Hello! I'm about to send my first teen sims off to university, and I was wondering how you solve it in terms of your rotational play?

For these sims in particular, they're going to be about 1 or 2 days away from adulthood on the last day of the rotation, and I'm sending them off to college then (I play Mon. morning - Mon. morning). Luckily this is the last household of the rotation so it should be rather easy to solve, but I can't decide on how to approach it.

Do I send them off, play a year (or a semester perhaps), go back into the main 'hood and do a shorter rotation (maybe 1 or 2 days to be the equivalent of one university year?) before returning to the uni 'hood? Or do I play the university sim to graduation before I head back to the main 'hood where I play a full week rotation for all the households before getting started with the uni sim's household?

I'm mostly concerned about ages - there's another teen in the main 'hood who won't be going to college, but it's important that she remains the same age as these sims.

Also, bonus question: what do I do when the ages don't align that well with my rotational play? I'd like to send them off to university on Sunday night/Monday morning (so at the end of the household's play) in the second half of their teens, but that could mean anything from 8 days to adulthood to 1 day to adulthood depending on when they're born, and I can't really work out how I should go about it. Do I send all the teens to university when they're 1-2 days away from adulthood, irregardless of what day it is, or do I stick to the end of the household play? I feel like the latter would require a lot of tweaking - if I send them off on a Tuesday, I'd have to play with the household for another 6 days, during which the teen would be 'idle' so to speak.

If you want some Sims to go to university, and some not, but want them to be the same age as adults, you either have to extend the teen years or the adult years of the teens that don't go, or you have to subtract the YA days from adult days when the uni students finish college.

Because all of my teens go to university, this is not a problem for me. I play my university the same way I do all the other rotation, one season per household. Since everyone goes, they automatically stay in sync. If someone for some reason drops out early, or does not go, I would add days to their adult life to match the time "lost".

You should also ask yourself how important it is to have them at the exact same age - it normally does not bother me that much. I play one day at home for 1 semester at Uni, more or less, but you will need to find what works for you.

You'll have to experiment to find your comfort level.

University, because it's paced so differently from the main hood, rewards (even demands) flexibility on the part of the player. You can use the "semester hours passing on community lots" feature to make semesters pass at different rates, and they almost certainly will pass at different rates for different sims even in the same household, no matter what you do, so the first thing to do is to relax about it. I guarantee you that if you focus too much about time synching you won't enjoy university because you'll be stressing about what is, in the long run, a trivial matter. You can always use cheats or mods or aspiration rewards or little gameplay tricks to adjust ages and semesters as needed on the fly. And some people do age faster than others due to individual predispositions and life experience - my younger sister went gray several years before I did. People also spend different amounts of time in college, due to taking heavy or light course loads, changing majors, testing out of certain requirements, doing graduate work, etc.

I can see where this is a potential problem if you use one-week rotations without age mods and this is where you're comfortable playing. The most important thing to consider is not how to match ages most efficiently, but how to manage each play session so that you have the most fun with it. If it takes you a week to feel satisfied with play in one household, you need to play in a way that maintains your satisfaction.

I normally use one-day rotations in the main hood, with University getting its own subrotation in which I play one day per University household three times in a row, which gets most of the students through approximately one semester. My adults get lots of elixir and a certain number of aging off days to make this pace work well with proportionate aging. This is much too wildly different from your own pace of play to be much use to you.

In my Uberhood Challenge neighborhood, where I'm not attempting to play every household and rely on cheats and handwaving to keep secondary characters roughly in their correct age cohorts in relation to the primary characters, I still only play each household one day per session, because that's what I'm comfortable playing - but my protagonist household gets a lot of aging-off days in relation to other households. University is played in units of time defined by a character of primary interest - when the oldest child of the Hart clan, Silver, went to university, the university unit of time became one Silver-semester. Because I can't play more than one subjective day in one household, even my favorites, before I get antsy, I rotate through all the university households - but when the Silver-semester is done, I stop. It doesn't matter to me if other characters at university didn't advance as much, or advanced a lot more. I can take up that slack later. And I break up the Silver-semester with single days of play in households relevant to the challenge (such as the families of the Challenge children's friends and half-siblings) and with aging-off days in the main household, with lots of visiting, parties, outings, etc. This way everybody stays connected and progress gets made across the board, but I spend the most actual time with the protagonist household.

