This idea just popped into my mind.
What if we build a lot and put the neighborhood teens in it.
Load it up with all the stuff they need to skill up for scholarships and live for the sole purpose of doing well in Uni and their future careers.
I gotta run, so if anyone can flesh this out further, give it a whirl.
[A lot of time has passed since this thread first started. The first page is now an updates page.]
[UPDATE: June 30, 2022]https://youtu.be/1WXdXjROSbk
This is what I have been hoping for even when my college prep-school was just an idea.
I believe my scenario will blend vary well with this new pack. I can't wait for more details.
[UPDATE: January 03, 2021]
This should be
the final update for this thread.
I have been playing quite a while now and have been really enjoying this bit of creative play.
It has become a major pivot point in my rotation strategy for my many sims. I am now adding how it all turned out.
This first post will act as a table of contents now and link to my experiences.
I hope a teen pack of sorts is in the works as it will only add to, or maybe even replace what I am doing in the game.
[UPDATE: November 12, 2019]
Thanks for picking up the ball and running with it everyone.
I have been thinking about it myself and jotting down notes while at work.
-I would like to think of it as a private prep-school in partnership with Foxbury and Britechester to keep the rivalry between their schools friendly and less adversarial. This is best done by shaping students before they arrive.
[Alternative: Two prep-schools, one focused on getting into a Distinguished Degree program at Britechester and the other school focused on Foxbury.] I might consider this alternative. I could put each one on its related campus.
-I will probably send students to University four at a time at the most.
This is convenient because I can have room for a Headmaster and a guidance counselor.
The headmaster will probably be employed in business. The guidance councilor will be employed as a teacher with maxed parenting skills. The lot will be fairly large with small homes, or a wing of the building, to house the headmaster and guidance councilor.
This leaves 2 students who will probably remain because they have not developed enough to go on to University.
-The headmaster and guidance councilor will be
motherloded the money to initially form the school.
Once I find out what the bills are for the school, the attendance fees can be calculated to cover the school, bills plus a profit for the school. Whatever that is it can be divided by six and that's what each parent must transfer to their child going to the school.
-School name:
Smuggsworth Preparatory School, taken from The Sims 3 Boarding school name.
-Those students who age up to young adult will begin a internship period where they work in their careers for as many levels as they can until the whole group has a least two career levels. 4 of them will be shipped off to University to pursue their degrees.
[UPDATE: July 25, 2020]
I forgot to come back here and update on this idea.
I probably stopped playing for a bit and forgot about this thread when I started working on it again.
My prep-school dorm has been a bottleneck in my TS4 simming.
I was excited about playing it, but I did not feel like figuring out where everything goes in the interior.
Link takes you to the update down below:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17587527/#Comment_17587527
Getting Ambro' and Janay through University has been a tedious chore.
I had to send them off to Sulani over the weekend because I really needed a break from academic game play.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17588554/#Comment_17588554
Didn't know your sim was going to take a creative elective?
College-bound teens want to show some early school spirit, or create a Uni survival pack?
Well come on up and get outfitted. Ooh! Yoga mat!
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17764771/#Comment_17764771
This is my version of Meadow Thayer.
She is currently living in an orphanage and is about to join a group of other teens from various household in my new prep school.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17764780/#Comment_17764780
Life at home for my teens was mainly, address immediate needs, do homework, address other needs, do some chores, socialize if possible, go to bed. Now they get to share the misery, but they have access to objects they normally wouldn't and I setting I love playing in.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17764872/#Comment_17764872
Bur first, A GeekCon event and some space travel while they wait for their applications to Uni to be processed.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17764898/#Comment_17764898
After a term or two, my Uni students return to Smuggsworth Prep for rotation of the next batch of students.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17765098/#Comment_17765098
I really love taking student vacation time to go on trips.
But timing gets way easier and flexible as they become young adults.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17765116/#Comment_17765116
Eventually the time comes to graduate, move out, and move on.
It's graduation day for the first batch and orientation for the next batch.
Update Link:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/17765124/#Comment_17765124
Comments
This is the kind of situation in which I would use cheats to charge a fee to the parents each week.
I’ll hire a butler who I can pretend is the headmaster or something.
I suck at building but I’m imagining a 2 floor house with the rooms on the second floor and classrooms and cafeteria on the first. The classrooms are all skill based (art room, science room, athletics room, etc). You have to be a B student or higher to attend.
I can’t wait to build this when I get home!
@dearie_blossom This is the thread! 💙
2.Parents can “send” money to that lot (assuming they’re going to live there) to make sure their teens have what they need for skills.
