Admissions reward sustained impact, initiative, and outcomes, not box-checking or a last-minute sprint to Eagle.

At our last Troop meeting, I was sitting in my Scoutmaster office prepping for the four Scoutmaster Conferences I had scheduled for that night. But that schedule was quickly interrupted by one of my most aggressive helicopter parents.

Without an appointment Mrs. Kelly barged through my office, with her son Kyle in tow, holding a binder as thick as a brick. “We need to map out Kyle’s path to Eagle,” she blurted without an introduction. She plopped herself in the seat next to my desk. Kyle stood sheepishly behind her. “Kyle is a Senior. College apps are coming. This has to be done in the next few months. ”

“Then Kyle should be setting this meeting,” I instruct her.

“I’m keeping him on track.” She says with pride not realizing she’s undermining his own development. If she’s keeping him on track. Kyle’s not tracking himself. That’s a major red flag.

“Tell me why you want Eagle.” I ask Kyle’s mom, I admit this is a set up question. Notice I asked she why she wants Eagle rank, not why does Kyle want Eagle. The difference is a vast as the Grand Canyon.

“Because it looks good,” she said. “College admissions officers love it.”

“It looks good if it means something,” I push back. “I’ll be blunt with you Mrs. Kelly. Admissions officers don’t care.”

“That’s not true!” She was aghast I would suggest such a thing.

“Let’s face facts. In 2023 there were 29,269 new Eagle Scouts. Being one of 29,000 doesn’t make you a stand out. It makes you a joiner. Your application is one in a pile of 29,000. How is Kyle going to stand out from those other 29,000 Eagles? In the 2024-2025 college admissions cycle, there were 6.7 million applications submitted. How is Kyle going to stand out from those other 6.7 million? The reality is that the percentage of Eagle Scouts walking around college campuses is extremely low. There were 2.5 MILLION freshmen in fall 2024. Roughly 1% were Eagle scouts. 99% weren’t. We have to face it, Eagle Rank is not and should never be a golden ticket to admissions. That’s not the point.”

She blinked. “Well, he goes on all the campouts. He earns the required merit badges. He will do a project. That is leading.”

“No it’s not,” I replied. “Listen to the words you just used. He goes, he earned, he will do. Those are all execution terms. Those are terms of someone who follows a checklist. In Scouting, joining is just the start. Leading is just one point. But it’s not the main point.”

“I’m not following you. Every parent in this troop is telling me that earning the Eagle rank looks good on a college resume.” She was clearly getting frustrated that I was bursting her bubble.

“Unfortunately,” I replied. “You’re talking in an echo chamber. Of course every parent is going to say that. But it’s just not true.”

I pulled a notebook from my drawer and drew two columns.

Left side: “Joiner.”
Right side: “Leader.”

Under Joiner I wrote: Meetings. Ranks. Minimums.

Under Leader I wrote: Sees a need. Builds a team. Ships a result. Hands it off to live without him.

“Admissions readers know the difference,” I said. “They read thousands of files and most of them look exactly the same. The applications that do stand out are not filled with trophies. They are filled with stories.”

She folded her arms. “So Eagle does not help.”

“You’re looking at Scouting through the wrong lens,” I tell her. “Scouting has four main aims:

Character Development:
Being the best person they can be and do the right thing.
Citizenship Training:
Being an engaged and upright member of society
Personal Fitness:
Being as healthy, mentally and physically as they can be.
Leadership Development.
Learning how to craft a vision for the future

Notice how it says NOTHING about college? Scouting is one of the best organizations in the world, if it helps your child grow.” I said. “If it is a mad dash to look good, you will both be miserable and the application reader will still ask what he actually did.”

“I’m lost,” she said in a very disheartened voice.

“Here is the real distinction that admissions people read for: joining versus leading. Joining is “I signed up, I showed up, I checked off requirements.” Leading is “I saw a problem, rallied people, executed a plan, measured the result, and left something better than I found it.” The first is a line on an activity sheet. The second is a story.”

I softened my voice. I can tell she was being let down. “If you’re eyeing Scouts only because you heard Eagle “looks good,” you are loading Kyle with needless pressure and missing the entire point of the program. College is competitive enough. Scouting should be the antidote. Kyle has an opportunity for building personal relationships and being a part of a brotherhood bond that can last a lifetime. But he’ll miss it if he’s focused on a checklist.”

I looked past Mrs. Kelly and directly at Kyle.

“Kyle,” I start to coach him. “You’ve been a member of this troop for quite a while. Tell me something you would change.”

“Our tents leak. And we don’t have enough.”

“Great,” I said. “That is a problem. Think about how you solve that problem.”

“A gear library!” Mrs. Kelly chime sin excitedly! “We can…”

“Ahh!” I interrupt her holding my hand up. She holds her tongue and I point to Kyle. He needs to answer the question. We can coach, but he needs to lead.

Kyle stares at the ground afraid to answer. He’s not used to being in this position of speaking for himself. But slowly I see his passion of an idea start to shine through.

“I can raise money to buy a starter fleet, set up a checkout system, and train quartermasters so it keeps going. It would be a gear library. So even if a kid can’t afford gear, they can borrow some and still go on camp trips.”

“Now that’s a project with a heartbeat,” I encourage him. “Track the before and after. How many new Scouts camped who otherwise would not. How many tents lasted. Who took over after Kyle. That is leadership. Eagle can be the punctuation.”

She smiled for the first time in the meeting. “So we don’t need the binder anymore?”

“Nothing wrong with binders,” I reassure her. “But maybe they aren’t the main focus anymore. Let’s help him lead instead of chase.”