T he Eagle Notebook, Part 3

Part 3 - The Eagle Rank Application Form

VIII) General Comments and Instructions

The Eagle Rank Application Form is the official form needed to apply for Eagle Scout Rank, and essentially summarizes all your critical data. You should ask the Scoutmaster or Advancement Chairman for a copy of the form. Note that you will not be given the official form to start; instead, you'll get a photocopy to practice on. This is because getting everything right is both difficult - and essential. Errors on this form are the primary reason for most rejections at the Council and National levels. You'll won't get the official copy until you have the practice copy "perfect"; this usually takes about three iterations.

Practice copies can be handwritten, but the official copy should be typed. If you can't type, find a competent typist - the forms do not erase well, and the use of white-out or penned-in corrections gives the application a shoddy, amateurish appearance.

For the most part, the form is self-explanatory; however, there are some common pitfalls to avoid. First, you MUST enter all applicable dates. Second, you MUST use EXACT DATES (in month/day/year format) for all applicable dates; failure to properly enter dates will almost always result in a rejection (the reasons why are explained in Section X.)

Other comments: (A) Although the form asks for your full name, most Scouts use middle initials versus middle names; however, the choice is yours. (B) If you don't have a social security number yet, you're a rare bird, but just enter "None" in the provided blocks. (C) On page 2, for Requirement #4 (Leadership position), your start date must be no earlier than the day after your Life Board of Review - even if you held that position long before you became a Life Scout. In addition, if you're still holding a listed leadership position heading into your Board of Review, list "Present" as your end date for that entry. By the way, even though it ought to be, Philmont Crew Chief is not an approved Leadership position for Requirement #4 (which is ludicrous when you consider some of the positions which are acceptable); the "crew chief" position which is listed refers to Varsity crews, not High Adventure crews. (D) All signatures (and corresponding dates) on page 2 should be in ink. (E) Do not make any entries below the heading "BSA Local Council Certification"; these final entries are handled at official levels.

IX) Letters of Recommendation

Requirement #2 asks for the names, addresses and phone numbers of six individuals who know you and can write letters of recommendation to the Board members regarding your candidacy. Providing this information on the Eagle Application is way too late in the game; you'll need to get this information to the Scoutmaster or Advancement Chairman at least 6 weeks before the Board of Review. In turn, the Scoutmaster/Advancement Chairman will write letters to these individuals soliciting letters of recommendation; he will submit these to the Chairman of the Eagle Board just before the Board of Review.

The Application Form formally lists 4 different references, and leaves the last two to you. The requested references are: (A) Your Parents; (B) A religious reference; (C) An educational reference; and (D) An employer reference. Most Scouts use neighbors or relatives for their last two references. Some comments: It is always a good idea to contact everyone you intend to list to see if they're willing to provide a reference for you; 99% are more than willing, but every once in a while, someone will turn you down. This is rarely for any sinister reason, just that these people hate writing letters of recommendation for any reason, for anyone, and they know it. And again, whomever your "final" six are, make sure you relay the information to the Scoutmaster/Advancement Chairman as soon as possible, and also enter the data onto your Eagle Application Form.

By the way, "employer" doesn't have to be a formal job - lawn mowing, yard-work, babysitting and even volunteer work all qualify.

X) The Merit Badge List - Comments and Cautions

Another major headache for many an unwary Scout. First (and again), use exact dates for all entries, in month/day/year format. Second, even if you were a member of only one Troop during your entire career, you must still enter your Troop number for each merit badge. Third, you will note that Eagle Required Merit Badges numbers 6 and 9 have multiple options: #6 is Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving, while #9 is Personal Fitness or Swimming or Sports. You can only use one of the available options, and neatly cross out (with a single line) whichever options you either never earned or are not using for that block. However - and this is critical and not at all obvious - if you did earn a merit badge which you crossed out, you should (and I would prefer to say must) re-enter that badge in the "free" merit badge slots starting with #13. Thus, you could re-enter up to three "unused" Eagle Required Badges into the "free" merit badge slots. Next, fill all the remaining "free" merit badge slots with your non-Eagle Required merit badges, starting with the very first one you earned, and proceeding in chronological order. Again (and another critical, non-obvious point), do not use merit badges out of chronological order in the "free" slots [many Scouts who have earned far more than the minimum 21 merit badges want to list more "impressive" merit badges earned later in their careers - an instant disaster!]

OK, why? The reason will require a brief explanation of the Boy Scout advancement program. There are two issues, both rather subtle. First, advancement to Star rank requires 6 merit badges, of which 4 must have been Eagle required. The date of your Star Board of Review is listed on the top of page one. If you do not have at least 6 merit badges listed (with 4 of them being Eagle Required) with dates before your Star Board of Review, your application will be rejected! Similarly, Life Rank requires 11 merit badges, of which 7 have to have been Eagle Required, and the same type scenario applies with respect to your Life Board of Review. This is why exact dating is required for all ranks and merit badges, and also why you need to follow the protocol I detailed in the previous paragraph.

The second issue is a little more obscure. Two of the Eagle Required badges have other Eagle Required badges as mandatory pre-requisites, that is, you must have completed Swimming before you could take Lifesaving, and you must have completed First Aid before you could take Emergency Preparedness.*** The latter requirement isn't important in this context, because the First Aid merit badge is not an optional one. However, Swimming is an optional Eagle Required Badge, so if Lifesaving is used for #6, Swimming must be used for #9 or as a "free" merit badge. If it's not there, again, your application will be rejected.

[*** In an even more obscure problem, some applications are "bounced" because the listed dates for the Swimming or First Aid merit badges are after Lifesaving or Emergency Preparedness, respectively. Most of the time, this is just a mis-entered date, and is easily fixed; in other cases, however, the listed dates are accurate, and indicate that the Scout and Merit Badge Counselor failed to ensure that the pre-requisite merit badge had been earned. This (fortunately rare) occurrence can only be addressed by the District and Council Advancement Committees.]

Failure to pay very close attention to your rank and merit badge dates causes more rejections of Eagle Scout applications than all other problems combined. Now you know why.