Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The best way to decide if K-State's interior design program is a good fit for you is by visiting in-person. We recommend you visit us sometime during your junior year, or early in your senior year, of high school.

Campus visits are set up through the university's Office of Admissions. Find more information on how to schedule your visit by visiting the Admissions Office website. When you make your appointment, let the admissions representative know that you wish to visit the interior design program in the College of Health and Human Sciences. They will coordinate a meeting so you can talk with our advisor, a faculty member, and one of our interior design student ambassadors. We will show you our facilities, examples of student design projects, and answer your questions as a prospective student. If you visit while classes are in session, we encourage you to make prior arrangements to sit in on a class to see how ID students and faculty engage with each other in the learning experience. More importantly, you can speak candidly with your student guide and get a feel for what it is like to be a student in our program.

When you apply to Kansas State University, you must indicate your interest in being considered for admission to the interior design program, in the College of Health and Human Sciences. There are a limited number of seats available in ID Studio 1 each fall. Interior Design uses a selective admissions process to admit students who are best prepared for success. See the K-State Office of Admissions website for more details.

As an incoming freshman, we use the objective measures of your high school GPA, and ACT/SAT scores to determine the best prepared prospective students. For transfer students we review your academic transcripts from the previous institution(s) you attended. Please pay close attention to correspondence from the admissions office regarding required application information and be sure to send all requested transcripts.

Because we are a selective admissions program the exact criteria for admission vary each year based on the applicant pool. We encourage you to maintain a strong GPA throughout high school and to prepare for the ACT or SAT examination. If you are not a strong test taker, enroll in a preparatory class for the test you are taking. Plan to re-take the ACT or SAT if you don't feel you've performed up to your potential. We rarely accept students with GPAs below 3.0 and/or ACT scores below 21 (or SAT equivalent).

Highly qualified applicants will be accepted to the ID program as soon as possible after K-State receives their application with all of the requested academic information. Most applicants will receive an acceptance letter by March for an August start.

Upon acceptance, you will need to follow the instructions on accepting your opportunity for enrollment. Failure to do so may result in your seat in the program being awarded to another qualified candidate.

Kansas State University enrolls incoming freshmen for fall semester in the month of June. At that time, we will meet with you and enroll you in both your interior design and general education courses. Enrollment in the interior design courses is guaranteed, but we recommend that you participate in the earliest possible June enrollment date to increase your chances of being able to enroll in general education classes that may have limited availability. Transfer students should plan to attend the orientation and enrollment session in April. Transfer students may also enroll in August.

We do not require any specific high school courses beyond those required by K-State. There are, however, things you can do to strengthen your skills and confidence. Studio art classes can help strengthen your drawing skills and your aesthetic discernment. Familiarity with a wide range of computer applications will also serve you well. Our students tend to use a variety of programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, etc., in addition to the computer-aided design (CAD) software such as Revit and Auto CAD we teach in our courses.

Our studio courses are rigorous and, as a result, a full course load of 15 to 16 credit hours can be particularly demanding as a new college student. We recommend that you take courses that will begin to fulfill some of the Bachelor of Science in Interior Design general education requirements. Advanced Placement courses are one way to do this. Another way is to take courses at your local community college that transfer equivalently to K-State.

See information about transfer equivalencies
See information about transfer pathways

The interior design curriculum at K-State includes eight sequential semesters of studio course work. In other words, once you begin your interior design course work with us, it will take a minimum of eight semesters before completion. It does not accelerate your degree completion time to fulfill a year of general education before coming to K-State. It may, however, allow you to concentrate on your interior design classes with fewer distractions from other coursework, and may result in cost savings.

All Advanced Placement courses and other college-level coursework are evaluated by the university as part of the admissions process. The university will determine how your work will be applied to fulfill general education or non-restricted elective requirements. You should contact the Office of Admissions if you have further questions about that process.

We encourage you to take advantage of applying for scholarships as part of your K-State application process. Apply by December 1 for eligibility of K-State scholarships.

Departmental scholarships are reserved for students who are continuing at Kansas State University in our academic programs. We encourage you to apply for scholarships through your school district foundation, local community foundations, through family employers, social clubs, etc.

The faculty have worked with the bookstores to package and economically price the basic supplies and drawing tools required to complete studio assignments into a single kit. This should be a one-time purchase.

Other project expenses such as presentation boards, printing costs, materials for model construction, etc., will vary depending on your choices, project assignments and changes in the curriculum from year to year.

We encourage the reuse of leftover materials and items that would otherwise be recycled or become waste whenever possible. Faculty members actively salvage useable materials and make them available to our students.

Current students provided information that breaks down the cost of tuition, fees, and living costs. You can find that information in this chart for the 2022-2023 academic year.

We update our computer requirements each spring. HOWEVER, we strongly recommend that you wait until the beginning of your second year before purchasing your laptop computer. Buying a computer at the beginning of your second year gives it a better chance of continuing to meet your needs through your fourth year in the program.

You will not need any advanced computer software (AutoCAD, etc.) until your second year of study in our program. During your first year in the interior design program you should be able to use a low-cost or older laptop. You can use the computers available in various locations on campus, with a portable external hard drive or a few USB thumb drives to manage your files.

Meet with us. The interior design program has several student ambassadors who give tours and answer questions for prospective students. Existing K-State students can set up a visit by contacting the Interior Design, and Fashion Study’s advisor at 785-532-6993 or idfsinfo@k-state.edu.

We've found that students who know more about the interior design program and profession are more likely to be sure about their choice to become an interior design student. What we do in our curriculum and what interior designers do in practice is not what you see in the media. A visit with our advisor, a faculty member, and one of our interior design student ambassadors can answer a lot of questions.

The interior design program in the College of Health and Human Sciences has a selective admissions process, so you won't be able to simply change your major. Application forms are available in the departmental office at 225 Justin Hall.

We use several measures to evaluate your preparation and potential for success in our program. As part of the admissions process, you will submit an essay explaining why you want to study interior design. It may be helpful for you to know that when we look at your K-State GPA, we evaluate the grades in light of the difficulty of the courses.

Please submit your completed application by February 1 in order to be admitted to the first-year studio for the fall semester.

Maybe. You will need to submit your previous studio work to the ID Program Director for evaluation against the content and skills that are taught in the K-State ID studios . You will be required to submit a portfolio including course syllabi, project statements and work you've done in the courses you're hoping to substitute for required interior design courses. What we need to understand is what you have and have not learned so far. There is no automatic equivalency.

While all accredited interior design programs must meet certain content expectations, no two program curricula are alike in how they organize the content into courses. The first-year curriculum in our program has been designed to focus on what we consider to be the foundational concepts and skills that are the basis for subsequent courses. Although you may have knowledge or skills that are found in higher-level studios within our curriculum, you may be placed within the first year if your previous work does not demonstrate the knowledge and skills we consider foundational.

Call 785-532-6993 to reach the interior design advisor about the process for submitting work for advanced placement.