Northwest Florida State College — Local services in Fort Walton Beach

This place wins the award of being one of the worst places I've ever visited. I've come here about 10+ times (due to how close it is to where I work) and I've had a terrible experience every time. Every. Single. Time.

Typically, a common mission for colleges is to get students to come to their school. That is NOT the case here. They make it as difficult as possible to apply to this school. They constantly tell me conflicting information, if I'm even able to speak to somebody that works there.

There's two people that work here, but only the main receptionist is able to fully assist students, the other "assistant receptionist" can only tell you what you should do, but if you actually want to do it, you have to talk to the main one.

This makes things extremely problematic because you'll drive over here, but the main receptionist will be gone for whatever reason, which means you have no choice but to come back later. The answer to this would be to call in advance, but they don't answer the phones. Actually, I was told in person that they PURPOSELY don't answer the phones. Every time you go, it becomes a gamble of whether the main receptionist will be present or not. But that's only one obstacle...

In the event that the main receptionist is actually there, you then have to worry about how many other people are there to see her as well. You'll have moments where you have a quick question, but the two people before you in line have the one of the most basic questions: "How do I get started applying to this school?"

The answer to this question requires a 30 minute explanation (that's how long it takes for the person that works here to explain it at least). Instead of explaining this to two people at once, and saving time, the main receptionist will explain it one person at a time, to up to three people in a row. In instances like this (which are quite common), you could potentially be waiting in line for up to an hour and a half if just a few people are ahead of you.

This brings me to my last point. There's at least two things that could make this place WAY better:

Have a board, or literature available to explain the most frequently asked questions. This would save enormous amounts of time of having to explain the same 30 minute answers over and over and over.

When presented with a large line of customers, ask them all what they're there for, to get quick, 10-second answers out of the way. Have a 10-second answer waiting in line behind two 30-minute answers is...

Daughter had the best...