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Inventor
#26 Old 12th Sep 2021 at 7:11 PM
I've always sent my sims to college, but after a while I wondered what it would be like to let them flunk a grade or drop out. To date this hasn't happened yet, I always direct my sims to do their class work/attend finals because I play with free will off. I think I downloaded a tuition mod to make things more difficult but I never got around to test it out.

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Mad Poster
#27 Old 12th Sep 2021 at 9:03 PM Last edited by FranH : 13th Sep 2021 at 12:01 AM.
Last time I did send the kids to Uni, it was in TT and it was a very fraught experience. Half way through it I gave up and just graduated them all from their courses and moved them back to town. No one is the worse for wear, except Dave Walton who flunked out and is mad that everyone he knows is a graduate. He thinks it's unfair that they cheated and he couldn't even do it honestly!
As for Arundel, the only children who will go to university will be the eldest males of the family-women were not allowed to attend. Everyone else is going to have to suffer the consequences of being left out. Of course in Medieval times most graduates became priests or higher clergy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_university

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Mad Poster
#28 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 9:51 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Primavera
I've always sent my sims to college, but after a while I wondered what it would be like to let them flunk a grade or drop out. To date this hasn't happened yet, I always direct my sims to do their class work/attend finals because I play with free will off. I think I downloaded a tuition mod to make things more difficult but I never got around to test it out.


Some of my Uni sims flunked despite doing their assignments and going to class as well, although it does not happen too often. Keep in mind that I have sent an undetermined number of teens to Uni, including all townies, downtownies, vacation locals and even the newspaper teens, along with those in my hood - so I assume the numbers help. I do play with free will on, but never had one wishing to not do assignments or go to class, they tend to go even if they are not that academically inclined.
Scholar
#30 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 7:01 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Phantomknight
And I forgot to ask: @BlueAlien how do you get your teens to roll wants to do homework? Maybe my Knowledge sims will roll the want the next day, but everyone else? Pfft.


I don't! Actually, what I said earlier wasn't strictly accurate: in the case of Knowledge and Fortune Sims, I tend to treat a want to go to university as an ubergoal that they are willing to work towards. I don't lock it in, but they mostly have it present anyway, and I send them to do their homework based on that. Other aspirations may like the idea of university, but I see them as looking more at the social side and thus not being so willing to study if they don't roll the specific want.

Teens of any aspiration are required to catch up on homework on a Snow Day. Sometimes seeing their grade go up after this seems to encourage them to keep studying - for one day, anyway!
Inventor
#31 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 7:03 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Justpetro
Some of my Uni sims flunked despite doing their assignments and going to class as well, although it does not happen too often. Keep in mind that I have sent an undetermined number of teens to Uni, including all townies, downtownies, vacation locals and even the newspaper teens, along with those in my hood - so I assume the numbers help. I do play with free will on, but never had one wishing to not do assignments or go to class, they tend to go even if they are not that academically inclined.


I forgot they go to class automatically, it's been a while since I opened my game . Is there any mod(s) out there that make college harder by chance? I'm leaning towards making stuff more challenging for my sims now

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Mad Poster
#32 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 8:18 PM
I have the diploma hack to unlock some of the jobs if they can't go to the campus because there isn't enough population to set one up and they can only go after there is one of they got schooling in both levels beforehand.Those whogot no schooling of any kind aren't allowed to attend higher education because they likley might not even be able to read.Some of mine end up illiterate from lack of education and that will still happen in some of the townies even in modern times.
Link Ninja
#33 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 8:37 PM
I just sent two to Sim State last night, the MacKenzie twins - Liam and Lydia-Mae. They both met their '2' skill points in every skill minimum for going to a uni sub hood and they both actually were granted the Tsang Footwork scholarship as well. Liam qualifies for the prestigious Hoh Fruhm fraternity since his father was a founding member but it isn't his style, he's more of an introverted bookworm - though the option isn't ruled out completely because he has all of freshman year to decide if he wants in. What a lifestyle change though if he were to join! The frat is known for throwing many parties including *gulp* the infamous 'funderwear parties' - the blush on Liam would match his hair color if he was at one of those!
Screenshots

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Mad Poster
#34 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 9:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Primavera
I forgot they go to class automatically, it's been a while since I opened my game . Is there any mod(s) out there that make college harder by chance? I'm leaning towards making stuff more challenging for my sims now


Yes, I believe there are (but I don't use any )
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retired moderator
#35 Old 13th Sep 2021 at 11:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Primavera
I forgot they go to class automatically, it's been a while since I opened my game . Is there any mod(s) out there that make college harder by chance? I'm leaning towards making stuff more challenging for my sims now


Yes, 'term paper required' by Ancient Highway. It was on Simbiology, if someone knows where the archive is? Otherwise I may have it stored someplace

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
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retired moderator
#36 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 12:27 AM
AH has a folder on the Simbology SFS- not sure which file is the one you mean though.
https://simfileshare.net/folder/92516/
Link Ninja
#38 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 1:10 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Aspersim
Does anyone ever do the Sorority or Fraternity Scenario?

