I really loved college in Sims 2 & 3 so i bought Uni in Sims 4, excited about trying it. My biggest disappointment was the inability to put a group of Sims I can control into a dorm. I did that in the previous games and found it very challenging to keep up and it allowed me to start relationships and find love for my Sims in college. And there was always drama amongst my Sim friends! I haven't tried it again in Sims 4 since. I would love to know if there is a way to play more than 1 in a dorm. In previous sims the dorm was like a household and you could play another sim just by clicking on them as in a family. Don't you have to change household to play another sim in the dorm if trying to play more than 1 in same dorm? I miss playing a group of people like before.
You can have more than one in a dorm but it's a bit of a pain to do if they're from different households. Here's what I did last time.
Go to all the households that have sims you want to go to Uni together and have them all apply on the same day.
When the last one gets their acceptance, go ahead and pick a Uni and dorm. Make sure you don't start moving them until they ALL have their acceptance letter.
Switch household and do the same with the next one, be sure to pick the same Uni so you can pick the same Dorm. Repeat for however many you want to take.
They all get added to the dorm household.
After Uni you will need to split them into separate household in the household management after moving them out together. If you want to split them up that is.
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.
I have learned, due to advice from other players, to turn Aging off during my Sims' stint at University. I've still got it off since I plan on playing a more traditional form of rotation. The three Cantrell brothers all got married after graduation. Their only sister, went off on her very first mission with Starfleet — and is currently in Strangerville helping to solve the mysterious infection there.
@ck213 how long do you keep your teens at the prep school?
"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.
On second thought it's more like:
"It's complicated."
The prep school is a recent thing for me.
The way my game play is structured, I have young adults and teens rotating in and out of the prep school and University.
I plan on having two groups there at a time. The young adults don't completely leave the Prep-school until they graduate, as the prep-school is a rotation point for the two groups of sims taking turns at terms at Uni.
My first group has graduated Uni and has moved into homes to start their lives.
The second group has aged up to young adults and are about to rotate into Uni.
A new group of teens have rotated into the prep school. I have a height mod, so it's really easy to tell who are the teens and who are the young adults.
I like the feel of the Junior/Senior- Freshman/Sophomore dynamic.
I believe I will keep them teens until the "Seniors" graduate and a new group of teens move in.
At that time the two groups of teens are considered Freshman/Sophomore.
Once they have built up relationships and I am ready to send the Sophomores to Uni, I will age them up to Young adults and they will be considered Juniors. The Freshmen will become Sophomores.
Also, I have other families who have children that I have to progress.
So, having an exact time table is difficult.
I do have this as a guide though.
All I need to do is look at how old is Meadow and see how old everyone else should be.
I haven't looked at it in a while, so things are probably off track. I'll just wing it.
...
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.
How do go to an art class down by the river, a pep rally or watch debates? Are they things that just spring up in the game? I played the pleasants for a term and didn’t know about those things, are they rabbit holes, or something you can actually do? I still can’t make heads or tales of how they got their grades. I had them do presentations (and work on them to improve them) and homework, It took me a bit to figure out how to get each sim to classes at the same time at different schools. Lilith came out with 2 A+ and a D or F, the other one came out with B and B+’s. I thought I did the same thing with each at home..... so the grades have me baffled lol. I did read after that first semester that they need to take notes, which I’m not sure either one did. I had them do a little extra studying, and I thought they got all their exams in...... but, I swear, them going to University is a lot harder and much more boring than when I went, I actually did have some fun. I don’t much care for University in this iteration of the sims, but then I haven’t had much time to figure out where the fun things that are supposed to be in it are I guess. I did learn how to give them a roommate, who spends all her time making white cake. I play rotationally and their semester at University felt like it took forever! I rotated away after that semester. And how do you get then to pass if you rotate away??
If you go to the kiosk (near the fountains) you can get info on student organizations - when and where the activities are. My sim went to Britechester. She attended the "pep rallies" held by the spirit corps. She never joined the organization formally, but she went anyway. Same with the debates. She did join the art club because she was an art history major, so she went to the Art Society events down by the river. It's been awhile, but I think the art easels are set up for the meeting. She always found one to use.
I have not had anyone attend Foxbury, so I am not familiar with the organizations there.
My sim started on Friday. She used the weekend to complete her term papers and presentation, so the week day would not be so busy. When your sim is in class, you can click their portrait and have them take notes, actively listen, or sleep (I think). If you always choose take notes, your sim will have a better chance of getting a good grade. I don't play rotationally, so I can't help you out with that question.
