Bringing my dog to business school

Anybody here bringing their dog along with them to b-school?

I can leave my dog at my mom's house, but I prefer to bring him along with me.

He will require 20 minute walks at least once a day, preferably two walks a day. I was wondering whether any of you have thought about the same thing, or whether anybody here has classmates who brought their dogs to school. Maybe there are student groups who take turns in walking their puppies?

I am just worried I might be too busy to take care of him.

I had a dog throughout business school. Dog (12lb) was walked 3 times a day on weekends (when I was around) and twice a day during weekdays. It helped that I only lived within 15 min walking distance from the school campus. Plus, I bought him a peepee pad for the first time since he was a puppy. All in all, if you don't abandon the dog for more than 7-8 hr straight, you should be fine. Also, if the dog happens to be cute, there were plenty of classmates who were willing to dog-sit....

I am worried that you are trying to talk to him !

Sorry I couldn't resist. Congrats on the admit!

I guess that would depend where you are going to school. If you go to school at Columbia or Stern, then it might be a pain finding an apartment. If you are in places such as Cornell or say Duke and plan on living off campus, it might work out just fine...

Since I started preparing my GMAT, I think I have worried more about the separation than the exam, essays or the career move.

It is not convenient to take dog to school.It is better to keep at home .

I had a dog at Kellogg and had a lot of friends who had dogs. However, the vast majority of dog owners are also couples. Honestly, I had more time for my dog at school than while working. Your schedule is fairly flexible and most days you aren't stuck at school 10 hours straight. As long as you live within walking distance of school it is very doable. Housing can be challenging but it is possible to find places pretty much anywhere.

The difficulty comes during trips and internship. For trips you can usually find a dog sitter or board them. You internship is the only real challenge since it is two or three months.

I definitely think it's possible. I feel that b-school schedules can be much more flexible than working, allowing you to fit in time for the dog.

Gonna bring back an old thread, since it's so relevant to me.

I am a first-year Darden student and I have a dog with me in Charlottesville. I brought him over from Los Angeles on a 2,800-mile roadtrip. He's a 80-pound German Shepherd and by no means do I hate him, but he's absolutely annoying. Now that I got that out of the way, time to elaborate a bit. He's actually not annoying, but my busy-ness is annoying me, and add on top of that with a dog that needs walking and potty-break, it's easy for me to pin it on him. Just to echo what other folks have said, you're truly not going to be stuck in class for 10 hours straight everyday (any school that does that, you should reconsider). With that said, it's going to be a hassle having to go back to your apartment to take care of your dog and then go back to school. Is it doable? It certainly is. It's simply another 'responsibility' that you'd have to think about. For interviews (flying to somewhere else for final round interviews), you can easily find someone to take care of your dog or board it, but summer internship will be a bit tougher. I'm not going to go into the nitty-gritty detail on everything, but know that it's doable if this is what you want. I'll be more than happy to discuss more of my experience with you offline if you choose to, just send me a msg and we can connect.

Anyone planning to bring a cat to business school?

Probably. I've got two but they're on the other side of the country (from where I plan to attend school) with my sister while I'm out of the country now. Not sure if I'll have a chance to get them back before I start school. Every time I've moved, I've taken them (by car) across the country, sometimes as much as 20+ hours. It is a such a pain. When I haven't lived near family, I've had trouble finding reasonably-priced boarding. Cats do fine for a weekend alone, but to prepare for any 1 or 2 week long trips, this time I'm making it a priority to find a pet-sitter or dog-walker in my building that would be willing to just come in and change food/litter once a day for a fair price.


On the other note, I would think having a dog would be a great way to take walks and have some sort regular exercise. Then again, I've never owned a dog so I probably underestimate the amount of attention they need. Echoing what others have said, pets are easier with a couple.