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Nps?

KimberlyD

Registered User
I did a search & only 17 threads came up, none of which had the info I wanted...

Anyone who has been want to clue me in? Hours, class load, amount of studying, papers, partying?

We have 2 kids, live on base or live out in town?

Thanks!
 

Fred

Registered User
My husband went several years ago, we lived in La Mesa housing, and love it, especially the elementary school. The housing area is about a 5min drive from the PG school. There is also housing at Ft Ord.

Class load, amount of studying, etc., varies greatly depending on the curriculum and type of degree. My husband was working on two Masters simultaneously, both in engineering fields, in the time allotted for a single Masters. He had class M-F starting about 8am until 3-4pm. In addition he had labs, study groups, plus tons of self study. He easily put in 12-15 hour days and would study or go to the lab several hours on the weekend.

Our neighbor was getting a degree in computer technology and was normally home by noon. I don't think she ever cracked a book on the weekends.

We loved Monterey, and when I win the lotto the plan is to move out there. ;)
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
Class load and amount of work put in is directly dependent on your degree. I got my masters in operations analysis and I put in a lot more study and work time than some of my friends in C4I and stuff like that. Add on a thesis project that is anything other than the normal working for a professor and you're looking at almost doubling the work load and time commitment.

As for hours, I think the most classes I had one quarter was five and a lab, the fewest was one. It's busy, but you do have time to get out and see the area. In OA, we front-loaded a lot of our classes Mon-Thurs so Friday was an easy day, which made for basically a 2.5 day weekend. San Francisco and Napa Valley are only a few hours drive, and the PCH runs down through there to Big Sur and south (an absolutely beautiful stretch of road).

It's rewarding though. I have a lot of close friends and made a lot of contacts from there.

As for living in Monterey, it's not really living "on base". Only the dean and president (maybe a few others) actually live on the NPS school grounds. The housing there is all PPV housing, and in La Mesa they're putting up a lot of brand new houses and developing the area. I lived in one of the older houses in La Mesa and it was exactly 1 mile from my driveway to where I parked. I don't have kids but I hear La Mesa elementary is one of the better one's around there.

Fort Ord is nice too, but it's a lot older and it's a bit further from the school and Monterey proper. They hadn't started any construction on new houses in Ft Ord while I was there, but I believe that they are supposed to soon. It's just north of Monterey, near Seaside. It's maybe 10 miles at most, but the interesting thing is it's foggy up there a whole lot more than Monterey. If you're into going downtown, the waterside, etc, I'd recommend living closer to Monterey, whether in PPV housing or just a normal rental, but if you're not too worried about that, then Fort Ord isn't bad.

Depending on your rank and BAH, I knew quite a few who did live out in town, specifically some O-4's, as it didn't seem like they'd get their money's worth living in the PPV housing. That said, BAH did go down for several ranks as there has been an increase in govt. housing available.

Any other questions, feel free to shoot me a PM.
 

KimberlyD

Registered User
He'll be an O2E & I'm looking at working for CHOMPS, not sure if we can afford out in town. He's getting 2 degrees, Meteorology & Oceanography.
 

Fred

Registered User
Our youngest daughter was born at CHOMP. It's a short drive from La Mesa. Personally, I'd live on La Mesa just for the elementary school.
 

insanebikerboy

Internet killed the television star
pilot
None
Contributor
He'll be an O2E & I'm looking at working for CHOMPS, not sure if we can afford out in town. He's getting 2 degrees, Meteorology & Oceanography.

With the housing market now, you never know. When I was there it was just my wife and I and we had a three bedroom/one bath house, about 1200 sq ft, that was plenty comfortable for us.
 

KimberlyD

Registered User
Yeah, I'm 100% happy w/ 1200 SF, my husband is not, we currently have 1850 plus "the manrage" & he wants more space. My idea is to live in housing, save money & then he can build a 2500 SF house on the Gulf Coast (since we'll probably retire there).

Thanks for the info on the schools, I heard Monterey had great schools!
 

Belle

two babies make a mama insane
If you are living out in town, Pacific Grove has better schools than Monterey (in terms of test scores). You have to live in PG in order to go to their schools though (but that wouldn't make a difference commute-wise, it is still really close to NPS).
 
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