<p>I knew lots of people who had dogs in grad school. Some were science students who had to go to the lab at all hours to take care of their experiments, others were computer science students who were at school all hours working on projects. At Berkeley (a long time ago, don’t know if it’s still true), dogs were welcome on campus. Well-behaved dogs rode the elevator, sometimes by themselves, to get to their owners’ offices.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law had a couple of big dogs while he was getting his PhD in Boston. He did end up using doggie daycare during periods when he was too absorbed in lab work to take his dogs out for exercise. Later he took his dogs with him when he did a post-doc in Europe.</p>
<p>I think having a dog can work well, but I also think a puppy sounds like unnecessary overhead. You could get a young dog that has plenty of years left, perhaps a dog that is leaving another home because of allergies or housing difficulties.</p>
<p>In response to your original question - I don’t think you should use scholarship money for the dog. My kid got a $1500/year merit scholarship and although it’s a drop in the bucket in comparison to the total cost of attendance, I’m very happy she got it and it makes a real difference. Also, I think it would be more helpful to your relationship with your parents in the long run to make sure that you cover this discretionary expense on your own. It shows that you are grateful for their gifts but don’t take anything for granted.</p>