You need to place the Greek deco onto the house to start, your own I think? but I need a second opinion


The Greek deco letters I do not think are required to play it, but are a way to check the frat/soro stats once it has been chartered as such. You would put down a residential lot, move in a sim and have them call to start a greek house.

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Top Secret Researcher
#39 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 3:52 AM
The sim will spontaneously leave the lot anyway shortly after registering the Greek House, «visit campus» and return with a random letter in a garbage bag.
Alchemist
#40 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 7:43 AM
@Aspersim there are mods to make University shorter, like Dave Luv's Faster University Education mod here on MTS. And yeah, it definitely is a bummer that all townies are essentially Freshman--with no majors, too! If I do want to make a townie playable, I usually wait until their playable friend grows up and moves out of uni. If a sim with a degree moves in a sim, that townie is supposed to come with a degree. You can also cheat them up to the appropriate year, using a mod like the College Adjuster, if you do want to play them at the same time as your playables.

Everyone has their own approaches to Uni, though. I used to find Uni long and boring too, but instead of making it shorter, I revised how I play and came up with a few challenges to make Uni harder. So, yes @Primavera, there I mods to make Uni harder! I love sharing my strategies, so I can tell you a bit about some of Ancient Highway's mods; there's actually several.

Harder Grades Class makes it so that going to class, doing assignments, and doing college research fill up the grade bar less; Harder Grades Term Required makes it so that sims have to complete their term paper every semester, or else their grade bar takes a hit and they have a chance to fail their final. Harder Grades Professor decreases the amount of grade performance sims get from socializing with professors and also adds the potential for sims to randomly fail. Dizzy also has a few mods that can help make Uni harder (Dizzy's archive is available in a few places, including here thanks to ILikeFishFood). Less College Study and Less Homework Uni restrict when sims can autonomously do College Research and their homework and Random Go To Class makes going to class more random instead of automatic.

I do use Harder Grades Class and Term Required, but if you really do want to make uni harder, there are actually two simple things you can do without installing any mods at all: 1. Don't over-skill your teen sims and 2. Try playing Uni with a want-based approach. That's what I do, and I seriously think those two tiny changes really made a huge difference in playing Uni, and made things harder for my sims and more challenging for me. A few other simmers have mentioned playing with a want-based approach in the thread already, but, in case you or anyone else doesn't know, it just means that sims don't things unless they have a related want. So in my game, sims do not do coursework, other grade boosting activities, or skill, without rolling a want. Again, this simple change has a big impact. It means that sims who are already skilled and have a few points before heading to uni have a big advantage because if sims don't roll wants to skill or use items that will help them earn the skill points they need to unlock the grade bar, they can be in serious trouble.

I will sometimes direct my sims to stand very, very close to a skilling item, but otherwise, that's it. If they don't take the bait and decide to sit down to earn that logic point, I can be spending the entire semester biting my nails, wondering if they'll roll a generic Gain A Skill point want so that they can unlock the bar a bit and pass the class. And because I use Harder Grades Class, my sims can't pass just by going to class anymore; they actually have to do at least a little work in order to get that C. If they're luckily, a dormie will convince them to join College Research, but even then, they can still fail if they don't do their term paper because of Term Required. It's been really interesting to see who really cares about doing well in school and who doesn't. Some sims almost never roll wants to improve their grades/skill. It's all hobbies and social interactions and parties with them. I was honestly surprised to find that Fortune Sims are right behind Knowledge sims when it comes to being serious about their studies. They're usually afraid of getting on probation, but also tend to roll wants to get on the Dean's List and do their term paper, at least once a semester--especially if it looks like they're going to fail. Like 99% of the time, Dustin didn't care about school, but, like clockwork, when the end of the semester came around and his grade bar was still low, that's when I saw the Write Term Paper and Do Assignment wants. Definitely reminded me of pulling all-nighters in college. On the other hand, Family sims and Popularity sims can be the worst about keeping up their grades. Some care, but a lot do not at all. Family sims are probably the absolute worst, imo; as far as their concerned, they can skip college and go straight to raising a family. Uni hardly seems to interest them at all. Luckily no one has flunked out in my game just yet, but there have been a few close calls.