Thank you CelSims for your advice! I am going to try Uni again with several people and take some of the advice from all of the suggestions on this thread. i really missed the college experience without the ability to play the dorm as a household. I will consider it a challenge and try the rotational style in the dorm with several sims as suggested. You all have great ideas for fun and drama and i am looking forward to trying them out! CK213, are those your builds? They are beautiful and I plan to replace most buildings in Uni now. Really think I should add things like archeology table and Vet lab so my Sims can advance in those careers as well. Thank you all for your ideas as I am now excited about trying this out!
@CK213 I write all my stuff in pencil in this cute folder to keep track of my sims household. How you play your sims with Uni sounds fun. Michell the angry girl huh? lol Where did you get the height slider? Lately I've been adding fun little mods to my game. Thank you.
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The most fun I had with uni was when I played themed universities. The same old classes, same pie menu clicks, it was nothing special for the most part, but the visuals made all the diffference.
One theme uni was a police academy, my sims and their co-students were in uniform and had to do custom assignments like traffic control, bike patrol and first aid in between classes. They also competed in a triathlon. But in that save aging was off, so I could draw it out and "waste" several days for my custom assignments.
Then there were the archaeologists who lived in tents a little dig camp in Windenburg. Aside from the setup, they grinded classes normally and went to Selvadorada in between semesters. Same for the Sulani Navy cadets. They lived in a ship, wore sailor clothes and dipped into the military career (workplace student scholarship), that was all.
And most recently the paranormal investigators, whose "dorm" was a haunted house in Senbamachi. They went out looking for Snowy Escape spirits wearing ghost hunter suits and later the robot suits from DU.
@CK213 I write all my stuff in pencil in this cute folder to keep track of my sims household. How you play your sims with Uni sounds fun. Michell the angry girl huh? lol Where did you get the height slider? Lately I've been adding fun little mods to my game. Thank you.
@CK213 I write all my stuff in pencil in this cute folder to keep track of my sims household. How you play your sims with Uni sounds fun. Michell the angry girl huh? lol Where did you get the height slider? Lately I've been adding fun little mods to my game. Thank you.
There are some tiny issues, but I will live with them.
I have the shortest version of the mod, so that makes it more obvious.
Seating, mainly.
Also you will only see the upper half of their head on icons in the user interface.
Actually I went hunting for the mod yesterday and this is the exact mod I'm using but I am using the basic one. Still something different and I love it. Thank you!
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I've gotten more out of university by only taking a couple of classes per semester. It allows my sim to have more time to develop relationships, though that does make it hard to do rotational playing. Additionally, I don't think it's necessary to live on campus to enjoy uni life, but certainly living in Britechester helps. It's a pretty world, even if there isn't much to do there.
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?
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 😆
I think it's actually cheaper to live in a college dorm and eat food prepared and brought over by other sims. It's possible to save money and advance on some other pursuits while pretending to study for a degree.
I’ve always found having my sims hold down a full time job and working around their uni classes can be a challenge. However I rarely play in a dorm. I usually play in the apartments in san myshuno from city living so it adds the extra of noise disturbance which I feel seems more realistic. Usually I have one apartment block full of students so it is fellow students disturbing my sims. It adds a lot of realism to my game. If they are not in san myshuno then they have their own place but usually are in a relationship or have a family plus a full time job.
Don't take too many classes, so that you can also have a life outside them.
Don't live in campus housing - own a home, attend from there.
Pick one club / extracurricular to pursue at a time.
Cassandra Goth was my University Sim, too - I actually have her pursuing multiple degrees, aiming for a Professorship down the road. She's also a spellcaster, and pursuing a sideways, introverted romantic relationship. Plenty aside from Univerity, and the classes almost as a grace-note.
With 2 classes per term, I can generally stay on top of homework, presentations, term papers or finals, and spend out-of-class time simply playing my Sim as I usually would. YMMV.
@CK213 I write all my stuff in pencil in this cute folder to keep track of my sims household. How you play your sims with Uni sounds fun. Michell the angry girl huh? lol Where did you get the height slider? Lately I've been adding fun little mods to my game. Thank you.
I missed that part. Angry Girl goes waaay back.
When we only had the base game I had added Michelle (seated) as another friend for my main sim, Melonie (Blonde).
Melonie had just started her family and I had planned to have her friends start families as well.
At least that was the plan until I aged up the babies to children, and aged the children up to teens.
