Politeness and helpfulness (or otherwise!) of uni Admissions Staff

Not sure about what anybody else has experienced when talking to uni admissions staff but I find it quite astounding the varying degrees of politeness and helpfulness. On the basis that we are prospective students (and some often quite daunted by the process) some staff really do not present a great impression for their respective uni! At the moment I have to give top marks all round to Newcastle University as they have been the most helpful and courteous and well worth 10/10.

FWIW, this is a pretty busy time of year for some admissions staff- they are already dealing with IB/BTEC/Access Course/Scottish results, as well as processing some clearing applications and gearing up for A-level results day. As such, it may not be the best time to contact unis with general admissions queries.

I do agree that it makes a difference to your impression of a uni if admissions staff are helpful and organised! And for unis that are looking to recruit students, this is important. However, there are also still some unis that are in the position of being able to fill most/all of their courses easily still, and in these cases admissions staff aren't seen as having such a customer service role.

Sometimes admissions staff do have to spend a lot of time replying to emails asking questions that are easily answered on their website. At this time of year, admissions staff can also get a lot of emails/phonecalls asking things like "Will you let me in if I miss my offer?" and of course they can't give a definitive answers. Personally, I do think it's important to always be polite, but equally these calls can be a waste of time for everyone and it can be hard to be polite when a pointless phonecall is eating into your lunch-break etc.

July is also a peak time for admissions staff to have their holidays, so replies may be slower than usual.

Yes, totally understood it is manic for them right now but I've also found that it has been the same even when speaking to various unis a few months ago. Some uni staff have most definitely produced a much friendlier "face" without a shadow of a doubt.

What would you define as a "friendly" face from admissions staff?

Personally, I don't really mind if admissions staff come across as friendly or not, as long as they are able to answer my question and appear organised!

I know what you mean about getting the required answers but some people have just been very unnecessarily abrupt and direct whereas others have simply been much friendlier and gone out of their way to be helpful. Just common courtesy really!