Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.
College is boring.. any ideas?
imhappy
Posts: 1,988 Member
Cassandra Goth just started college. And it’s so boring. Tons of classes, homework, I’m having her stand in front of a mirror to practice debate. She went to a college organization, and it was 3 people jumping up and down in an empty field.
Any tips on how to make this expansion more fun?
Any tips on how to make this expansion more fun?
6
Comments
Be sure to spend some evenings at Pepper's Pub. I downloaded a better one from the gallery.
Maybe introduce some romance? Or make a homework club to make friends.
I haven't joined the secret society, but it might be especially fun to do with Cassandra. You can research it on those machines in the library.
If worse comes to worse install the shorter university mod and finish it early. (The one on patreon is the up to date one.)
I used the calendar in Seasons to make custom holidays. She still had to go to class, but there were activities that she did to celebrate the holiday - like streaking. And some of the other students joined her.
She would go visit the other campus, or the bar, or library. I even took her snow skiing one weekend.
My sim went to art classes down by the river, attended the pep rallies, and watched the debates. I got her a bicycle and she would ride around pretending to go to class, but then would dart off somewhere else at the last minute. I had to get rid off the bicycle because she skipped too many classes.
I sent my first few students to Uni and dealt with that grind on campus. The only way I could do it was to load up the dorm with all the skill building stuff, because they just waste so much time going from place to place. My dorms had 2 floors, one floor for the dorms and a lunchroom and a second floor that had every fun or skill building thing I could find, including yoga mats and treadmills. they only had to leave the dorm to go to class. Then the little idi-dots would wander off just before class started and be in trouble for being late all the time. Sometimes they missed class altogether - no surprise that this usually happened on exam day!
They also constantly lost their homework.
It's a lot easier dealing with Uni by living in a house and letting them go off to class on their own. But it's still a grind. I generally have them start class either Thursday or Friday night, that way I have the whole weekend to get their Presentations or Term papers written before they even have to start classes.
As for the social clubs, forget it. I found watching them dull and never bothered to sign them up.
OH I almost forgot - Super good beds are a must!
Party like there is no tomorrow and drop out like my sim did😂😂😂😂
Seriously though.. I couldn't tolerate it. My sim is degreeless and unemployed living her best life 😆
Uni is a great time to develop friendships and romance, and try out the keg parties
Whenever I rotate away my sims will end up on probation. How do you have them finish without playing them?
My advice: don't try to make your sim perfect in all their classes. Stay out too late, do too much, miss assignments, get on probation, considering flunking out. If all you focus on is assignments, it WILL be a grind and may feel far too much like just...going to college and grinding away at coursework. Honestly, if your sim isn't staying up too late not doing homework, isn't exhausted all the time, and isn't late for/missing classes, I feel like you're doing it wrong. Or maybe I did it wrong.
I like to give my sims a massive workload max classes, and then flub it all by trying to do too much/getting distracted by fun things. Can attest, an upgraded Pepper's Pub and campus commons are GREAT for making the campus and city feel more alive. While DU has its societies, add in some clubs! Nerdy clubs or up-to-no-good clubs that meet on or near campus. Agree to what was said above also, add in some holidays with activities specific to a campus or college students. Polar bear club for the winter, streaking. All of the silly things that seem more absurd otherwise but would be good for students trying to experience life in potentially dangerous or ridiculous ways. Even if your sim doesn't join a club, having a club meet somewhere and get up to different activities while your sim is there can add a bit of life to the environment.
Honestly, DU is most fun for me when my sims are NOT doing well, or are having fun focusing on unrelated activities that make the actual schooling part more difficult. One of the biggest struggles of college can be trying to balance all of the coursework with just experiencing life and a new environment and new people, and having a sim struggle with that and possibly mess up a bunch seems great to me. But, I like imperfect playing.
Also...make them a vampire? Feeding on dorm mates at night??? Struggling with an umbrella so they don't die walking to class?
The Uni Students today:
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
My generation 2 was Marcellus and Fletcher. Marcellus was a loving unambitious Friend of the World who loved violin and parties. Fletcher was a driven, high-achieving science/villainy nerd who wanted to become an interstellar smuggler. They went to college at the same time so that Fletcher could do 4 classes at once and ace them. Meanwhile Marcellus did 2 classes at a time, only did well in those he already had skill in, and dropped out as soon as Fletcher was done. They took off to Mt. Komorebi for a vacation one weekend; when they relaxed at the bar at the end of the day, Marcellus talked to everyone and played violin for tips, while Fletcher wrote papers on her laptop at a table.
She became an interstellar smuggler as planned, and moved out into a nice house. He stayed at his parents', moved his girlfriend in and became a wonderful stay-at-home dad.
Generation 3 was Cecilia, Valentín and Eliana. Cecilia did college from home as a single mom with triplet babies. She used potions to get her through the day, which I played as a story about addiction. Valentín did college from home as well (kinda had to, since Cecilia was home) but spent most of his free time dating his boyfriend and painting. Eliana didn't do college at all-- she went straight from high school into her music career.
