How close to your High School experience is the HSY pack?

It was different but a lot was just eras. Social media wasn't a thing back then and neither were promposals. The fashions were definitely different. The CAS in Werewolves was a trip down memory lane, unlike this pack.? A lot of stereotypes are universal, the jocks, the popular kids, and all that. Like you the reality was not pretty, and so far the memories it dredged back up haven't been as bad as I feared. It did cause me to take longer to get excited about this pack and to get into the conversation because of it.

Not remotely close. My football team was terrible and the marching band constantly won awards for how good they were. Cheerleaders were just kinda. There.

I mean it's the sims... it's always gonna be better than real life so I don't get the point of ppl wanting it to be boring with no clubs or anything like that because their highschool was like that. Idk I live in canada and was born in Jamaica. The highschool I went to in Canada, was basically similar to what they showed in the pack. I kind of loathe any media that is focused and highschool drama becuase idk it's usually very similar and sexualizes teens but im fine with it in the sims because I can play out whatever fantasy I want.

The schooling in Jamaica was similar too (except for the American football, instead we had soccer which we called football). My problem is that it doesn't seem like our teens can join other sports and I hope there is some cross pack compatibility in that sense. I also saw a track in the trailer. In Jamaica track and field is a big thing (yes they literally train all of us to be mini usain bolts). My fondest memories was having track field day and we had cheerleaders there too. We also had a track field day at my schools in canada but it was definitely a bigger deal and funner in Jamaica.

We also had after-school clubs and stuff in Jamaica and canada. I'm not sure about the electives in highschool in Jamaica but I was told they had cooking classes like they do in canada.

So I think I could make an experience that is similar to the highschool in both canada and Jamaica. But yeah it depends on if they have other after-school activities and sports than what they talked about in the official blog.

I've never been a cartoon, so I can safely and truly attest that this pack seems so far removed from my real-life experiences that it might as well be completely made up. Oh... right.

Edited to add: And yes, I did go to high school in the US, so I speak from the perspective of an American. ;)

American high school here too, but really little is similar. Only time we spent in the hallway was to get to the next class, if we just stood still chatting, deans would start shouting to get moving ?
It depends where you live tho, I went in a urban area in NY. Wouldn’t see anything like high school movies here.

I grew up in Alaska, which is of course technically part of the US but often quite different lifestyle from what is portrayed in "American" movies.

We did not have a football team. There was snow on the ground almost the entire school year. The big sports teams that got all the attention were the basketball team, volleyball team (both could be played indoors), and the cross-country ski racing team. There were no cheerleaders for any of these sports as far as I remember. Incidentally, Alaskan universities don't have football either. Their big sport is hockey.

I didn't go to prom, so I can't speak to how accurate that is, but my school did have one. And it probably featured cheesy decorations and outfits such as you see in the trailer, just cheesy to a different era's fashion tastes is all. But the time of year that it was held, there was usually still snow, so this trailer is missing the part where girls are trying to walk on ice in their high heels...

I lived really far away from the school (an hour and a half bus ride from my town to the town where the school was), and the highway could get closed because of avalanches coming down and blocking the road, so... you know... that was different. :lol:

A lot of the other differences are just due to time passing. Back when I was in high school, cellphones didn't exist, and computers were still kind of a novelty that most people (even the young ones) didn't really know how to use for much. Internet didn't exist until I was in college.

Whiteboards were not common. Most classrooms had chalkboards.

But the hallway lined with individual students' lockers is dead-on. Also, hanging out in the hallway before school, during lunch and after school. Lots of students (myself in included) sat on the floor in the hallway near our lockers to eat lunch (I don't think I ever even entered the cafeteria the entire time I was going to high school. Don't even know what it looked like). And decorating your locker was a popular thing, nearly everyone taped all kinds of pictures and quotes and stuff to the outsides of their lockers, so that part looked exactly like high school to me.

I had a wonderful high school experience and it was very similar to what was shown in the trailer. Minus the promposals. That definitely wasn't a thing.

I was a cheerleader my junior and senior years. We would travel to games on the same bus as the football and basketball players. So much fun on the bus on the way home if we won.

