<p>Hi everyone, thanks! I am very relieved, S is very relieved. Now that he has the LL in hand, I feel like I can be helpful to the next group of athletes who are perhaps hearing “coach speak.”</p>
<p>I think stemit is correct, the magic phrase was “full support.” This particular coach did not see recruiting from the recruit’s point of view. The recruit is looking for the LL, and asks, How many LLs does this coach have? Am I getting a LL? or something else? When a coach understands the athlete’s POV (i.e. how difficult it is to get into HYP, how there are a zillion students in the world with great GPAs and scores, how there is always an athlete better than you, etc.) I think she or he will use the same terms as the athlete, such as LL or slot, because then the athlete understands that it is okay to turn away other offers–a LL feels safe. This coach did describe the entire process carefully and in detail to my S. But he did not seem to see the LL as something he could offer; he referred to it as something admissions sends. He also wasn’t really clued into the amount of risk and anxiety involved for the athlete, I suspect. He was giving all the support he had available, and whether admissions sent a letter or made a phone call or just waited until December, wasn’t something he knew much about.</p>
<p>Varska, in between the phone call and the LL, my S clarified the procedure with the coach, asked some follow up questions, and sent a resume that would be used to write a supporting letter for the meeting. It seemed clear to us that the coach knew his end of the process well, and since he was saying things like, “When you are accepted, admissions will contact you,” it seemed okay to start hoping that this would really work out. We were all very anxious because there was never a preread by admissions, unlike at other schools. We were made doubly anxious when one of his top choices dropped him like a hot potato when he told them he had decided to apply early to this school. So he was down one backup school, and it was a place he really liked.</p>
<p>Moral of the story, I guess, is that a commitment is really a commitment. It’s hard to not get emotionally invested, and it’s hard to deal with the risk and possible rejection. So glad it’s over! (Of course now I keep thinking maybe I shouldn’t assume anything until the “real” acceptance arrives…)</p>