I could not stand the huge leaps in age stages. I gave up on families in TS4 and just played YAs with no families.
So I rebooted my CAS sims.
I gave up on families and just focused on customizing my game with CC and trying to have as much fun as I could with the young adults.
Michelle got a makeover.
Angry fashion model look. This is where the name "Angry Girl" stuck. I decided I wanted to create some trouble around town just to see what happens. Michelle is just the sim I need.
I found a custom creation of Jack's Tattoos from Mass Effect 2 by CrazyMammoth.
Sure, Michelle would be a fan of Jack---just the tattoos, not the shaved head.
The mischief skill and the Chief of Mischief aspiration requires angry girl to be quiet the obnoxious one.
Summer Holiday was a favorite target.
She even made Grim cry.
And then we got Toddlers and Parenthood.
Families were back in my game and I rebooted my CAS sims again for the fourth and final time.
I turned them all into toddlers and gave them parents so I could experience the new game play immediately and play out my sim's back-stories.
Michelle has a back-story now where, although being raised by a loving mother, the wrong man became her stepfather and affected Michelle's values, turning her into Angry Girl. I have yet to reach them in my rotation of many sims.
I believe I will have Michelle go to Uni for law enforcement.
She can become a bad cop to another of my sim's good cop.
@CK213 Love seeing your play style and your charts. It makes me grin because sometimes I think I'm crazy for keeping documents and spreadsheets about my Sims, their goals, their relationships, progressions etc. And then I see other people playing like I do and I feel not so alone.
My username has been my internet handle for over 20 years since I was 16 and refers to when I had a crush on a very tall boy. I intend absolutely no violence toward beautiful giraffes.
I have only actually played through it once. My Sim was going to be a teacher and was a witch so I was exploring a magic school storyline.
Most of my time was spent doing homework in her free time or at least what free time she had. It was challenging keeping needs green and trying to pass all her classes. After failing a couple semesters wondering what I was doing wrong did I realize you have to click on there active school option and select listen ot take notes.
On weekends when she didn't have class I would have her spend it in the magic realm improving her skill.
I think that if it didn't take so long to complete actions then it would probably be a lot more fun. But it just seems to take forever to even just get to class.
The next Sim I played with to attend I only had him take 2 classes each semester that way I could have more freedom to do other stuff and really explore what the pack has. It was my h more enjoyable doing half the class time. Unfortunately this just takes more time to get the degree so I turn aging off when attending.
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You can have more than one in a dorm but it's a bit of a pain to do if they're from different households. Here's what I did last time.
Go to all the households that have sims you want to go to Uni together and have them all apply on the same day.
When the last one gets their acceptance, go ahead and pick a Uni and dorm. Make sure you don't start moving them until they ALL have their acceptance letter.
Switch household and do the same with the next one, be sure to pick the same Uni so you can pick the same Dorm. Repeat for however many you want to take.
They all get added to the dorm household.
After Uni you will need to split them into separate household in the household management after moving them out together. If you want to split them up that is.
I have learned, due to advice from other players, to turn Aging off during my Sims' stint at University. I've still got it off since I plan on playing a more traditional form of rotation. The three Cantrell brothers all got married after graduation. Their only sister, went off on her very first mission with Starfleet — and is currently in Strangerville helping to solve the mysterious infection there.
http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
On second thought it's more like:
"It's complicated."
The prep school is a recent thing for me.
The way my game play is structured, I have young adults and teens rotating in and out of the prep school and University.
I plan on having two groups there at a time. The young adults don't completely leave the Prep-school until they graduate, as the prep-school is a rotation point for the two groups of sims taking turns at terms at Uni.
My first group has graduated Uni and has moved into homes to start their lives.
The second group has aged up to young adults and are about to rotate into Uni.
A new group of teens have rotated into the prep school. I have a height mod, so it's really easy to tell who are the teens and who are the young adults.
I like the feel of the Junior/Senior- Freshman/Sophomore dynamic.
I believe I will keep them teens until the "Seniors" graduate and a new group of teens move in.
At that time the two groups of teens are considered Freshman/Sophomore.
Once they have built up relationships and I am ready to send the Sophomores to Uni, I will age them up to Young adults and they will be considered Juniors. The Freshmen will become Sophomores.
Also, I have other families who have children that I have to progress.
So, having an exact time table is difficult.
I do have this as a guide though.
All I need to do is look at how old is Meadow and see how old everyone else should be.
I haven't looked at it in a while, so things are probably off track. I'll just wing it.