I didn't play any organized sports but was active in several extracurricular activities. Student Government Association, Nat'l Honor Society, Psychology Club, Yearbook. I was also a tutor for Freshman English.

I am so looking forward to High School Years. ?

ETA: So glad you started this thread. I was curious about the non-American high school experience since so many are saying their experiences were so different in high school.

It looks like a modern movie/TV type representation of traditional American high school, to me. I’m not sure what the “we did not have sports/clubs/prom in our schools” crowd wants. Are we expecting them to build a pack around going to school and coming home? We have rabbit holes already for that.

I attended a small town US school. We had football, basketball and track. We had cheerleading and dance teams. We had dances and prom and homecoming. We had after school hang outs, sleep overs and dating. We had teen crises. We had after school clubs. Most of that is in the game, I think, so that’s fair. I did a lot of these things.

We didn’t have social media, Tik Tok, and texting, which are major factors in modern teen life and socialization. We didn’t do “promposals” or rent limos for prom.

Things we also had that don’t seem be represented in the trailer: music (choir and marching band), Art, Theater, debate, journalism, media. It remains to be seen what other activities are in the game, but this is where you would have found me: Music. Art. Drama. The school paper.

So, while I would say the things represented are typical of American high schools, without those other things, the representation isn’t a balanced view and would be an incomplete picture of my personal high school experience.

Well, non-American school here. In my country, school starts at 7 years old, so people usually go to high school at 16 years old and graduate at 19. However, they have a choice to go either to a high school (and then to an university later) or to a trade school (and enter the world of career early). So, in my high school experience, most of the people were mature. They really were the best times in my life and I sometimes I wanted it to last for more than 3 years. Though yes, it was mostly a system to prepare students for universities.
So, the most of the high school drama things seen in TV mostly takes place in the middle schools in my country. Those were the times I don't want to remember...

But what similarities did I have... Well...

• We had winter proms. You had to buy a ticket there though, but you were allowed to bring someone outside the school. The proms had a specific theme to which you had to dress accordingly to. I never went to the proms, first year because I was too shy and the following years because of that evil pandemic.
  
• Clubs... There were some after-class activities to join. I was in newspaper club and in arts club. I was also interested in robotics club and bridge card game club, but I never got the chance to join because 1) every year had different after-school activities and 2) if there aren't enough participants, the activity gets cancelled. In addition, students have to take elective courses to get enough courses to graduate.
  
• Speaking of graduation, there were two rules: you had to pass enough courses and you mustn't have any courses with negative results.
  
• I had no interests in sports, but most of the time, the school's sports events were arranged by students. Not by the student council, but by those who did the event as 2nd year project.
  
• 2nd year project... That nightmare... You either had to do some science experiments or research (like compare the Ph level of different waters) or something that helps others (in studying). Students could pick a topic or choose one proposed by one of the teachers. In addition, each student had to have a teacher as their mentor. My project was developing a video game. Didn't go well... But I passed, and that's great because otherwise you had to to another project on the third year (alongside with preparing for an exam). My friend was unfortunate enough to have this happen to her. She managed to get through it though...
  
• Oh the lockers. I see even sims have bigger lockers than I had. I had one small locker stacked on other two small lockers (which belonged to other students). Lockers changed each year and having a locker was optional. I never left my textbooks in lockers. It was only for my gym clothes and umbrellas.

Ah the memories... I even asked the headmaster for an autograph for fun. And I got it.

Cool to hear about the Canadian and Jamaican differences, @kaiwrysims ! And we all agree that this is fantasy so it doesn't have to be realistic, and not being too realistic is part of the appeal of Sims games to a lot of us, though some people really love realism as their play style too, and that is valid.

One thing I will say about my high school experience, is that it was still very much like what is depicted in this classic RUSH song, "Subdivisions" especially the lyrics "In the high school halls/In the shopping malls/Conform or be cast out!"

https://youtu.be/EYYdQB0mkEU

It brought a little mist to my eyes to see the Sim teens able to just be who they are, whatever that is, and express themselves without fear because that's what I hope and want for all kids.