3.Hire a butler so they will have proper meals.
4.Be strict. Have the curfew board.
5. Have a tv and video games in a small room you will lock from the teens at times because they need to study study study!
6. Parents can visits once a week or send teens to their parents house for the day. Or whatever you want them to do with their parents.
A few thoughts anyway👩🏼🏫👨🏽🎓
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
The parents have to pay 10k to get them into that school. I imagine these kids would be well-trained and ready for university, and they can use that money to pay for their tuition.
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
I actually think I will do this. I realize that I have an empty 40 by 30 lot in Brindleton Bay across from the country club. That is actually a perfect setting for it. I'll probably just have one head master. The small size of a household will make it more elite. It's also a place to keep some sims while figuring university out.
It does kind of conflict with the parenting pack but it's also a way to create a distinction between parents who actually raise their children and those who pack them off. I don't know, I've got sim teens with names like Bastien De Claire and Viviana Da Roma who are just made to get into shenanigans and be snobby. I have the kind of happy and wholesome sims who are down to earth, but it could be entertaining to unleash the ones who aren't.
Anyway, it'll take me a little while to implement this if I do.
It costs $141,719 so I figure it will cost 8 teens 18,000 simoleons each to attend. (ETA: Costs about 10k more once it’s placed) 3 Perfect money trees should ensure they can afford the bills to stay there. Search babajayne in the gallery if you want to check it out. I playtested anything I wondered about, but haven’t sent teens there yet so if I find anything that needs changing I’ll update it.
It was named after a real achievement test, too 😄
@AquaGamer1212 @GeniusSimmerGirl @BlkBarbiegal @Gordy
Thanks for picking up the ball and running with it everyone.
I have been thinking about it myself and jotting down notes while at work.
-I would like to think of it as a private prep-school in partnership with Foxbury and Britechester to keep the rivalry between their schools friendly and less adversarial. This is best done by shaping students before they arrive.
[Alternative: Two prep-schools, one focused on getting into a Distinguished Degree program at Britechester and the other school focused on Foxbury.] I might consider the alternative. I could put each one on its related campus.
-I will probably send students to University four at a time at the most.
This is convenient because I can have room for a Headmaster and a guidance counselor.
The headmaster will probably be employed in business. The guidance councilor will be employed as a teacher with maxed parenting skills.
The lot will be fairly large with small homes, or a wing of the building, to house the headmaster and guidance councilor.
This leaves 2 students who will probably remain because they have not developed enough to go on to University.
-The headmaster and guidance councilor will be motherloded the money to initially form the school.
Once I find out what the bills are for the school, the attendance fees can be calculated to cover the school bills plus a profit for the school. Whatever that is it can be divided by six and that's what each parent must transfer to their child going to the school.
-School name: Smuggsworth Preparatory School, taken from The Sims 3 Boarding school name.
-Those students who age up to young adult will begin a internship period where they work in their careers for as many levels as they can until the whole group has a least two career levels. 4 of them will be shipped off to University to pursue their degrees.
I am really not enjoying playing my 8 teens at once. 😂 I wasn’t thinking about them having mood swings with no parent around to help. The beds I started out with were cheap (I wanted everything to be as cheap as possible without being “uncomfortable”) and the first harvest of money trees allowed me to buy them all Princess Cordelia beds, but before that it was rough. I couldn’t even get them to work on skill building between school, homework, and keeping their needs decent. The butler helps a little but doesn’t cook until I ask her to. I decided to give them vacation days on Tuesday and Thursday to give them more time in between school days to work on everything, but honestly, I’m dreading playing them because it’s such a pain to constantly have to check on everyone. I’m rethinking my plan, I might use the lot for clubs to meet and work on certain skills. Right now there are some bugs going on in uni that I’d like to wait for fixes for before sending these kids anyway (missing presentation boards, classes being too easy to miss)
So it’s good advice to have 4 or so teens at your prep school instead of such an overwhelming number, it was wasting more time than helping them, IMO! 😆
Actually I was thinking of six, with four going on to Uni.
Now my other idea is sounding better. 2 prep schools, one focused on going for Distiguised Degrees at Britechester and the other focused on Foxbury. Four teens at a time.
I changed my mind on the career for the 2 adults running the place.
They will both be in the Education career. Only the headmaster will be take the Administrator branch and the councilor will take the professor branch. It will be a while before any of my sims will take advantage of this, so once my custom dorms are done, I will play both these sims and make them earn their degrees and their positions.
It's official, Windenburg is now very close to Britechester.
The Laurel library is now in Windenburg.
Its old location is the future site of Smuggsworth Prep school dormitory.
