About the Author: Hi, I’m Chris Drew and I run things around here. You can learn more about me here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
My pick for the best dorm fan is the 47 Inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Best Choice Products”. It’s a powerful fan with a great remote control interface so you can operate it from your desk or bed. It also displays the current room temperature at all times.
Click the image on the right to see this fan on Amazon.
If you want a smaller desk fan for studying, my top desk fan pick would be the 12 Inch Blizzard Rotating Fan by “Holmes”. It’s affordable, powerful, and portable – a great option! Click here to go to my full review of this desk fan below.
The best fans for college dorms are:
- 47 Inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Best Choice Products”
- 17 inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Seville Classics”
- 16 Inch Standing Pedestal Fan by “AmazonBasics”
- 12 Inch Blizzard Rotating Fan by “Holmes”
- 6 Inch Desk Clip Lamp by “Hurricane”
Best Fans for College Dorms
Best Fans for College |
Overview |
| 1. 47 Inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Best Choice Products”
|
My Rating: 9/10
A high quality standing fan that is both strong and quiet. I love the controls, including the remote and button interface. It stands at over a meter tall (47 inches) on a 12 inch base. |
| 2. 17 inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Seville Classics”
|
My Rating: 7.5/10
A shorter option of a tower fan for sitting on your desk. It is powerful and has all the features you’d expect from a fan, but doesn’t have a remote. |
| 3. 16 Inch Standing Pedestal Fan by “AmazonBasics”
|
My Rating: 7.5/10
A traditional standing fan that can stand up to 57 inches high. Very powerful fan with 2 fans in one. You will need to construct it out of the box. Comes with remote. |
| 4. 12 Inch Blizzard Rotating Fan by “Holmes”
|
My Rating: 8.5/10
A good little fan that you can sit on your desk and control by remote. It’s great for a small dorm where you don’t have space to place a standing fan on the floor. |
| 5. 6 Inch Desk Clip Lamp by “Hurricane”
|
My Rating: 7/10
A fun small fan option. It can clip onto your desk and you can face it up to blow are onto you. Small and not as powerful as other fans on this list. |
1. 47 Inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Best Choice Products”
Quick Review: My choice of the best dorm room fan. It doesn’t take up too much floor space and has a great remote control.
This tower fan would be good to sit discretely in the corner of your room. Its stand is 12 inches wide, and it stands 47 inches (1.2 meters) tall. It runs very quietly and smoothly while oscillating (swiveling) to fan the whole room. I’m really impressed!
The other great feature is the control interface. The controls on the fan are at a good height on the top of the fan and are very intuitive. You can also operate it from a remote which you can have by your side while studying or on your bedside table at night.
There is an LED temperature display at the top of the fan so you can see at a glance what the temperature is in the room.
I also love the night time features. You can set it to turn off after a set length of time and turn its lights off so that it operates in complete darkness at night.
Overall this is an impressive fan with very few downsides.
Why this Fan:
- Remote Control: I love the remote, which you can sit on your bedside stand so you can control the fan at night.
- Incredibly Quiet: This fan is impressively quiet for someone who wants the benefit of a fan but peace and quiet.
- Temperature Display: A cool LED temperature display at the top of the fan shows you the temperature in the room at all times.
- Great Night Mode: They have done a good job of designing this fan for sleepers. It has an auto shut-off timer and you can turn of all its lights so it operates in complete darkness at night.
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2. 17 inch Oscillating Tower Fan by “Seville Classics”
Quick Review: A good tower fan option if you don’t have much space. Place this one on top of your desk or bedside table.
This tower fan is your alternative if you have a small dorm room. This fan can be placed on your desk or a bedside table so you don’t waste any precious floor space in your small room.
It also comes with the options you’d expect from a modern fan, including 80 degree swivel to fan the whole room, 3 fan speed settings, and auto shut-off that you can set for 1, 2 or 4 hours’ time.
It also comes in at a very reasonable price point for a nice modern fan.
Something that does bother me about this fan, though, is that it doesn’t have a remote control. The interface on the fan itself is also a little less intuitive than the above 47 inch tower fan, which I picked as my favorite.
Why this Fan:
- Wide Swivel: This fan’s wide 80 degree swivel far exceeds the 45 degree swivel of the 47 inch fan above.
- Affordable: It comes in at a very reasonable price for a desktop fan.
- Fits on a Desk: It’s got a nice small base and is only 17 inches high so it fits nicely on the edge of the desk while you’re studying.
- Auto Shut-Off: You can set it to turn itself off after 1, 2 or 4 hours.
Keep in Mind:
- No Remote: Something that bothered me is the 17 inch version doesn’t come with a remove, but if you purchase their 40 inch version it does.
- Interface not Intuitive: I much preferred the design of other button interfaces of other fans on this list.
3. 16 Inch Standing Pedestal Fan by “AmazonBasics”
Quick Review: A nice basic standing pedestal fan with a lot of power.
This standing pedestal fan is your traditional-looking standing fan. However, it has some great modern features such as its two-blade fan system that creates a nice powerful and consistent airflow.
You can also adjust the fan’s height – the highest it will stand is 57 inches, which is more than enough for most people.
Something else I like about this fan is its simple remote. The remote feels a little cheap and basic, but it works just fine and the buttons are all self-explanatory.
