What is The Best College For Studying Interior Design?
Pursuing an interior design degree opens up diverse career paths blending creativity and functionality. Many excellent colleges offer interior design programs, but a few stand out for their academics, facilities, faculty, and career support. When researching schools, look for those with curriculums emphasizing critical technical, artistic, and business skills. Here are some of the top colleges for interior design majors:
Savannah College of Art and Design
With campuses in Savannah, Georgia and Lacoste, France, SCAD is highly respected for programs in architecture, interior design, furnishings, and more. The curriculum blends design principles, spatial concepts, building codes, and business practices. Students benefit from the latest technology and software, while developing classic techniques like sketching, drafting, and model making. SCAD’s events and speaker series provide valuable industry connections.
Pratt Institute
Pratt offers a BFA and MFA in Interior Design based in Brooklyn, NYC with courses taught by experienced designers. The program focuses on sustainable, accessible designs reflecting diverse cultures and communities. Students gain technical and soft skills like communication, critical thinking and problem solving. Pratt stresses real-world experience via internships, studios, and collabs with industry partners in the NYC area and abroad.
Rhode Island School of Design
RISD is a top art and design school with an Interior Architecture department. Coursework emphasizes spatial awareness, human-centered design, collaboration, and craft. RISD’s interior design students exhibit versatility across residential, commercial, hospitality, retail, and exhibition spaces. The program nurtures creativity while instilling techniques for building context, codes, construction, and regulations into student projects.
Parsons School of Design
Located in the heart of NYC’s design scene, Parsons offers a BFA Interior Design program through its School of Constructed Environments. Coursework balances aesthetics, ethics, technology, sustainability and global perspectives. Parsons students gain applied skills in BIM software, fabrication, lighting, acoustics and environmental systems while developing their creative design vision. The program partners with NYC firms and institutions for real-world educational experiences.
Cornell University
The top-ranked undergraduate interior design program from Cornell’s College of Human Ecology emphasizes a human-centered approach. Coursework covers design process, history, lighting, furniture, fabrics, business practices and codes. The rigorous, multidisciplinary curriculum incorporates courses from fields like psychology, sociology, economics and ergonomics. The program prepares students for varied career paths, including with standout alumni like Sanibel interior designers.
The right interior design program nurtures creativity while grounding students in the technical and business aspects of the field. Programs that provide hands-on studio work, multidisciplinary perspectives, and strong industry connections equip graduates for success. Leverage college rankings, but also consider a program’s strengths aligning with your talents, vision, and career aspirations.