Generation 4 is Tamir, Vincent and Julius. They are triplets and started at Britechester at the same time. They are each taking 3 classes at a time. No one is failing since that doesn't fit any of the characters. But only Julius is getting A+s in everything, because it fits him. He wants to be a scientist and is a genius, is doing some magic study on the side and seeing his girlfriend in what spare time he has. I gave him the Night Owl reward trait so he loves staying up all night to work on school and get the bigger skill boost. Meanwhile, Vincent is a B+ student who really wants to learn about gourmet vegetarian cooking and throwing great parties, and maybe become a famous chef one day. Tamir is a B-/C+ student who likes school okay, but he spends most of his time writing his own books and playing soccer. They go to magic realm as a family every Friday night (okay, Tamir often ditches that to go play soccer) and they go rock climbing together every Saturday.
It's not boring if everyone is different
Last time I played one of the students was a spellcaster who brewed tons of "plentiful need" potion to keep them grinding on their school work. loved it. lol Oh and I like the secret society organization for my occult sims. Ohhh and I think the debate event is fun. Actually I like all the campus events.
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
Darn it! I guess I will always have to play them through to the end now. This being the case, I will keep future uni students at home as it is pretty boring to send them to the uni housing.
They're rivals, and they have two goals: throw parties and pull pranks on the other club.
The clubs will be constantly sowing chaos around campus, and your Sim will be exhausted from the neverending parties.
I guarantee a big problem here is that TS4 is too easy. So make it harder.
I think part of my problem was that I like to switch between households, and you can't do that with the university pack very well. If I log into another household, the character I was using will miss classes and get bad grades.
I found university works better for my sims if they live at home, so I can play with their family members while they're in class.
Updated with Werewolf Diaries (1)
My play style takes time.
1) Edit the dorm, or download one you like, so you can play in a setting you enjoy.
2) Edit the student commons, or download one you like because the default ones are uninspired and boring.
Unfortunately you have to hire a mixologist.
3) Edit the dormies to make them more interesting (distinctive/attractive/personality/sense of style). Have your sims get to know them for relationships during and after uni. The game will eventually move them out of the dorm and you won't see them around much, but you can form a club and have them hang out at the student commons. You can call them at a moments notice by issuing a gathering.
And add some good ol' drama.
I left Meadow talking to Magnus and went upstairs to see how cassandra was doing. And then I came back to this serious looking situation.
Actually it wasn't serious... until Zane planted one on Meadow.
"Whaaaaaaaat!"
4) Prep your teens for Uni by creating a Prep school run by Uni grads with degrees in Economics and Psychology and Careers in Education.
Give them high parenting skills through Electives in Uni. The prep school can be full of skill building content so they won't have to skill up while in Uni, giving you more time for other things. I also use the school as a rotation point, as I only send sims in groups of 3-4 sims. I also use the rotation time between semesters to send my sims on vacation breaks to Mount Komorebi, Sulani, Silvadorada, or Batuu.
I love this because I can have various teens from the different neighborhoods under one roof.
They get to build relationships here and not have to do it while in Uni, freeing up more time for other things.
The school counselor and administrator make it all more immersive because they are actually on the job.
5) Create a Uni student store full of inventory-storeable objects. While in Uni, you may find there are things you wish you had that you can't acquire while in Uni, so drop by the student store and buy them. You will have to have a sim set up the store and maintain it. I like to pick Nancy Landgraab to own it.
The second your sim signs up for class, complete all homework and as many assignments as possible. I like to orchestrate things so that my sims start their semesters on Monday, which leaves them all of the weekend prior to do this (as well as studying to 'well studied' status on two occasions, letting the moodlet expire before starting again. That is sufficient to achieve A+ at the end of each semester). That way, daily homework assignments aside, your sims have tonnes of free time after class.
Have your sim(s) join organisations and attend their events. It makes things more enjoyable by giving them things to do other than attend class and complete homework.
Throw wild parties while living on campus with keggers etc. If you finish all your sim's homework the second they get home, they'll have the rest of the day free.
Have your sims go to the Quad as often as possible. There are often things to do and people to meet. In the summer, there are water balloon fights, food, cheer sessions etc.
If you can, send at least two sims to Uni at a time. That way, you can have them live together and the experience will be more enjoyable (plus, it'll keep you from having to monitor each sim separately). Have them take 4 classes each semester, which cuts the uni experience down to three weeks, not four.
Like someone above mentioned: have them join debate club. It's a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Also, there are several events that will pop up throughout the week. If your sim's homework/assignments/revision is done, they can attend as many as possible.
I'd also suggest rebuilding the student accom yourself (or downloading some off the gallery). It's infinitely more fun as you can tailor the accom to your own tastes (or those of your sims'), and if you're not a builder, there are plenty of wonderful options on the gallery.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful. I've put several sims through uni (some several times each), so these are just the conclusions I've come to. :)
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
"IT IS TIME!"
I haven't gotten it down to a science yet.
I mainly just aim towards getting them Research and Debate skills and a few skill points related to their majors.
Plus I want to get in fun social play and perhaps a trip. When I am ready to move on to Uni, I just go.
That's why I keep aging off.