Which is nice because it is between the two Universities.
My prep-school dorm has been a bottleneck in my TS4 simming.
I was excited about playing it, but I did not feel like figuring out where everything goes in the interior.
I had to figure out the skill rooms, study hall, dinning hall, and administration offices:
And the sleeping areas.
It just felt like work instead of fun, so I put TS4 aside for five months.
I took a look at it again this week and everything just fell together.
I still have the showers and administrator bedrooms to do, but I can do that after I move those two in.
The students will come later after my Headmaster and Head teacher(?) have settled into their careers a bit.
I look forward to getting my teens in here.
I hope EA creates that highschool pack. I am sure I will find some use for the game play.
That pack may even make Smuggsworth obsolete.
As for these two, they still have to work through Uni.
Janay had to drop out of Britechester because I want her to have a Distinguished degree.
She now has to go ahead to apply to Foxbury.
Getting Ambro' and Janay through University has been a tedious chore.
I had to send them off to Sulani over the weekend because I really needed a break from academic game play.
This is why I prefer Sulani as a place my sims visit.
It's so relaxing, especially because I am not there all the time:
And finally...
We are done.
This took up my whole weekend.
They can finally take up residence at Smuggsworth Preparatory School.
It's starting to feel worth the effort now.
By the end of it all I was playing on triple speed and cheating their needs.
During play, I had disbanded the Renegades social club and evicted the neighbors in the apartment across they hall because they annoyed me.
Seeing them walk though here to their offices feels really good.
Ambrosius is the school administrator.
Janay is a professor by degree and career, but I just consider her in charge of faculty and students at the school.
I still have a little work to do on the school before the teens arrive.
These two will continue to level up their careers while I work on it. I also need to rotate between my other sims to prepare their kids.
And this is as far as I got because of Eco-Lifestyle and NAPS game play.
I was actually excited about Eco Lifestyle because I planned to have my future Uni grads live in the new world and take on eco lifestyles. I will pick this up again after the NAPS are fixed, or I uninstall Eco-Lifestyle.
I will be adding all my updates to this experience today.
Starting with some support lots for my college prep students and university students.
The intention of these lots is to have access to certain items while your sim is locked out of buy-mode during their time at University, or have access to items that are difficult to acquire by normal game play. The Prices are more expensive than buy mode. You can have someone own the shop and reduce the price, but it will still be more expensive than buy mode. The point is accessibility through game play instead of cheats. You can also purchase themed clothing, or set up your own styled looks.
This is Britechester's student store.
Uploaded: https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/1E60058618EB11EA89B7F3DBDD0CBB2C
Did you forget something before packing your sim off to Uni?
Or maybe there is something here that you did not know you needed. There are plenty of inventory based items here to explore.
Foxbury.
The same store, but with a Foxbury theme:
Uploaded: https://www.ea.com/games/the-sims/the-sims-4/pc/gallery/F6DBF53918EA11EA8945F3DBDD0CBB2C
Need a sleep replacement tonic? Instant fun, but want to save your reward points?
How about a party bot? Don't bother with the lap tops. They are cheaper at the kiosk.
There are some custom styled looks here, in Britechester colors, or create you own.
Is your sim taking Robotics as an elective? Or did you buy a bot? Just wanna look cooler while wearing those computer glasses?
Pick up a Robo-arm to look cool and reduce shocks.
Electronics and My Sim collectables go together like...
...well they don't, but you can pick up both in this wing of the store.
Didn't know your sim was going to take a creative elective?
Well come on up and get a guitar, easel, or electronic keyboard. Ooh! Yoga mat!
This is my version of Meadow Thayer.
She is currently living in an orphanage and is about to join a group of other teens from various household in my new prep school.
She is joined by Zane, another teen from the orphanage.
The others are already here:
My prep school allows me to have a group of unrelated teens under one household.
They will prepare for University here and it's a convenient way for them to be shipped off to Uni as a group. I will be experimenting with rotating between schools with this building too. Plus it should be a fun way to have them interact and form friendships.
It's time for a meet and greet.
Some of them have never met each other.
I am adding Yuki Behr and Cassandra Goth because I have been intending to play them for quite a while.
And this inappropriately dressed woman is the school's counselor, Janay Hopson.
That party outfit is from her Uni party days. She's a recent grad'. I'll change that outfit.
This is the school administrator, Ambrosius Wood.
The counselor and the administrator attended Uni and have degrees for their professions.
They both have the ability to work from this building, which I think is really cool.
I swear keeping sims together with someone not walking off is like herding cats.
And we seem to have a party school here!
