Eagle Scout Requirements

  1. Be active in your troop, team, crew, or ship for a period of at least six months after you have achieved the rank of Life Scout.
  2. Demonstrate that you live by the principles of the Scout Oath and Scout Law in your daily life. List on your Eagle Scout Rank Application the names of individuals who know you personally and would be willing to provide a recommendation on your behalf, including parents/guardians, religious, educational, and employer references.
  3. Earn a total of 21 merit badges (10 more than you already have), including the following:

    a. First Aid
    b. Citizenship in the Community
    c. Citizenship in the Nation
    d. Citizenship in the World

    e. Communication

    		 f. Cooking
    g. Personal Fitness
    h. Emergency Preparedness OR Lifesaving
    i. Environmental Science OR Sustainability
    j. Personal Management    		 k. Swimming OR Hiking OR Cycling
    l. Camping
    m. Family Life**
     
     

  4. While a Life Scout, serve actively in your unit for a period of six months in one or more of the following positions of responsibility. List only those positions served after your Life board of review date. ***
    • Scouts BSA troop: Patrol leader, assistant senior patrol leader, senior patrol leader, Venture patrol leader, troop guide, Order of the Arrow troop representative, den chief, scribe, librarian, historian, quartermaster, junior assistant Scoutmaster, chaplain aide, instructor, webmaster, or Leave No Trace trainer.
    • Varsity Scout team: Captain, cocaptain, program manager, squad leader, team secretary, Order of the Arrow team representative, librarian, historian, quartermaster, chaplain aide, instructor, den chief, webmaster, or Leave No Trace trainer.
    • Venturing crew/ship: President, vice president, secretary, treasurer, quartermaster, historian, den chief, guide, boatswain, boatswain’s mate, yeoman, purser, storekeeper, webmaster, or Leave No Trace trainer.
    • Lone Scout: Leadership responsibility in his or her school, religious organization, club, or elsewhere in his or her community.
  5. While a Life Scout, plan, develop, and give leadership to others in a service project helpful to any religious institution, any school, or your community. (The project must benefit an organization other than Scouting.) A project proposal must be approved by the organization benefiting from the effort, your unit leader and unit committee, and the council or district before you start. You must use the Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook, BSA publication No. 512-927, in meeting this requirement. (To learn more about the Eagle Scout service project, see the Guide to Advancement, topics 9.0.2.0 through 9.0.2.15.)
  6. Take part in a unit leader conference.
  7. Successfully complete an Eagle Scout board of review.† In preparation for your board of review, prepare and attach to your Eagle Scout Rank Application a statement of your ambitions and life purpose and a listing of positions held in your religious institution, school, camp, community, or other organizations, during which you demonstrated leadership skills. Include honors and awards received during this service. (This requirement may be met after age 18; see below.)

*For Varsity Scouts working on Scouts BSA requirements, replace “troop” with “team” and “Scoutmaster” with “Varsity Scout Coach.” For Venturers working on Scouts BSA requirements, replace “troop” with “crew” and “Scoutmaster” with “Crew Advisor.” For Sea Scouts working on Scouts BSA requirements, replace “troop” with “ship” and “Scoutmaster” with “Skipper.”

**You must choose only one merit badge listed in items h, i, and k. If you have earned more than one of the badges listed in items h, i, and k, choose one and list the remaining badges to make your total of 21.

***Assistant patrol leader and bugler are not approved positions of responsibility for the Eagle Scout rank. Likewise, a unit leader–assigned leadership project should not be used in lieu of serving in a position of responsibility.

†If a Scout believes he or she has completed all requirements for Eagle, but is denied a unit signature or a Scoutmaster conference, he or she may request a board of review under disputed circumstances in accordance with Guide to Advancement, topic 8.0.3.2. If the board of review does not approve the Scout’s advancement, the decision may be appealed in accordance with Guide to Advancement, topic 8.0.4.0. Although rarely granted, if a Scout foresees that, due to no fault or choice of his or her own, he or she will be unable to complete the Eagle Scout rank requirements before age 18, he or she may apply for a limited time extension in accordance with topic 9.0.4.0.