I hate that we can't just make university students like in Sims 2.

But you don't have to have them earn skills and work? Don't get me wrong, I like very much how 2 had a contained university. 3's, too, frankly. Much better than 4's integrated world. Last I checked, though, the development is unnecessary unless you are going for distinguished degrees, scholarships, etc. So extra on top of just the university experience.

The most I remember being required to wait is for the acceptance response. Beyond it not being that long, you can force enrollment with cheats in 4.

What I've started to do to manage this is to move my sim into dorms, and then use CAS to change all of the ugly townie roommates into sims I want in my game. Then I just leave them to go through university, and they'll graduate around the same time as my sim.
Once my sim graduates, I can go into manage households, turn on neighbourhood stories for them, and move them into my neighbourhoods. They'll have gained friends and enemies from uni, as well as skills - so they've developed a backstory without too much involvement from me.

Some of my sims have been to uni with no skills or scholarships. The only thing I dislike is having to wait after applying.

My university sim flunked her courses twice. She didn't even party that much either. In TS2, sims could work as baristas and have some fun parties and still pass courses. But I like the dorms, there's always food around.

With cheats and mods you actually can. I have started micromanage my sims to make sure they go to (and pass) uni. Enrollment is easy enough, the cheat requires no mods, just testingcheats on and a shift click to enroll (I do this with active sims as well as it cuts down on waiting time). That way you can make a bunch of young adults, move them into an empty lot and then enroll them all into uni and move them to dorms.

As I play with MCCC, I have notifications on for aging, and once every sim week enroll most new young adults this way (some I give jobs instead if I don't think uni is right for them).

With the All Cheats Mod you also have access to things like university.finish_term which I use to make sure all sims pass university. Now I wish this was something that could be included in game, but as it's not, it's the next best thing.

I use this page a lot for controlling my uni-students: https://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/expansionpacks/discoveruniversity/cheats.php

I loved having the Greek system and secret societies in sims 2.

I know we can make a Greek house and there’s a secret society in this game, but it’s not nearly as good.

I also loved how there were 3 choices of universities in sims 2, and they all had different maps.

Sims 3 and 4 has other strengths, but sims 2 university was so much more immersive than 3 or 4.

I wish University in Sims 4 allowed us to play a household of up to 8, even in the dorms like in Sims 2. I loved playing University and found it challenging playing more than one sim at a time. I was so excited when Sims 4 came out with University pack and was looking forward to it, until I realized you can only play one sims at a time. That was, and still is, very disappointing for me, as I loved sending a group of friends to college and letting them enjoy the experience together. It was where my singles often met the love their life, and they were all able to study together and help each other out. I really miss that in 4. I really want to be able to switch from sim to another in the group to help get them through college and be able to graduate together. I probably need to try it again, as I haven't played the university since my first try, but I will always be missing the Sims 2 version.

"maggiemae8135;c-18107001" wrote:
Thank you @babajayne and @ crocobaura for your answers. The part that I guess I am missing in Sims 4 University is the ability to play all 8 as household while having all 8 attending/enrolled in college, like I did in Sims 2. I have thought of trying a smaller group in a house and sending/enrolling one sim at a time, say one sim a week and then continue to alternate until the whole group is done. But they wouldn't graduate together. I loved playing the college group of friends all together going through the courses and completing them in Sims 2. I know I would be able to play them as a household, in a house, but I was looking forward to playing the entire group attending and going through college at the same time, like in Sims 2. I had read that if you enroll students and don't play them through they often don't do very well on their own. I don't use mods, but definitely plan to once Sims 4 ends. I am one of the micromanagers with my Sims, I admit. I want to be there with them through their trials and tribulations of college! LOL I still plan to send my YA to college, one at a time, unless I can make myself let some of their friends go on their own. On the bright side though, it would give them the opportunity to meet and get to know new Sims. But I will still miss the old Sims 2 way. Guess when I really miss it I can always go start a Sims 2 game. :) I love all my sim games, including Sims 4. Some things stick with you from the past games when playing new, and you need to learn to play without them. I still enjoy my Sims 4, there are just certain things I miss. When I play the previous games, there are things I really love in 4 that I miss in the older ones. Just need to learn to accept the differences in each and just enjoy each game with what they offer. But it doesn't mean I still don't miss those particular features. I need to learn to micromanage less!

You could get them to enroll into university at the same time but maybe if you get them to pursue similar courses then it might be easier to get everyone to their classes and do their assignments. Also, fewer classes per semester so you have time to care for all of them.

"maggiemae8135;c-18107001" wrote:
Thank you @babajayne and @ crocobaura for your answers. The part that I guess I am missing in Sims 4 University is the ability to play all 8 as household while having all 8 attending/enrolled in college, like I did in Sims 2. I have thought of trying a smaller group in a house and sending/enrolling one sim at a time, say one sim a week and then continue to alternate until the whole group is done. But they wouldn't graduate together. I loved playing the college group of friends all together going through the courses and completing them in Sims 2. I know I would be able to play them as a household, in a house, but I was looking forward to playing the entire group attending and going through college at the same time, like in Sims 2. I had read that if you enroll students and don't play them through they often don't do very well on their own. I don't use mods, but definitely plan to once Sims 4 ends. I am one of the micromanagers with my Sims, I admit. I want to be there with them through their trials and tribulations of college! LOL I still plan to send my YA to college, one at a time, unless I can make myself let some of their friends go on their own. On the bright side though, it would give them the opportunity to meet and get to know new Sims. But I will still miss the old Sims 2 way. Guess when I really miss it I can always go start a Sims 2 game. :) I love all my sim games, including Sims 4. Some things stick with you from the past games when playing new, and you need to learn to play without them. I still enjoy my Sims 4, there are just certain things I miss. When I play the previous games, there are things I really love in 4 that I miss in the older ones. Just need to learn to accept the differences in each and just enjoy each game with what they offer. But it doesn't mean I still don't miss those particular features. I need to learn to micromanage less!

@maggiemae8135 But you can play them all as one household enrolled together. You enroll one, you immediately go to Manage Worlds and find a different sim to enroll, repeat until they all live there. This will take a few minutes of time in the game, but not enough to worry about what happens while you’re not playing them, if you’re quick about it. Then you play them all together through the term, and on the final day of the term, they are each prompted to re-enroll at 6pm after they get their grades.

"babajayne;c-18107008" wrote:
@maggiemae8135 But you can play them all as one household enrolled together. You enroll one, you immediately go to Manage Worlds and find a different sim to enroll, repeat until they all live there. This will take a few minutes of time in the game, but not enough to worry about what happens while you’re not playing them, if you’re quick about it. Then you play them all together through the term, and on the final day of the term, they are each prompted to re-enroll at 6pm after they get their grades.

A bit long-winded but it is worth it, I love playing 8 sims at uni - so chaotic!!

Sometimes I will use sims who are sharing a house to all enroll together and sometimes I have sims from a number of households apply for uni and then, when they all have their acceptance, I rotate quickly around each so that I can fill up a dorm and then play them all together.

I can't stand going through uni with just one sim anymore, it seems such a waste.