Anyway, restricting item use is another good way to add challenge. Right now at least, almost all of my dorms have skill building items--usually ones that build fun and are at least a little attractive autonomously. You'll find chess tables, computers, exercise machines, and band equipment in my dorms. But some other simmers have rules about where sims can skill and when--like only on community lots, so sims have to go to their academic buildings and use facilities there in order to skill. So that can add a bit of challenge, too. If there's less opportunity to skill, there's less opportunity to get that grade bar open.

Which brings me back to point 1--Don't over-skill your teens. I used to overload my sims with scholarships, trying to get them to earn as many as they could. Don't do this. It just sucks the fun and challenge out of the game--not only for Uni, but also for the adult stage after uni. I remember when some of my legacy kids went to Uni, before I used any challenge mods. The spares maxed their LTA bar in college and the heir achieved his LTW after about a day on the job, after which he was promoted to Education Minister. Again, all of the challenge is gone when sims skill too early in life, and for what? Their lives become so boring in return. Once I realized that not every sim needs a skilling scholarship, I got to focus more on the sims when they were younger. Then I could take all that time in Uni and use some of it to focus on skills. When a sim doesn't have 4 skill scholarships, picking a major is a more interesting decision because it's not a guarantee that they'll have most of the skills they need to unlock grade bars. They might actually need to spend some of their time in Uni working on a skill. But if they don't roll a want for it, then that becomes a challenge for me. Now I have to figure out what I can do to help my sim succeed. Is there a skill object that my sims might want to use autonomously? Are there other sims around and would my sim be persuaded to join them for an activity? Do they have enough time left in the end of the semester to complete a paper? Could they scrape by if they influenced a few dormies to do assignments while they run off to finals? Etc. You get so much more interesting scenarios when teens don't all have A pluses and a ton of scholarships.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

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Inventor
#41 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 1:25 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Phantomknight
So, yes @Primavera, there I mods to make Uni harder! I love sharing my strategies, so I can tell you a bit about some of Ancient Highway's mods; there's actually several.


Oooh thanks @Phantomknight! I am definitely interested about those mods, they sound like my kind of challenge

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Mad Poster
#43 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 5:10 PM Last edited by Bigsimsfan12 : 14th Sep 2021 at 6:05 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Aspersim
Does anyone ever do the Sorority or Fraternity Scenario?

You need to place the Greek deco onto the house to start, your own I think? but I need a second opinion

I do! Almost all my Sims. It use to be all of them, just because it made it more manageable (less households, quicker rotations) but then after the baby boom there were a lot more households. So now there's 5 Greek houses and a handful of normal residential houses for 3-4 sims (usually the sims who don't fit the characteristics or have the grades to be in Greek houses). I have a few dorms (housing 8 sims) that I've been working on that are centred around certain majors with similar skill points but they're not finished yet.

As others have said they will go off and get a letter if you start a Greek house. I just bought my own though because I made the house specifically to be a Greek house.

~Your friendly neighborhood ginge
Instructor
#44 Old 14th Sep 2021 at 6:49 PM
Back in the day yes, every single sim of mine went. Uni in ts2 is my favorite of the games and it never gets boring or repetitive to me. I also made every single sim stupidly successful, accomplish ltw, etc. I sometimes wonder if it was my subconscious forcing my sims to be successful because of my parents (mostly my dad) doing the same to me...

But then I discovered wants-based playstyle and now my sims only go if they want to go, and I do what Pleasantsims does where they only go if they roll the want on their birthday - I won't lock it in if they roll it early. Since I've started playing this way I've still had the majority go...however almost nobody gets a 4.0 anymore
Mad Poster
#45 Old 17th Sep 2021 at 9:27 PM
Default Do my sims attend college?
Today for the first time I can truthfully answer that they do. In the early hours of this morning Alan Orr of Baldrair Bluffs matriculated at Land Grant University and moved into Dormitory no. 2 there. See pix here!

I installed University in January 2017 and attached Land Grant University to custom 'hood Baldrair Bluffs, which I filled with teens so there'd be plenty ready to go to LGU, The first one went today! I must be the slowest player in the history of The Sims 2!

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