<p>This question has come up a few times on this board lately. Most people here have come to accept the reality that a LL truly is a "sure thing" prelude to an actual acceptance, reliable barring only a rescindable event, such as a major drop in senior grades, academic dishonesty, criminal activity, or the like. But what about an injury? If a recruited athlete, LL in hand, is injured, is the LL at risk? Must recruited athletes pursue backup plans in case of this unforseen possibility?</p>
<p>Today I thought I'd ask. I called the P and H admissions offices and posed the question on behalf of my pretend daughter, a current holder of a LL.</p>
<p>Princeton's answer was straightforward, clear, and unambiguous. Upon hearing my question, the receptionist put me through to an admissions officer, who told me that A LL is reliable barring only rescindable events like I listed above. When I asked specifically about an injury, there was no hesitation. She's in, and they won't take it away.</p>
<p>Harvard was less clear. The receptionist wouldn't put me through to an admissions officer unless I told them my student/athlete's name. I insisted that I wanted to remain anonymous and just wanted an answer to the general question. She then asked me to hold so she could ask an officer for me. When she got back on the line I received a confusing non-answer. She said there were a lot of variables and I'd be better off asking my daughter's coach. I told her I thought this was an admissions question more than a coaching question, but I was clearly getting nowhere.</p>
<p>I'm inclined to believe that Princeton's answer was probably accurate for Harvard as well, but by talking to a receptionist I got a unnecessarily fuzzy answer. Who knows?</p>
<p>I hope a few others will call a few of these schools on behalf of their kids to try to clarify the different school's policies.</p>
<p>Does anyone else here have any knowledge about this?</p>
<p>“We will offer you a formal letter of admission the the Class of 2014 on April 1”</p>
<p>“Our decision to offer you admission would be altered only by a significant decline in your performance or by conduct that raises that raises serious questions of character and maturity”</p>
<p>Although I suppose if you blew out your ACL that may qualify as a significant decline in performance, I think they’re speaking academically. I can’t imagine it would be rescinded for injury.</p>
<p>All I have is anecdotal, but I can say some athletes seem to show up Freshman year with injuries. Over time these athletes usually recover and contribute, while some of the upperclassmen sustain injuries or cycle out of peak performance condition. I’ll never know when injuries happened: in the fall before the LL, or sometime later. And it’s hard to know when the coach was informed. It does seem like injuries are part of athletics. It would be difficult for me to believe an Ivy coach would work to rescind an admitted athlete over an injury that occurred after the commitment was made. Maybe I’m an idealist, but I’d like to think a good coach would give an injured athlete the benefit of the doubt.</p>
<p>sherpa, I like your clandestine inquiry. Interesting info.</p>
<p>I have my own anecdotal experience, too. I’ve told the story here before. Senior year DS suffered a potentially sport career ending injury post-LL. Coach was helpful with hooking him up with top specialist for surgery, support never wavered, and there was never a hint of question regarding LL. But this was P (have I ever mentioned what a fan I am of everything P?).</p>
<p>I am not so much of a cynic as to think the support would have been any less at any other Ivy. I truly believe I was given bad info by H’s receptionist today.</p>
<p>I know of several severe injuries of recipients of LLs, and nobody’s letter was revoked. Ditto with NLIs at Stanford. Moreover, NLIs are valid for four years, and even if a career-ending injury occurs, the student receives his/her scholarship. If a student quits the team or is kicked off for, say, drinking, then the scholarship is not renewed.</p>
<p>However, NLIs and admission can be revoked if there is a significant drop in academic performance before high school graduation.</p>
<p>Won’t be a problem, a good friend of my D’s, recruited for D1 bball, injured her knee and missed her entire senior year season. She’s recovered, fitter than ever and in the program.
It’s a part of the game.</p>
<p>“By signing a National Letter of Intent, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution.”</p>
<p>I know that Stanford gives an athletic scholarship for the full four years if a student gets injured and is medically ineligible, even if the university may not be required by NCAA rules.</p>
<p>When our D was being recruited we asked about injuries and scholarships – the answer was typically something like this: NCAA rules prohibit revocation of a scholarship for an injury – there are a few caveats: The injury must have happened only in participation of the particular sport (i.e ski/snowboard at risk, other sports at risk etc), the athlete is still considered part of the team and must participate in some way and is ( or may be) expected to attend practices and team events etc and personal conduct expectation as a school athlete also stays the same ( i.e. facebook etc).</p>