What are the Best Interior Design Schools?

The best interior design degree schools offer programs that provide their students with a foundation of art, design, and architectural skills as they relate to developing interior spaces. While there are many great interior design degree programs, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Before you start applying to schools, it is important that you weigh your own personal expectations when it comes to selecting the best interior design school for you.

What to Consider When Choosing an Interior Design Degree Program

You should consider the following aspects of an interior design program, and decide which will be the most important in your selection process:

• An Affordable Degree Program: There are many ways to ensure that you are getting a good deal on your degree program, including applying for scholarships, financial aid, and finding a school with low tuition rates.
• Schedule Flexibility: Many interior design schools offer online degree programs that allow students to maintain full-time employment and other responsibilities by offering them the ability to take classes wherever and whenever it is most convenient, without requiring any campus visits.
• A Valuable Internship Experience: Some interior design degree programs find high-end successful interior design firms for their students to gain valuable workplace experience, which often leads to employment after graduation.
• Technical or Theoretical Curriculum: Some interior design programs focus on an academic understanding of interior design with classes like Color Theory, Design Theory, and the History of Design, while other programs focus on technical expertise with industry-standard software programs such as Adobe Illustrator, SketchUp, and AutoCAD.

Evaluating Interior Design Programs

Once you have determined the aspects of an interior design program that are most important to you, the next step is to find a program that aligns with your expectations. Here at Online College Plan, we compiled a ranking of the top 15 interior design schools to help you start your search.

Our ranking was based on the following methodology:

• Freshman Retention, to ensure that new students are provided with supportive advisors.
• Graduation Rates, to ensure that professors are engaging and helpful mentors for their students.
• Statistics from national outlets such as College Data, NCES, and US News and World Report.

Highest Ranked Interior Design Schools

Based on our methodology, the following colleges and universities ranked among the best interior design schools:

• New York School of Interior Design: If you want to build your network with peers and professors who will be successful interior designers, the New York School of Interior Design is one of the most highly recognized programs in the country. They offer interior design degrees from the associates level through the master’s level, and their MPS in Sustainable Interior Environments is one of the most heralded programs in the country.
• Samford University: Established in 1841, Samford University has been providing quality educational experiences for a diverse student body for a long time. If you want to experience a degree program with multiple perspectives and cultural ideologies, check out the interior design programs at Samford.
• Endicott College: If you are looking for a school that will allow you to continue your interior design studies from undergraduate to graduate level classes, Endicott provides Fifth Year programs that are designed to help students earn their master’s degree in one year.

If these, or any other schools on our ranking might be the best interior design school for you, be sure to follow the links to their school website and request more information about their interior design degree programs.