and i came up the same..."a rising star." however, i already knew that and i already know there is not big deal with more school, rather, it's about practice, practice, practice. i use to be in a business in which i dealt with interior designers all day...and in my opinion most of them just didn't get it or have the flair to 'read' their clients and what looked good based on budget. so, that's where i'd come in and make suggestions as though they were coming from the OFFICIAL designer and thus no egos were hurt.
hope you get some rest. :) ciao!