with same stats and no Eagle.