Personally I like to stretch things out and get lots of fine-grained, textured play out of every single sim. I don't believe in level-grinding, playing something that isn't fun just because I feel I have to get through it. Either I make it interesting (which involves character engagement and development), or I find a cheat or a mod to get around it. You're the one making the rules here and you can make and break them as you go. If this results in a bit of a mess at first while you're figuring out what works best - that's what editing tools and cheats are for!

Yes, you need to decide what works for you. What I do is play one semester for one rotation but I also have the shortened university hack and so there is only one semester per year. I like playing university but I find sims staying away for 8 days too much and prefer that they go away for 4. I could play through two semesters per rotation but find that I get bored with university play all the time. I do my university rotations at the end of a neighbourhood rotation. It seems more like real university (at least in the UK) where students spend 3-4 years away at college to me.

For the teens that don't go, I don't adjust the ages. My reasoning for this is that people who go to college basically live longer than people who don't. It's not perhaps a particularly welcome fact but there are plenty of studies that show this to be the case. So what this means for my sims is that teens who don't go to college are, effectively older and further on in life than their college-going compatriots by the time said compatriots have graduated.

@Farrah96: In the main hood, traditionally, one day is supposed to be equivalent to one year for us. In college, two semesters would be equivalent to one year as well. But that would mean that you should play six days in college for every single day in the main hood.
On the other hand, if a teen ages up to adult directly, the new adult is considered to be 26 days old. But if the teen goes to college, graduates and then returns to the main hood, they are ALSO supposed to be 26 days old. So that would mean that you should play each sim in college for 24 straight days at once to keep their age progress synchronous with their siblings'.

Both points of view have their advantages and disadvantages. Nobody is qualified to tell you what method will work for you. That is something you will have to figure out for yourself, I fear. Good luck

I do Monday to Monday as well, the way I do things is that a teen moves to university when they have five days left before growing up. Since University lasts four years, they'll return home on the day when they would become an adult. I use the shorter university hack as well, so the math works here.

I use mods to shorten the time lengths because uni does not fit into any other time scale but it's own. If you try to play it vanilla and play it equally, say one week there and one week in the main hood your main hood sims will all be dieing of old age while your uni students are still uni students. Unmodded uni lasts for 24 days. To me that is 12 years, I do not see how that can equal only 4. Unmodded a baby sibling born as they leave for uni will be about ready to go to go to uni themselves as the older one graduates! Definitely not 4 years.

If you want the time scale to make some kind of sense you need to either shorten uni or make adulthood a lot longer. I do both. I also have childhood longer.
For uni I use shorter semesters so uni only takes 8 days then I give them 2 free days once graduated. (10 days days as YA) I do the same for young adults not going to uni. You can have YA in the main hood, you simply age them with Squinges YA cake or the simblender.
Adults I have set much longer. (74 days)
Teens I have shortened to 10 days otherwise the gap between siblings can become too wide. Toddlers and children have longer, pregnancy is shorter. What I have set up now as to feeling the times make sense is not too bad.

If you like the long uni my suggestion would be to play at least double the length of time at uni as time spent in the main hood.
I tend to play a season, so all of summer or all of spring.

It's simple, Jo - all sim days are composites, and Uni days are composites at a different scale. A lot happens to you in your college years, so the scale of compression is different. Sometimes I'm scrambling even with the time I've got.

Much like with pregnancy. 1 year = 3 days doesn't work at all as a scale when you look at the pregnancy. It isn't in proportion to the lifespan at all.

So if you don't want an age mod or to use elixir constantly, it's essential to think flexibly about time - even without University.

What would you do with only 8 days peni? I also don't have pregnancy for 3 days, only 2. Everything in my game is altered.

That's why i suggested double time at uni if they want to play it full, because for rotational players it makes no sense if you try and play the same length in both main and uni hoods. Having your uni student come home to gravestones of parents that died of old age and a 16 year old teenage sibling born the day you left for uni would be a shocker.

I've experimented a bit with how long I want my university rotations to be compared to my main 'hood. I play using rotations by season in my main 'hood. Before I put in an aging mod, I ended up having sims play four semesters (or two years) at college for every season in the main hood. I sometimes use the college adjuster to change time remaining before exams, but still just counted university rotations by the number of semesters that pass. A season in the main hood compared to two years of university didn't put the aging exactly as I wanted it, but it was close enough and easy to track when I had a fair number of families to rotate through.

