Best Dominican University Of California Dorms

"Don't be deceived by the beautiful exterior of Fanjeaux Hall... that is probably the only good thing about it. The building is very old and the rooms are incredibly small. Fanjeaux Hall (FANJ) is missing many of the modern amenities that a dorm should have... like a communal kitchen. If you want to make your own food you are pretty much out of luck and this is a problem because the dining hall food is, to say the least, horrible. The walls are very thin so expect to hear your neighbors and for them to hear you. FANJ has no air conditioning so expect to be very uncomfortable on hot days... we had 4 fans in our room and it was still pretty miserable. The FANJ laundry room is very outdated and the washers are disgusting. The FNAJ laundry room also only has 3 small washers so expect long wait times to do your laundry, especially when other students forget about their laundry. The dorms also get very quiet on the weekends since most students go home. FANJ is also pretty far from everything in San Rafael so you will definitely want some sort of transportation like a car or electric scooter. The internet in FANJ typically goes out on Thursdays around 5:00 PM and it is pretty slow. Overall, I do not recommend FANJ for students at Dominican."

"I lived in a corner room, so I would say I had an advantage over other students, those who can get corner rooms are lucky as it is very different than living in middle rooms. The lighting is excellent as there is a lot of natural lighting. There is no air conditioning which makes the warmer months very uncomfortable, and the heating system is very outdated, and you do not have the choice to turn it off. Luckily with the corner room, I was able to have a nice private bathroom; even with that stated, the tub, shower, and sink are all outdated and need to be replaced. The rooms are too small for triple occupancy and should only accommodate double occupancy for there is not enough shelving, closet, and available floor space for three beds. The common areas on every floor provide a very unwelcoming environment, and they provide a very plain and old decor. Everything looks used or broken, and there is nothing to do in the spaces. Every common area should include things to interact with, including TVs, pool tables, ping pong, and comfortable seating to promote the use of the spaces. The main Fanjeaux lounge has a deformed pool table, and one of the Pennafort lounges has ping pong table, but that's it, and both of these spaces are not welcoming. These simple changes would make these spaces ten times better. I would also say that they need to add more laundry units and better/newer units, as well as they charge 3 dollars total for washing and drying. Most colleges, including private colleges, offer free laundry as a part of tuition, allowing people to use the machines more as they would be free. Another thing that the school should add is a communal kitchen to make food so that students aren't forced to eat the dining food as it is pretty terrible most days. As well as the ability to make food at times when the dining hall is not open. They do have a cafe and grill that are usually open during those gap hours in the day, but the cafe is not part of the meal plan and is a little pricey for what they offer (The coffee isn't too bad tho). And the food served at the grill is also not good with having dry or overly greasy food with buns that taste terrible. The only vending machines for the two dorm buildings are at the bottom of Pennafort, and the selection is minimal as well as charging you a hefty amount (But all vending machines do that, so it's whatever). All in all, if you do move into Penn I would recommend trying to get into a corner room or if not get a double for the middle rooms. Last note none of the building are wheelchair accessible and is very inaccessible for people who have mobility issues."