Heartland Community College

Date: Apr 28 2012
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
I think this school does many things well. First of all, they really work with students and have a lot of help available for people with learning disabilities or other academic problems. I feel like they were sympathetic and understanding when someone has a complaint. The main issues I had were the cafeteria was some of the worst food, but it's a commuter campus and bloomington/normal has a ton of great, inexpensive restaurants so that's not an issue. Also, you get a free bus pass for bloomington/normal just by being a student at Heartland, which was nice for me, you can take the bus from Heartland to Downtown Normal and it was super fast and could get you just about anywhere. I really liked that. They also have a lot of flexibility as to the times at which you could take classes. I ended up taking mostly evening classes because that's a time of the day when I'm more focused. Many people at Heartland have children, jobs, and other commitments outside of school but the faculty and staff were very understanding. They also keep expanding the services available and adding buildings. It felt good to be a part of a campus that was always pouring money back into things that benefit the students and the community. I expected community college work to be unambitious or not very mentally challenging, but the opposite was true. In addition, being part of clubs such as Game Club and Secular Students Society were great and helped me make friends. I think the school really tries hard and really goes out of their way to help everyone succeed. My main problems were minor: the cafe having bad food at too high a price, and the library not having many actual books. However, the abundance of good and cheap local restaurants and the excellent online database the library does offer help offset those minor problems.