They're whipping out drinks.
It took me a moment to realize that it's new years eve.
What a way to start.
Fine by me. Party on!
Everyone was hungry by this time.
Only three of this group will go to Batuu.
I have no idea what to expect as far as how this will work, and I don't want to know in advance.
They came up to the Foxbury themed student lounge for the New Year's countdown.
You missed it, Yuki.
I will start them working on Uni degree related skills the next day.
I hope they get to cosplay and attend a Geekcon before Journey to Batuu arrives.
Coming back from classes is making me wish for a school bus drop off.
Doing homework and building skills is raising my need for adventure.
It's currently Monday for them, so I have the whole week of prepping sims for Uni
The school counselor and the school administrator have been really selling this inventive game play.
They are actually educators and administrators. They went to Uni for it. They have their degrees. They have their careers. They can work from the building, or work off-screen. They minored in parenting skills, so they can counsel the students. This is so nice.
My sims got a GeekCon notice about an hour before JTB was available for download.
It was nice that I got to try out their hobby with old content before the new Star Wars content arrived.
I believe I will have them take off every Tuesday from school and have them ready to go in case a GeekCon event drops.
I can have Janay write excuses from school, I think. I am not sure how many.
It was a nice little outing.
Yuki Behr won this computer...
Life at home for my teens was mainly, address immediate needs, do homework, address other needs, do some chores, socialize if possible, go to bed. Now they get to share the misery, but they have access to objects they normally wouldn't and I love this setting to play.
The administrator and counselor are climbing their career ladders and looking quite professional while doing it.
Although Janay's wardrobe is still too casual.
I'm just lazy about doing anything about it. Casual is her style. Why can't I make her wear this outfit?
So prep life, similar to home-life, but scaled up and way more social for teens.
I love when they barge into Janay's office for values questions or to simply talk.
You can role play all kinds of reasons why they are bugging her.
And this bit really happened!
I turned the camera to find that my Batuu team leaders had walked into her office and sat down.
"But we need time to prepare and two days isn't enough time for the trip."
"It's Okay, Olivia. You are all A-students. I can give you a couple of days off."
"Can we get Monday too?"
"Uhmm... no."
Actually Jouney to Batuu and Snowy Escape were reasons why I was not as focused on using the school labs.
Plus the research computers were substitutes for skilling as well. I used those a lot. I will cover Vacations, JTB, and SE later.
This will certain come in handy for SE, but it's always breaking because of rain. It needs a waterproof upgrade.
Actually, I feel kind of bad for this thread.
Snowy Escape and Journey to Batuu stole most of the dorms thunder.
A lot of game play time and sim interaction happened on Mt. Komorebi and Batuu during their vacation days.
And it was fun! But I don't really want to cover it here.
As my students reached their skill goals for Uni, it was time to think about preparing.
School spirit, please.
And clutter to decorate their dorm rooms.
I like them choosing My Sims that relate to their character or careers however loose the connection.
This was weird.
A secret society member invaded the prep school.
They're not even in Uni yet.
Well my sims won't be joining them. The secret society is a cult in The Sims 4.
I do love when family members visit.
I have sent teens home to visit family, but not as often as I like.
These visits help offset the guilt.
Olivia's mom has been the funniest.
She seems like she has serious Empty Nest syndrome.
The scholarship dance.
My young adult looking sims are officially young adults now.
And now, to University.
A GeekCon event popped up before they left for Uni.
I used their vacation time to take trips to Batuu. I am treating it as an very exclusive amusement park.
They had one more adventure at Batuu while they waited for their applications to Uni to be processed.
So now they are in Wyvern Hall in Britechester.
I send my sims in groups of three and have them rotate from the prep school between terms.
I will probably adjust when I have an uneven balance between Foxbury and Britechester.
I love my dorm, but I am finding playing Discover University to be a little boring:
Homework, presentations, term papers, and going to class... zzzzzz.....
Maybe because they were doing this...
Or this...
Zzzz...
Okay, I'm partly joking. I know how much JTB is a hated pack.
But I got some fun out of it as my sims can make use of it.
I did have fun making over the dormies. And recently I added mods for Whims, Chemistry, Socialization, and Attraction. Uni is so much more enjoyable.
They do have their term papers and presentations out of the way, so a little more time for other activities is available.
I turned to the Student Commons for more things for them to do on campus.
This has to be one of EA's most boring lots.
There can be much more to it than this, even with only base game and DU content.
So it was time for another project.
This fits in better with the look of the campus and it has more useful lot traits.
But I am not limited to Base Game and DU content.
I also added something that should have come with University.
