supersupao,

I just read the "Interior Designer fights back" thread myself and, as and architect AND interior desginer I've got to say that it seems most posters have very little concept of what interior designers are trained to do. I suspect many people confuse interior designers with interior decorators.

In answer to your question, I did complete and M.Arch and then went on to take the NCIDQ examination and now have my state license for interior design. It has definitely been beneficial to my career as I can now more easily work on all portions of a project.

Was the NCIDQ a long process? whats the criteria? what type of projects do you get to owrk on, considering the nature of your educaiton?

clarification...i was referring to your "dual degree"

Actually, I didn't have a dual degree. I have only the M. Arch. I did; however, work under both a licensed architect and licensed interior designer. I has able to document interior design work I had done over a period of 6 years.

There is an intern program for interior designers similar to the IDP. It is called the IDEP. (http://www.ncidq.org/idep/idepintro.htm) When I applied with the NCIDQ, I was informed I didn't qualify for the IDEP since I didn't have a degree in Interior Design; however, due to my work experience I was over-qualified in any event. So, they allowed me to submit an application for exam approval which involved letters of recommendation, transcripts, et cetera. In the end, they I was approved for the exam. As I recall, this whole process took a few months.

I took the exam. It is set up similar to how I believe the ARE used to be organized prior to being computerized. It is offered only twice a year at pre-determined locations throughout the U.S. The exam takes place over two full days and involves various section such as Contracts, Construction Documents, a design problem, et cetera.

I took an exam review course prior to taking the exam. The program I used is call "STEP." I HIGHLY recommed this process and taking practice exams. People who go in cold turkey are usually pretty overwhelmed.

Most of the accredited colleges have pre-exam programs, specifically designed for NCIDQ test. Warning: do not buy any book to study on your own without recommendations, almost all of them contain horrifying discrepancies

the interior design programs in many schools have relatively recently become more legit, in terms of what the profession actually does. its separated itself a lot from architecture, and (at least in my academic experience), focused on the notions of workspace planning, environmental factors (humidity/heat, erogonomics), and person to person interactions. Which, opposed to architecture which often concerns with the site and interactions to occur on site, interior design attempts to take one more (science/research based) step towards analysis of these factors. I believe now, the notions of color and surface have been accepted in the field as "fashion" or industry driven (i.e. finishes companies/fabrics/paints that are often determined by trends, and picked by deisgners/decorators). thus, its emphasis is decreased in the interior design education. These colors may often be regarded as a talent one has or doesnt, but not worthy of intellectual pursuit. Instead, my program focused on the human effects of certain colors, for example..

the best thing i got, was that it gave a persepective of space that is often ignored or disregarded by architectural academic programs, often a result of the way architecture programs/teaching is established.