CSU Interior Design Program Requires Entrance Exam

Students take Design Scenario after freshman year of college is complete
By Logan Martinez


Interior design students don’t pick out “paint and pillows,” which is why only 40 students get into the program each year.

Design Scenario is a four-hour-long entrance exam pre-interior design majors take to become an interior design major; it occurs once every spring for students in their second semester of freshman year.

Trade professionals evaluate the students on their ability to communicate through sketching, conceptual ideas based on a prompt, an essay over ethical performance and grade point average during their first year.

Interior design Assistant Professor Chad Gibbs explained why there is an exam for the program.

“We want to make sure that the people who are in our program are doing good work,” Gibbs said. “It is kind of like running against other fast people, we want you to be with competition and people who can help you, as opposed to having to dumb classes down and slow them down for the people who just aren’t really sure if they want to do this.” According to Gibbs, other university interior design programs may have portfolio reviews, but CSU is the only with an entrance exam.

“The whole idea about having this Design Scenario is to make it as fair as possible for everyone; we have no idea who it is that is actually being reviewed,” Gibbs explained. He continued on how students have a choice to whether they want to take the exam and continue on into the program or not.

For those who decide to take it, upon arrival on the day of the exam each are assigned a number, to guarantee anonymity when being evaluated by both professionals and staff. This ensures the exam is non-partisan to who gets into the program.

“The nice thing about experts is they don’t know you by the way you draw or the way you write; so it is totally anonymous, all they have are numbers,” Gibbs explained. “In fact, none of us knows what your name is until after we decide where the cut off is.”

The student limit allowed in is due to the lack of available seats in classes. Gibbs spoke about how hard it can be for professors to see many students that don’t get in; explaining how one year 138 students took Design Scenario, while other years it is often around 60 or 70 students.

“It is really painful, because there is always a person and we think, ‘oh, but she worked so hard, this is the third time she tried,’” Gibbs related. “We had a person who has already graduated who tried to get in three times (previous to her graduation) and finally she got in. This person turned out to be an incredible asset to our program.”

Seniors Brittney Bushman and Heidi Newlan expressed terror about taking the exam.

“I came home and cried (after the exam) because I was convinced that I didn’t get in,” confessed Bushman, 22.

Newlan, 35, came back to school to pursue her passion for interior design as a second degree.

“I was really scared, because you have to come back to school for a year and take some classes, so I had to quit my job,” Newlan said. “I didn’t know if I was going to get in, or if I quit my job for nothing. I was really scared, but it worked out.”

When students do not get into the interior design program, they are sent to Kendra Allen, coordinator of advising in the design and merchandising department, to choose another major or make plans to take the Design Scenario the next year.

“It is a pre-interior design program. So, they know they are not accepted into the program yet, and there are only two classes that are required for this, so it’s not like they are wasting a lot of money,” Gibbs explained. “Usually the people that don’t get in are the ones that don’t show that they can perform the skills.”

Pre-interior design transfer student Stephen Ross said he understands that the exam is an asset to the program.

“It is a challenge and a passion I have. It is kind of a demonstration of our ability to see if you can take it in the real world,” said Ross, 35.

Though the exam is intimidating, Bushman explained its worth.

“The education that I am getting here is probably better than what you can get at most schools,” Bushman said. “So, I think that the level of quality, what you achieve and what you learn in the three years that you are in the program is remarkable, the vast amount is like night and day.”

Design Scenario is scheduled for April 14 and Gibbs estimates 60 to 70 students to take it. Bushman emphasized that interior design can be more challenging than perceived.

“We don’t pick out paint and pillows.”