Career And School Info For Interior Designers In California

Related Pages Detailing Characteristics for
Interior Designers

• Job Tasks and Activities, including working conditions
• Personal Skills and knowledge required
• Personal Characteristics, including interests and personality
• Career Summary, including overview, salary, education, and job titles

Other California Schools for This Career

Career And School Info For Interior Designers In California

There are 56 local schools listed here, with some recommended for being particularly responsive to info requests through this site. Here are some tips for selecting schools, based on an analysis comparing each school to all others across dozens of factors:

Schools Concentrating On Interior Designers

• Focus: For a focus on design, look at Fashion Institute, Santa Monica College, Design Institute of San Diego, and Academy of Art.

Fastest Response From Schools

• Request Info: For the fastest information for prospective students, look at the schools on this page which have an More link.

Student Body

• Part-Time: For schools emphasizing part-time studies, consider UC Davis, Mt Sierra College, San Jose State, and Sacramento State.
• Female: For schools particularly welcoming to female students, consider Interior Designers Institute, Design Institute of San Diego, Fashion Institute, and Fashion Institute.
• Diverse: For a diverse student body, consider Bethesda Christian, Los Angeles Mission College, Mt San Antonio College, and Chabot.
• Adult Learners: For lots of adult learners, consider College of Marin, Mendocino College, Monterey Peninsula College, and City College.

School Setting

• Dorms: For a residential campus environment, take note of California Institute of the Arts, Cal Berkeley, UC Davis, and San Francisco Art Institute.

Excellence

• SAT: For students with high SAT scores, look at Cal Berkeley and UC Davis.
• % Accepted: For selective institutions, look at Cal Berkeley, San Francisco Art Institute, California Institute of the Arts, and Otis College of Art and Design.
• Class Size: For small class sizes, look at California Institute of the Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, Art Center, and Otis College of Art and Design.

Working as an Interior Designer in California

Interior designers combine wall treatments, fabrics, furniture, lighting, flooring, window treatments, fixtures, accessories and artwork to create spaces with character, mood and function. They work with homeowners to create a living space suited to their lifestyle and taste. Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, airports, retail stores, theaters, shopping malls, and schools hire interior designers to boost profits, property value and productivity. Read a detailed Interior Designer job description

State Requirements

• The State of California's California Council for Interior Design Certification (CCIDC) determines eligibility for all interior designers in California.
• To practice, the CCIDC requires interior designers to be Certified Interior Designers.
• Entry-level interior designers are required to pass a single certification exam as of 2009 - the IDEX-California. To qualify to take the test, applicants must have 2 years of interior design education or between 5-8 years of interior design experience. More experienced designers have different requirements. Entry-level interior designers gain work experience as apprentices or assistants.
• Having passed the IDEX-California, to become a Certified Interior Designer, applicants must have a minimum combined total of 8 years interior design education and diversified interior design experience, depending on years of education.
• Once all requirements are met, interior designers must apply for certification and pay fees.
• To renew certification, CIDs must complete of 10 hours of continuing education.

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