no, they mean worse than an apartment. have you ever lived in a university dorm? when i first started my phd, i had to spend my first semester in a dorm because i was basically too late to apply for any of the on-campus apartments. you basically got a small room that you had too share with another person. there was one kitchen that had to be shared with everyone on the floor, although i was lucky there, because some dorms did not even have a kitchen. showers and toilets were similarly shared for everyone on the floor. with an apartment, you get like 1-3 rooms, each for one person, plus a kitchen and bathroom that are shared with the people in the apartment, but not everyone in the apartment complex. basically, dorms require you to share more facilities, totally eliminate your privacy in your own room, and often require you to eat... whatever the fuck it is that people who don't cook eat.
United States