If you go to the kiosk (near the fountains) you can get info on student organizations - when and where the activities are. My sim went to Britechester. She attended the "pep rallies" held by the spirit corps. She never joined the organization formally, but she went anyway. Same with the debates. She did join the art club because she was an art history major, so she went to the Art Society events down by the river. It's been awhile, but I think the art easels are set up for the meeting. She always found one to use.
I have not had anyone attend Foxbury, so I am not familiar with the organizations there.
My sim started on Friday. She used the weekend to complete her term papers and presentation, so the week day would not be so busy. When your sim is in class, you can click their portrait and have them take notes, actively listen, or sleep (I think). If you always choose take notes, your sim will have a better chance of getting a good grade. I don't play rotationally, so I can't help you out with that question.
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
One theme uni was a police academy, my sims and their co-students were in uniform and had to do custom assignments like traffic control, bike patrol and first aid in between classes. They also competed in a triathlon. But in that save aging was off, so I could draw it out and "waste" several days for my custom assignments.
Then there were the archaeologists who lived in tents a little dig camp in Windenburg. Aside from the setup, they grinded classes normally and went to Selvadorada in between semesters. Same for the Sulani Navy cadets. They lived in a ship, wore sailor clothes and dipped into the military career (workplace student scholarship), that was all.
And most recently the paranormal investigators, whose "dorm" was a haunted house in Senbamachi. They went out looking for Snowy Escape spirits wearing ghost hunter suits and later the robot suits from DU.
https://modthesims.info/d/642260/auto-shorter-teens.html
There are some tiny issues, but I will live with them.
I have the shortest version of the mod, so that makes it more obvious.
Also you will only see the upper half of their head on icons in the user interface.
Actually I went hunting for the mod yesterday and this is the exact mod I'm using but I am using the basic one. Still something different and I love it. Thank you!
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
I think it's actually cheaper to live in a college dorm and eat food prepared and brought over by other sims. It's possible to save money and advance on some other pursuits while pretending to study for a degree.
like some of the content but god sends me to sleep.
till they max there skill's.
at times with aging off.
Don't live in campus housing - own a home, attend from there.
Pick one club / extracurricular to pursue at a time.
Cassandra Goth was my University Sim, too - I actually have her pursuing multiple degrees, aiming for a Professorship down the road. She's also a spellcaster, and pursuing a sideways, introverted romantic relationship. Plenty aside from Univerity, and the classes almost as a grace-note.
With 2 classes per term, I can generally stay on top of homework, presentations, term papers or finals, and spend out-of-class time simply playing my Sim as I usually would. YMMV.
I missed that part. Angry Girl goes waaay back.
Melonie had just started her family and I had planned to have her friends start families as well.
At least that was the plan until I aged up the babies to children, and aged the children up to teens.
I could not stand the huge leaps in age stages. I gave up on families in TS4 and just played YAs with no families.
So I rebooted my CAS sims.
I gave up on families and just focused on customizing my game with CC and trying to have as much fun as I could with the young adults.
Michelle got a makeover.
Summer Holiday was a favorite target.
She even made Grim cry.
And then we got Toddlers and Parenthood.
Families were back in my game and I rebooted my CAS sims again for the fourth and final time.
I turned them all into toddlers and gave them parents so I could experience the new game play immediately and play out my sim's back-stories.
Michelle has a back-story now where, although being raised by a loving mother, the wrong man became her stepfather and affected Michelle's values, turning her into Angry Girl. I have yet to reach them in my rotation of many sims.
I believe I will have Michelle go to Uni for law enforcement.
She can become a bad cop to another of my sim's good cop.
aww now I want my sim to make grim cry. lol
I remember some of the feelings you had back in the day about family play. Good back story on Michelle.
Twitch jovi_jov
Twitter BarbieSimmy
Origin SimsBarbie
Most of my time was spent doing homework in her free time or at least what free time she had. It was challenging keeping needs green and trying to pass all her classes. After failing a couple semesters wondering what I was doing wrong did I realize you have to click on there active school option and select listen ot take notes.
On weekends when she didn't have class I would have her spend it in the magic realm improving her skill.
I think that if it didn't take so long to complete actions then it would probably be a lot more fun. But it just seems to take forever to even just get to class.
The next Sim I played with to attend I only had him take 2 classes each semester that way I could have more freedom to do other stuff and really explore what the pack has. It was my h more enjoyable doing half the class time. Unfortunately this just takes more time to get the degree so I turn aging off when attending.