Right now, I'm using BoilingOil's slow aging controller with sims in my main hood aging 3 times per week. I'm finding 3 semesters at college for every season in the main hood is about right for me, and I send sims to college when they are half way through the teen stage. That way, the ones who stayed in the main hood end up aging to adult at about the same time as their peers graduate. I'm not to concerned if their ages as adults end up being a bit off. I'm also using twojeff's age duration hack, so the length of my sim's adult life stage varies based on their aspiration when they aged up, and even twins who always lived together may age to elder at slightly different points. I pretend that like people, some sims physically age more quickly than others and the birthday isn't a measure of how long the sim has lived, but it marks a shift in their physical needs.

If you really want to have a sim be the close to the age of another sim, you can use elixir or simblender to add or remove days to their life stage. You can also just play the university sims through until graduation, not worrying about rotations in the main 'hood. Then, leave them in the university (with a phone so your sims can call them or invite them over) and play your main hood until it's time for them to rejoin the rotations as an adult. Go back to the university and send them home.

I don't really have a system for my Uni in rotational plays. I pretty much just go there when I feel like it and ignore it when I'm not interested. Since each college class graduates on a set schedule, it doesn't matter how how much I actually play.

My rotations go by seasons - so 5 sim days by default.
I play University at the end of each rotation, playing 2 semesters before another rotation, it should make them 5 days younger than their families depending on whether I time it just right to get them to leave on the last day of the rotation.

My rotations are all three days, and I only play the second semester of any year (using the college adjuster). I also have one day semesters, and the season in college is always fall. They still get the benefits (extra wants and locks) and experience of college (term papers and llama mascots) in a way that fits better with my rotation. I used to play both semesters and count them as only one day in the main hood, but I have a mod that lets YA's get pregnant and it's odd if those kids are older than 4 when their parents graduate.

I play college right after the rest of my rotation. Say I have a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday rotation. Students that turn 18 on Monday move into dorms on the first day of my college rotation, Tuesdays on the second, and so on. The process for moving them back to the main neighborhood is the same. Three days always leaves me with place holder sims for move in. While 4 days to graduate is pretty fast, it still takes at least part of two rotations for all of my students to graduate. I kind of like how quickly college goes for my sims. It means I don't necessarily have time to pair everyone off, so not all of my Sims get married right out of school. Not to mention college feels fast. I'm finishing up my own freshman year, and I can't quite process it. It's been a year....really ? Haha

I send my teens to school about 5 days before they become adults (lifespan is modded so that teens have 10 days I believe). That way twins stay the same age even if one goes to college and the other does not. I used to try to take college time out of the adult portion, but that was very complicated. Teens that have not gone to college get switched over to simlogical's "Flexi School" so they no longer have to attend school. They keep their terrible part time jobs, and also work on skilling or family chores or finding a romantic partner.

I forgot about them having kids as YA, now that I have added in a chance of that with a dice roll it's even more important that the young adult life span fit into the rest of the hoods aging. 10 days as YA means any baby born will still be a baby-toddler. I have it that teens turn 18 when they have 20 days left of teenhood/have been played for 10 days. I could look into altering the aging mod I use so that it doesn't give my teens all these days that I don't use but I can't be bothered, it's simple enough to age them/send them to uni.

Oldish thread, I know, but I was looking for some suggestions. I play my game in three-day rotations. Normal aging (I did use BO's age controller for a bit, but then changed my mind).
I don't want my Uni and non-Uni Sims to be too different in age, but I don't really have the focus to play any super-long rotations.
I'm aware of Cyjon's shorter Uni hack but it's not something I'd like to do.

I sadly never have the patience for the incredibly long, painful, long and long period Maxis has alloted for University. Plus I get waaaay too OCD about this sorta stuff to allow Uni to affect the relative ages of my sims. So I'm using Cyjons shorter Uni and play university outside of my normal rotations ( when I have Sims marry I play their households to be at the exact same day in the rotation etc.)

However before I found the hack i once considered sending teens to uni when they are 4 days from becoming adults and treat 1 semester at uni as the equivalent of one day in the neighbourhood.