One thing that is a real downside is you have to assemble this fan out of the box. The oscillating tower fans (above) both come usable straight out of the box. But with this one you’ll have to fight with it, especially to get its cage on, before you can start using it.
The other thing is that it doesn’t feel as technologically advanced as the 47 Inch oscillating fan (above) which would be its main competitor as the only other standing floor fan on this list.
Why this Fan:
- Steady Air Flow: The two blade technology helps it provide a powerful and steady air flow.
- Tall: Standing at up to 57 inches high, this fan can be placed in a position to reach all the way across the room with its powerful double-fan technology.
- Remote Control: A simple but perfectly fine remote control keeps it going. It would be nice if it had a strong backlight though.
Keep in Mind:
- Construction Required: You will have to build it when it arrives, which is a little bit of a pain.
- Requires Free Floor Space: Have a think about whether you have the floor space before going with this option.
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4. 12 Inch Blizzard Rotating Fan by “Holmes”
Quick Review: A lovely compact fan for placing on your desk while you work.
This fan is a great option for someone with limited floor space. You can place it on your desk when doing your work or bedside table at night. But it’s also super easy to store away in a cupboard because it’s so compact. It even has a handle for you to pick it up and move it around the room to place it wherever you want. Overall I’m impressed by this option.
At 12 inches in diameter, this fan is small enough to be a ‘personal’ fan, but is much much stronger than other personal fans such as the 6-inch fan reviewed below.
Something else I like about this fan is its remote control and display options. You can operate it via the remote, with simple and easy-to-understand buttons. On the fan itself there are lights that light-up to show what settings you have selected, and they’re really easy to read and understand.
Lastly, there’s also an auto shut-off option, which comes standard in most fans these days.
Why this Fan:
- Compact: It’s small enough to place on any desk or bedside table
- Remote Control: You can control it using the easy-to-understand buttons on the remote.
- Good Display: I appreciate the easy to understand display on the fan itself which shows exactly what settings you are on. Much better than competitors who don’t display your settings so you’re not sure what it’s doing!
- Portable: With the handle on top, it’s easy to move it around and store in a cupboard when not in use.
5. 6 Inch Desk Clip Lamp by “Hurricane”
Quick Review: This small personal fan clips onto your desk or bed headboard. You can turn it to point directly at your face or generally in your direction.
This fan is little but really easy to move around and clip to anything in your room: your desk, your bed headboard, your windowsill, or anywhere else that you can think of!
It’s a great little personal fan for keeping you cool wherever you are in your dorm room.
However, keep in mind that it’s only small and simple. It won’t move air around the whole room, but rather just direct are in the small area you’ve got it pointing.
You also have to manually point it where you want as it does not oscillate. It also doesn’t come with a remote control. However, you can manually set it to two different speed settings.
I’m also a little surprised at the price as you can get larger and more powerful fans for not much more cost.
Overall, this is a decent little personal fan option, but might not be powerful enough for your needs.
Why this Fan:
- Nice little Personal Option: A small personal fan that’s not supposed to fan the whole room but just you.
Keep in Mind:
- Not Super Powerful: This is supposed to be a small personal fan, not a super powerful fan like some of the larger ones on this list.
- Does not Oscillate: You have to manually set it to where you want it to point.
What to Look for in the Best Fan for College Dorms
1. Remote Control
A remote control is a great additional feature that I look for in a fan. A remote means you can control the fan from your study desk or your bed without having to constantly be getting up to make adjustments.
2. Intuitive Interface
Check out the picture of the interface where you make changes to the settings before you purchase your fan. Some interfaces are clearer and more intuitive than others. In particular, I like fans that have displays that actually tell you what the setting is at any point in time.
3. Auto Shut-Off
Auto shut-off allows you to leave the fan on while you’re going to sleep, and then the fan will turn itself off at some point in the night. Another way you can use auto shut-off is to set it for a certain length of time … then tell yourself you’ll study and concentrate until the fan turns off!
4. Oscillation
An oscillating fan is a fan that spins or swivels on its own. This will help get the air flowing in a wider range of space in the room. I like to have the option to turn oscillation on and off as sometimes I want it to only point in one direction.
Some smaller personal fans do not have oscillation. The only one on this list that does not oscillate is the 6 Inch personal fan.
5. Desk or Floor Fan
A desk fan will often be larger and provide stronger flow of air. However, it will take up a lot more space in your room.
If you’ve got a small dorm room and don’t think you have the space, chances are you’ll prefer a fan that sits on a desk. Desk fans can be stored away in a cupboard or left on a desk. But they don’t take up extra floor space which makes them a good space saver for a small room.
6. Sound
Most people like a quiet fan. Others like a fan that makes a consistent low hum to act as ambient noise. If you like a quiet fan, I find tower fans like number one and number two on this list tend to be quieter than traditional pedestal fans.
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Final Thoughts
I hope this review of the best fans for college dorms has been useful for you. If you’re looking to get supplies for your dorm room, consider some of my other reviews of dorm room equipment. Some other things you might want to consider for making your dorm room feel like home include a shower caddy (see my choice for the best shower caddy for college), desk lamp (see my choice for the best desk lamp for studying), microwave (see here) or mini fridge (see here).
Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education.