Boy's State

How does one attend Boy's State, and how much will it help with acceptance?

Each State will have a website, e.g. Texas Boys State.

It's run by the American Legion throughout the nation. I'm a parent, I went to Boys State a LONG time ago. I lived near a military base. We had lots of American Legion posts nearby. They sponsored 5-10 boys every year to go to Boys State. That's a lot more slots than most high schools.

These days, it can be a pretty competitive process to get a slot, depending on your school and how well known the program is. Some schools don't participate at all in sending kids.

Anyhow, if your school has never sent someone, I suggest going to the website and making an inquiry about attending. They might direct you to a nearby American Legion for an application. They might let you pay yourself if you are a good candidate and they want to create future interest at your school. In Texas last year, the cost to attend was about $275.00 (excluding your travel to/from).

If your school has sent people in the past, contact your counselor and see what the application process is.

It's a fantastic program. It's generally about a week long. And, in that short time, you form mock local, county, and state governments.

Being selected and attending adds points to the leadership portion of your Whole Candidate Score. I believe this is because the selection process is generally competitive, the candidates chosen are generally good students involved in numerous activities, and the program is a known quantity to service academies because it is basically uniformly administered across the 50 states by the American Legion.

Well, first of all you need to find out if there is Boys State in your state. Then you can talk to a history teacher (our AP Gov teacher was our contact) or you can contact the American Legion directly to find out how to apply. You can google Boys State for more info too.

It adds points to your WCS (whole candidate score) and my DS loved it (as did I back in the day) so it's worth going if you have the time and inclination.

+1 Sledge we were typing at the same time. DS was the only one to go from our school and we had a full ride scholarship from the local American Legion group within days of deciding to go. Our expense was only the travel to and from Boys State (3 hours away).

Don't be shy to get on phone and call ALegion post and ask for a slot. I know some who didn't get a slot locally or found out too late about program and went by calling around.


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Craig said:

Don't be shy to get on phone and call ALegion post and ask for a slot. I know some who didn't get a slot locally or found out too late about program and went by calling around.

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That's how my DS did it. We found out about it late and called the legion post.

It depends on state. I was in Oregon Boys State and literally, the legion over there keep ASKING all of us to recruit more people for future Boys State! They always need more folks to enjoy this once in a life time event!

When I was researching West Point and stuff, I found out Boys State was important (actually a senior at the time recommended this to me when I talked to him about my desire for a service academy, although he was no military college applicant). My high school knew no such thing about the program so I had to google it and applied myself through their website. Soon the legion guy contacted me by email and we had the interview together and signing the document and all that good stuff.

I was accepted immediately when I "applied". It was a good incentive to go too; the cost was just $50 for a whole 5 day experience of Boys State! I had so much fun and made good friends. It's awesome.

Also - unless things have changed, your only opportunity to attend is as a rising Senior - the summer between your Junior & Senior years. Our son loved it, learned a lot and it added to his WCS - that's hard to beat.