The main floor has a social lounge and cafeteria.
The upper level has a study area and a games area.
This is worth visiting now. I really recommend making over this building. I can spend more time with the dormies here.
My sims already know each other well since they went to prep school together. There is no need to get to know each other in Uni.
You can spend that time getting to know the dormies.
One issue that has bothered me about my made-over dormies was the game booting them out of the dorm at the end of the term.
But this kind of turned into a blessing in disguise for me, thanks to Get Together clubs.
I have been making-over the spawned dormies into sims that I really like. I create clubs specifically for them so all of them and my sims can hang out at my madeover student commons, which has more things to do.
And since I am rotating between my sims in groups of three, I am getting more cool dormies that I can set up in another club.
So what ends up happening is all the dormies I have created during the different terms can be found whenever I visit the students commons. It's set as a club hangout. So now they don't disappear from the campus scene and I can always easily call them up wherever my sims are.
My favorite dormies are going to become townies with homes, since my sims have a history with them.
After a term or two, my Uni students return to Smuggsworth Prep for rotation of the next batch of students.
But not right away.
They reconnect with the other students.
And they take turns bonding with their families.
I also take this time to rotate to other households to progress my sims.
They will eventually rotate into Smuggsworth.
Obviously a supernatural household.
I really love taking student vacation time to go on trips.
But timing gets way easier and flexible as they become young adults.
I should mention that, thanks to Eco Lifestyle, Smuggsworth Prep pays for all student vacations.
One of the NAPs spawned dozens and dozens of future cubes into my sims inventories. Cashing them in gave the school quite the hefty budget. The administrator was pleased.
I had to sneak a look at the ski slopes.
Awesome. Mt. Komorebi, Batuu, Sulani, Selvadorada, or maybe even San Myshuno will add nice breaks from academics.
Next day.
I probably should have someone confiscate all the lightsabers.
However... I am getting a sort of Kill Bill vibe here.
It's time to explore the world.
Starting with the slopes.
I love that they form a Que, and you can make them make continuous runs.
First up is Olivia.
Wonderful.
Not surprising for a first one.
Actually, I wouldn't mind seeing someone fall higher up.
In a purely comical way, of course.
There is something about Yuki.
She seems to do well at everything she tries, like she has a hidden luck trait.
Everyone else fell at the end of their run.
They tried hiking the following day.
I probably should have picked a destination instead of hiking around.
I like the atmosphere of the bar, but it's unfortunate that it does not serve Japanese food.
They hit the slopes again at the end of the day.
I will save mountain climbing for the next trip.
It was time to wrap it up and go home.
Olivia and Meadow weren't that tired when they arrived.
They worked on their ice skating skills.
After an enjoyable stay, going back to crack the books is no problem.
Eventually the time comes to graduate, move out, and move on.
It's graduation day for the first batch and orientation for the next batch.
I did have a bit of confusion.
My sims were taking 3 courses per term. I thought that meant 4 terms to graduate.
I swear they only attended for 3.
I don't mind if that is the case now.
Uni is slog when you have a lot of sims to rotate through.
We now jump to Nami Kimura on Mt. Komorebi.
She is not leaving for Smuggsworth yet.
She's attending orientation before moving in.
Along with 2 other future students that I have limited control over at the moment.
For the sake of immersion, and in case I want to through a graduation party for the current students graduating from Uni,
I can have connections to the incoming students and invite them to the party:
Meeting with the school counselor/ Foxbury professor is the most important task.
Will you two get in here?
[It's like herding cats.]
Okay, formality achieved, you two can wander now.
Zane decides to drop in. He will be here when Nami arrives. Basically an upperclassmen.
"Nice to meet you, senpai."
I am really happy with how this is all playing out.
Hugs for Yuki Behr.
I have to decide where my grads are going.
Yuki will move in with her sister initially, but will strike off on her own in a tiny home on Windenburg island.
She's a loner and should love painting in her art studio there.
Now for a tour.
These three will be my first prep students to go on to Foxbury .
So science is the path for them.
Nami is going for a career as a scientist.
So it will be a Foxbury Physics degree for her. A bit short for this device. She will grow into it.
Gamma Vareen and Cedric Dortz are also going for Physics degrees.
However, Cedrick will become a Mechanical Engineer.
Nami used to be named Ling in another save and she knew Olivia and Melonie well.
My game is basically re-imagining all those sims, so I want Nami to have a connection with these two.
The next time I see Nami, Gamma, and Cedric, they will be departing for Smuggsworth Prep.
Right now they are departing for home.
Apparently Janay was impressed with Nami.
More than impressed.