Never thought of it. I'll think on it. Thanks

Each semester is 1 day in the main hood. Teens tend to go 2 or 3 days from aging up, and teens that don't go are entitled to 1 or 2 uses of the "green magic stuff", so can have 3 or 6 days added to their adult lives to keep their ages relative to siblings/friends that did go. I also let non grads get extra want slots at job levels 7 and 9 and an extra want lock at level 8. The biggest problem I have with Uni students are those that fall pregnant - 24 days (3 days per semester, 2 semesters per term for 4 terms) is a life-time for babies/toddlers/children/teens. I need to come up with rules for slowing the aging of children at Uni!

I consider each university year to be one day in the main hood. I send teens 4 or 5 days from ageing (I like to send them in 2-day blocks). I use the Lot Sync Timer to keep track of what day everyone is on. I also use Cyjon's mod which only allows one semester per year, it makes university more playable for me. Before I installed this, I used to play 24 hour semesters but that was difficult because you really had to make them constantly study as the grades were resetting all the time and the skill gates changing. With his 4, 48-hour semesters, there's a bit more of a balance, and students can choose to study steadily, work then play, or play and then panic-cram! That allows for a bit more variety, as well as letting students use university in different ways.

I have inteen but I don't like playing with babies on campus so if my students get pregnant I make them drop out or give the baby up for adoption.

I think I know what to do! Like all great ideas, it came to me while I was on the toilet...

If I play it one semester as one day, there's nothing saying I have to play a household for all three semesters. I can play for one semester each, and then just go back around. The disadvantage is that it'll probably be a bit longer, but...ah well.

I play in 3-day rotations, so I've got it set that 2 years=3 days. If a teen gets their "will age at 6 pm" popup on day 1 or 2 of the rotation, they get put in the first class. If they age on the third day, they start when the first group finishes their first year. If they were in a first class, their first rotation is a one-day one to keep them in sync.

I don't have a university right now in my game, but I'll use some current teens to illustrate. Note that I've modded my game to have 3-day seasons, so even though I refer to the "Spring" rotation, it's still only 3 days long.

Peter and Andrew are one day apart. If Peter's popup occurs on day 1 of Spring, and and Andrew's on day 2, I'll send them to university together. If Peter's is on day 2, and Andrew's is on day 3, I'll send Peter (and anyone else in his age cohort) first, play them for a year, and then send Andrew and his age cohort. The Summer and Fall rotations will pass while the boys are at university. Peter (and Andrew if he's in the same university class) will get a 1-day mini-rotation in Fall to make up for the time that they were unplayed in Spring.

I'll age them up by 6 days to keep them in sync with the students who didn't go to university.

If you're using seasons for syncing, the Weather Controller from SimWardrobe is excellent for keeping the students on track with the others.

I play in rotation but do not attempt to keep my university students in sync with each other, let alone with the rest of the neighbourhood.

All houses, wherever they are, have a 1-day rotation. However, students go to university when they pass the fictional SUET entry exam, regardless of their age when passing (occasionally I also age adults down specifically to attend university). Also, the amount of time Sims get in university depends on their grades. All first-years and students on academic probation get the full 72 hours (the latter is under review), and after that, the amount of time per semester is reduced on a per-Sim basis using the College Adjuster. The amount each Sim is allotted for non-first year, non-probation semesters is below:

72 hours / 3 days - GPA 3.6-4.0 / 98-110
60 hours / 2.5 days - GPA 3.2-3.5 / 86-97
48 hours / 2 days - GPA 2.8-3.1 / 74-85
36 hours / 1.5 days - GPA 2.4-2.7 / 62-73
24 hours / 1 day - GPA of 2.3 / 61 or below

(My game install is currently in Italian, but I used to play with the English version, so the grades are given in both versions).

This is to simulate how much more difficult it is for Sims who didn't study the foundations of their degrees thoroughly to succeed academically as they progress through their studies. Also, did I mention tuition fees are charged by the semester? If college students who succeed academically get longer lives than their fellows that didn't go, then I consider that a reward that they have earned - and often their success at earning extra life is merely compensating for the fact they missed a lot of their teen stage to go to university early.

I'm a seasonal rotationer so I'm waiting until I get all of my families to Autumn before sending off my teens, where Season 1 in the University subhood would be Autumn.