Scout programs like Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts, and lots of smaller scouting programs, teach leadership, teamwork, and independence. We’d also include rural programs like 4H in this group, that similarly emphasize learning amongst peers while discovering what is special about oneself. Many students start these programs young — really young — with kids beginning in early elementary school as part of cub scout and brownie programs.
If you are in middle or high school now, you may be thinking: should I really still be doing this? You’re right that we don’t typically encourage high school students to join scouting programs for the first time. But we DO heartily encourage current scouts to keep going all the way through their college application process. One of the most valuable things you can show on a college application is the ability to see things through and to reach the highest level possible in a given organization. Sticking to things matters, and this is how you can show that and more.
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Showing Stick-to-itiveness
As we said, colleges want to see that you can see things through, and they especially like when you make it to the highest possible level in an organization and then continue supporting the organization even after you’ve reached the peak. In sports, the equivalent would be the captain of a varsity team. In scouting, it’s the Gold Award for girl scouts and for boy scouts it’s Eagle Scout. College application readers know that it is easier to quit than it is to stick to something, so even if you don’t reach those highest milestones they will appreciate and respect that you have stayed involved in something that takes immense commitment.
Leadership 101
Colleges want self-starting leaders who are ready to launch into a college experience. Scouting programs literally train leaders. This is what they were designed to do, so colleges know that if you’ve been in a scouting program for a long time, you are well-versed in everything it takes to be an outstanding leader. Amplify this by taking on leadership roles within your scouting group, like being a treasurer or secretary for meetings. These roles further underline that you have leadership blood in your veins, and you’re ready to bring that with you to college.
Service as Lifestyle
Another core piece of any scouting program is service. People may think of camping when they envision Boy Scouts or towering boxes of thin mints (our favorites) when they think of “Girl Scouts,” but students in these programs actually spend most of their time on service projects for their community — especially if they are pursuing the highest recognitions like Eagle Scout and the Gold Award. This is amazing for college applications because application readers have always wanted to see volunteering on students’ resumes, but they’ve increasingly also wanted to see community service that is long-term and local. They aren’t really impressed by a week of building houses, but they love a weekly volunteer shift at a local animal shelter. It really doesn’t matter if you’re cleaning out dog cages or picking up trash, as long as it is something you’ve committed to long-term.
The bottom line is that if you aren’t a scout already, it probably doesn’t make sense to start now. However, on the flip side, if you’ve been at this game for a while don’t quit now. Showing that you can stick to this activity and honor your commitment to your scouting community will massively strengthen your application when it comes time to press “submit.”
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