During a battle, when you've taken several actions with a recruit within one cycle, is there any sense of order to the recruit's responses?  Not that unusual to get "let's talk some more" and "looks like he's ready to sign" and "I'm leaning towards somewhere else" 1-2-3.  If the message at the top of the pile was the most recent report, that would be useful to know. If they're just random, well, that'd be what I expect from WIS.

Random.  Don't trust those reports.  There are only a couple of reports that have any kind of significance and "them ain't them".

If you've offered a scholarship and you've gotten "I'm leaning someplace else", you're behind in the battle, no matter what the other messages say. The only time you'll know that you've taken the lead is if you get another message saying that he's leaning toward you.