Eagle Scout Rank Requirements

Life Scout board of review passed Milestone

The date everything else is measured from. Requirements 1, 4, 5 and 6 all begin "While a Life Scout", and only what happens after this date counts towards them.

2. Demonstrate Scout spirit, and list your references Often forgotten Requirement

Live by the Scout Oath and Scout Law, tell how you have done your duty to God, and list people who know you personally and will speak on your behalf.

3.1. Camping Training

3.2. Citizenship in the Community Training

3.3. Citizenship in the Nation Training

3(d). Citizenship in Society Often forgotten Training

Required by requirement 3 and absent from the numbered slots on the application form.

3.4. Citizenship in the World Training

3.5. Communication Training

3.6. Cooking Training

3.7. Emergency Preparedness May not apply Training

Slot 7: Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving.

You have not answered "Slot 7: Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving?" yet.

3.7. Lifesaving May not apply Training

Slot 7: Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving.

You have not answered "Slot 7: Emergency Preparedness or Lifesaving?" yet.

3.8. Environmental Science May not apply Training

Slot 8: Environmental Science or Sustainability.

You have not answered "Slot 8: Environmental Science or Sustainability?" yet.

3.8. Sustainability May not apply Training

Slot 8: Environmental Science or Sustainability.

You have not answered "Slot 8: Environmental Science or Sustainability?" yet.

3.9. First Aid Training

3.10. Swimming May not apply Training

Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling.

You have not answered "Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling?" yet.

3.10. Hiking May not apply Training

Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling.

You have not answered "Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling?" yet.

3.10. Cycling May not apply Training

Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling.

You have not answered "Slot 10: Swimming, Hiking or Cycling?" yet.

3.11. Personal Management Training

3.12. Personal Fitness Training

3.13. Family Life Training

3. Seven optional merit badges Task

Any seven beyond the required fourteen, bringing the total to 21. A badge from a category whose choice you filled with something else counts here.

5. Fundraising application, if one is needed Optional Often forgotten Document

Needed only when money or materials are solicited beyond the beneficiary, the unit and their members and families. The project itself may never be a fundraiser.

Statement of ambitions and life purpose, and your leadership positions Often forgotten Document

Prepared for the board of review and attached to the application: your ambitions and life purpose, the positions you have held outside Scouting, and the honours you received.

1. Be active in your unit for at least six months as a Life Scout Requirement

Six months of active participation, counted from the Life Scout board of review. Runs at the same time as requirement 4, not after it.

3. The fourteen required merit badges Task

Fourteen categories set by requirement 3. Where a category offers a choice, earning either badge fills it; the other may still be counted as one of the seven optional badges. The application form has only thirteen numbered slots — see the notice below.

Usually comes after 3.1. Camping, 3.2. Citizenship in the Community and 12 others.

The requirements and the application form disagree, and the requirements win. Eagle rank requirement 3 names FOURTEEN categories, and (d) is Citizenship in Society. The January 2026 revision of the Eagle Scout Rank Application prints THIRTEEN numbered merit badge slots and has no row for it. Both the Star and the Life requirements say "any of the 18 merit badges on the required list for Eagle", which is the same fourteen counted with the alternatives spelled out. Earn Citizenship in Society, and ask your unit leader how your council wants it recorded on the form.

4. Serve six months in a position of responsibility Requirement

Six months in one or more listed positions, counted only from the Life Scout board of review. Runs alongside requirement 1.

Usually comes after Life Scout board of review passed.

5. Obtain the current Eagle Scout Service Project Workbook Document

Publication 512-927. The version to use is the most current one available when planning starts, so download it then rather than earlier.

6. Participate in a unit leader conference Often forgotten Requirement

Held while a Life Scout. It does not have to be the last thing you do, and treating it as a final gate delays people for no reason.

Usually comes after Life Scout board of review passed.

3. Earn a total of 21 merit badges Requirement

Fourteen required badges and seven of your own choosing. Three of the fourteen are a choice between two or three badges, so the list you choose from is eighteen badges long.

Usually comes after 3. The fourteen required merit badges and 3. Seven optional merit badges.

5. Choose a beneficiary and write the project proposal Task

Identify the religious institution, school or community organisation that will benefit, and complete the proposal section of the workbook.

5. Proposal approved by the beneficiary Approval

The organisation benefiting from the project approves the proposal.

Usually comes after 5. Choose a beneficiary and write the project proposal.

5. Proposal approved by the unit leader Approval

The Scoutmaster, Advisor or Skipper approves the proposal.

Usually comes after 5. Choose a beneficiary and write the project proposal.

5. Proposal approved by the unit committee Approval

The unit committee approves the proposal, which usually means waiting for the next committee meeting.

Usually comes after 5. Choose a beneficiary and write the project proposal.

5. Proposal approved by the council or district Often forgotten Approval

The last of the four approvals, and the one with the least predictable timing. No work on the project may start until it is given.

Usually comes after 5. Choose a beneficiary and write the project proposal.

No work on the project may begin until the proposal has all four approvals, including this one. A project carried out before approval has not met the requirement, however good the project was.

5. Develop the final project plan Task

Detailed planning after the proposal is approved: materials, tools, people, permissions, safety and a schedule.

Usually comes after 5. Proposal approved by the beneficiary, 5. Proposal approved by the unit leader and 2 others.

5. Carry out the project, giving leadership to others Task

"Others" means at least two people besides you. Leadership is the requirement; the work itself is the evidence of it.

Usually comes after 5. Develop the final project plan.

5. Complete the project report and collect the final signatures Document

The report section of the workbook, signed by the beneficiary and the unit leader, is what shows the project was properly accepted when finished.

Usually comes after 5. Carry out the project, giving leadership to others.

5. Plan, develop and give leadership to others in a service project Requirement

The project must benefit an organisation other than Scouting America, and the proposal must be approved by four parties before any work begins.

Usually comes after 5. Complete the project report and collect the final signatures.

Requirements 1 to 6 complete Milestone

The point the certification on the application refers to. Everything except the board of review has to be behind you.

Usually comes after 2. Demonstrate Scout spirit, and list your references, 3. Earn a total of 21 merit badges and 3 others.

Every requirement except the board of review has to be finished before the 18th birthday. The board itself may be held afterwards. A Scout who completed the requirements in time may be reviewed within 24 months of that birthday without having to explain the delay; beyond that, and for extensions granted before the birthday, the Guide to Advancement sets out the process.

Complete the Eagle Scout Rank Application and obtain unit signatures Document

The current application form, filled in, then signed personally by the unit leader and the unit committee chair.

Usually comes after Requirements 1 to 6 complete.

Submit the application to the council service center Task

Keep a copy of everything you hand in. The workbook goes with it.

Usually comes after Complete the Eagle Scout Rank Application and obtain unit signatures.

Council verifies the application and schedules the board of review Approval

The council checks its records against the application and arranges the board.

Usually comes after Submit the application to the council service center.

References contacted Often forgotten Approval

The Scout asks the references listed on the application; the council contacts them. A reference who never replies is the commonest cause of delay at this stage.

Usually comes after Submit the application to the council service center.

7. Successfully complete your board of review for the Eagle Scout rank Requirement

The only requirement that may be completed after the 18th birthday.

Credentials received by the local council Milestone

The rank may not be presented until the council has the Eagle Scout credentials back from the national advancement program team.