Kimberli, I'd agree with your general observation about Australians, from what I've heard and the little I've seen while visiting the country.
But, marketing is marketing. The schools do currently compete with each other in their own ways. For example, Flinders I think does an excellent job at the "front door" -- Tony (dir. of admissions) choosing to be the int'l applicant liaison is extremely time-consuming (and expensive) yet adds a personal touch and helps assure QC in communications. Flinders also has a rolling admissions policy to try to snag the better students. UQ requires a HUGE, early deposit that effectively locks in its students with interesting timing. USyd effectively has rolling admissions, and interesting maneuverings vis-a-vis the ACER ranking/matching system.
The more laid back and less-competitive nature may be characteristic of Australians in general, but the very intelligent *deans* of the schools all have their own methods/policies (and probably mandate) to attract better students. Whether the tactics or chain of command are effective is another matter.
If a school breaks a promise, such as an interview date, or the date to expect to hear back, then this unrectified reflects negatively on the school, and can give rise to questions of what to expect once in the school, RELATIVE to the other schools. Now, "front door" behavior could be illusory, but the deans are smart enough to understand that such behavior can have an effect on an applicant's perception of the school relative to the other schools, raising the additional question of whether they care about applicants'/students' perceptions. If they do, what are the reasons for the front-door behavior (new school, swamped with apps., incompetence, etc.), and if not, and assuming not just with applicants they don't intend to reject, then why choose to potentially stab themselves in the foot by filtering out students who are concerned with such matters.
It's not the end of the world if an admissions office appears to be disorganized or worse. Many applicants don't care all that much and don't make any connection between admissions and school administration or to their expectations as students over the next 3-4 years. But, to *some* degree, most do (`all else being equal between school X and Y...`), which means the "why?" is still a valid concern, even if the impact is only infinitessimal compared to other potential decision factors such as location/image of the school, res placement stats, and cost.
So, in my somewhat typical fashion...this all matters only to the extent that concern for the implications is able to sway one's decision one way or another. No more, no less.
-pitman
