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2026-2027

Interior Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts

VCU

Community college:
AFA in Visual Arts (apply after year one) (Virginia Community College System)
Virginia Community College System
Associate degree

Certificate of Fine Arts or Associate of Fine Arts in Visual Arts 

To avoid excess credits at graduation from VCU, complete course recommendations listed below and apply in first year at community college.  The community college ART classes listed under course recommendations will fulfil requirements for the Art Foundation program (the first year of all visual art majors) at VCU.

Program description

The mission of the VCUarts Department of Interior Design is to provide an intellectually rigorous, studio-based experience grounded in the issues of interior architecture. Accredited since 1973, the department develops in its students an enduring passion and curiosity for their work, a determination to continually seek quality in their endeavors, an ability to reflect constructively upon their actions as individuals, and a responsibility for their lifelong education. The department focuses a student's professional activities while encouraging connections between these activities to a larger forum of ideas that enrich their culture and their environment.

Career opportunities

A degree in interior design can open up career opportunities in diverse areas of interior design as well as the potential to define one’s own career path. The interior design profession encompasses project types ranging from single-family residence to hospitals, from academic spaces to offices, hotels to restaurant, and retail spaces to religious facilities and other related design fields. Additionally, interior designers find opportunities in furniture and materials specification and sales, facilities and space planning, lighting design, production and set design, and visualization specialists.

Bachelor-level job titles
  • Design Captain
  • Design Entrepreneur
  • Design Principal
  • Design Strategist
  • Design Thinking Consultant
  • Drafter
  • Interior Architect
  • Interior Designer
  • Project Manager
Graduate and professional level job titles
  • Design Professor
  • Interior Architect
  • Interior Designer
  • Project Designer
Contact information

 

VCU Transfer Center

Telephone: (804) 827-1349

Email: transferinfo@vcu.edu

Transfer Advising Request

VCCS Transfer Planning Checklist


Office of Admissions

Telephone: (804) 828-1222 or (800) 841-3638

Email: ugrad@vcu.edu
Apply Here.

Guaranteed transfer admission requirements
  • No guaranteed admission. 
  • Apply for admission during first year at community college. 
  • Review deadlines and portfolio requirements for transfer applicants here.
Degree requirements in Bulletin
Highest level of math required
  • Quantitative Foundations requirement only
Science required
  • Natural Sciences requirement only
Foreign language requirements
  • No
Additional tuition/fees
  • Yes
GPA requirements (to progress/graduate in the major)
  • 2.5+ cumulative GPA

Transfer major map
Visit majormaps.vcu.edu for the online version with links.
Sponsored by the Office of the Provost
Major map compass icon
2026-2027

Interior Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts

Virginia Community College System (AFA in Visual Arts (apply after year one))

MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING EXPAND YOUR COMMUNITY EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE
Explore Year 1
  • Schedule an appointment with your community college advisor to map out your course plan.
  • Enroll in the SDV student success course.
  • Prepare a portfolio as part of your application to VCU.
  • Complete your math and english requirements.
  • Explore community college financial aid resources and submit your FAFSA on time.
  • Submit a transfer advising request to the VCU Transfer Center.
Experience Year 2

Explore
MAXIMIZE COURSE AND DEGREE PLANNING
  • Schedule an appointment with your community college advisor to map out your course plan.
  • Enroll in the SDV student success course.
  • Prepare a portfolio as part of your application to VCU.
  • Complete your math and english requirements.
  • Explore community college financial aid resources and submit your FAFSA on time.
  • Submit a transfer advising request to the VCU Transfer Center.
EXPAND YOUR COMMUNITY
EXPLORE CAREERS AND DEVELOP ESSENTIAL SKILLS
PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE

Experience

Recommended courses
Major map compass icon
2026-2027

Interior Design, Bachelor of Fine Arts

Virginia Community College System (AFA in Visual Arts (apply after year one))

Virginia Community College System courses
Course Title Equivalent course Credits Requirements
SDV 100 College Success Skills UNIV 101 1 Elective
ENG 111 College Composition I UNIV 111 3 General education
ENG 112 College Composition II UNIV 200 3 General education
MTH 154 Quantitative Reasoning (or any other approved MTH course) MATH 131 3 General education
ART 101 History of Art: Prehistoric to Gothic (this course fulfills a requirement for the Art Foundation program at VCU) ARTH 103 3 Major (Art Foundation)
ART 102 History of Art: Renaissance to Modern (this course fulfills a requirement for the Art Foundation program at VCU) ARTH 104 3 Major (Art Foundation)
ART 121 Foundations of Drawing (depending on your portfolio and admission to VCU Arts, this courses will either transfer as an ARTS 1XX elective or as ARTF 131). ARTF 131 3 Major (Art Foundation)
ART 131 Two-Dimensional Design (depending on your portfolio and admission to VCU Arts, this courses will either transfer as an ARTS 1XX elective or as ARTF 132). ARTF 132 3 Major (Art Foundation)
ART 132 3D Design (depending on your portfolio and admission to VCU Arts, this course will either transfer as an ARTS 1XX elective or as ARTF 133). ARTF 133 3 Major (Art Foundation)
ART 130 or ART 133 Introduction to Multimedia or Time Studio (depending on your portfolio and admission to VCU Arts, these courses will either transfer as an ARTS 1XX elective or as ARTF 134) ARTF 134 3 Major (Art Foundation)
Select one of the following: ART 140, ART 141, ART 153, ART 160, ART 180, PHT 101, PHT 102, or PHT 164. ARTF 138/139 3 Major (Art Foundation)
Community college credits transferred to VCU 31
VCU courses
Course Title Credits Requirements
Complete 21 credits (7 classes) of general education requirements (see VCU advisor for course options) 21 General education
IDES 201 Introductory Interior Design Studio I 4 Major
IDES 202 Introductory Interior Design Studio II 4 Major
IDES 211 Interior Graphics I 3 Major
IDES 212 Interior Graphics II 3 Major
IDES 231 Fundamentals of Interior Design 3 Major
IDES 251 Historic Environments: Ancient Through 19th Century 3 Major
IDES 301 Interior Design Studio I 4 Major
IDES 302 Interior Design Studio II 4 Major
IDES 311 Advanced Interior Graphics I 3 Major
IDES 312 Advanced Interior Graphics II 3 Major
IDES 321 Interior Materials and Textiles 3 Major
IDES 323 Light and Color in Interior Environments 3 Major
IDES 400 Senior Interior Design Studio I (or IDES 405 + IDES 406) 4 Major
IDES 401 Senior Interior Design Studio II 4 Major
IDES 422 Building Systems 3 Major
IDES 441 Senior Design Seminar I 2 Major
IDES 442 Senior Design Seminar II 2 Major
IDES 252 Historic Environments: 20th-21st Centuries 3 Major
IDES IDES 400 Senior Interior Design Studio I OR IDES 405 Middle of Broad: Interdisciplinary Community-engaged Design Studio AND IDES 406 Middle of Broad: Interior Design 4 Major
IDES 431 Interior Design Business Practices 3 Major
IDES 494 Interior Design Practicum 0 Major
Art/design elective (300 to 400 level) 3 Major (Ancillary)
Art/design elective (any) 3 Major (Ancillary)
Credits completed at VCU 92
Minimum credits required for bachelor's degree 120