When TS4 Discover University came out, I bought it for the new CAS items, which imo are the best in any pack. However, I have an anxiety disorder, and I get triggered very easily. I don’t like sending sims to university, and I didn’t like it in TS3 either, because I prefer family play. However, whenever I play a YA without sending them to university, a popup appears saying that they should consider further education, and this, for some reason, always triggers my anxiety. The only way I can continue playing the save without anxiety is to send the sim to university, even though I hate the whole thing.After sending several generations of sims to university, setting the lifespan to long while they were there so they still had time to have a family afterwards, I got so frustrated that I killed off one of my sims so I wouldn’t have to send her to university. I saved over it and kept playing, but seeing her family constantly in tears over her death made me feel like a monster, so I deleted the save, and I haven’t played the game since.At this point, I feel like I may never enjoy the game again. I don’t want to start a new save because, if I do, I’ll have to send more sims to university. I also don’t want to uninstall University because I like the CAS items. What should I do?!

...Don’t send them to university. You’re not forced to go, or turn aging off so they won’t waste days of their lifespan

"Simtown15;d-971863" wrote:When TS4 Discover University came out, I bought it for the new CAS items, which imo are the best in any pack. However, I have an anxiety disorder, and I get triggered very easily. I don’t like sending sims to university, and I didn’t like it in TS3 either, because I prefer family play. However, whenever I play a YA without sending them to university, a popup appears saying that they should consider further education, and this, for some reason, always triggers my anxiety. The only way I can continue playing the save without anxiety is to send the sim to university, even though I hate the whole thing.After sending several generations of sims to university, setting the lifespan to long while they were there so they still had time to have a family afterwards, I got so frustrated that I killed off one of my sims so I wouldn’t have to send her to university. I saved over it and kept playing, but seeing her family constantly in tears over her death made me feel like a monster, so I deleted the save, and I haven’t played the game since.At this point, I feel like I may never enjoy the game again. I don’t want to start a new save because, if I do, I’ll have to send more sims to university. I also don’t want to uninstall University because I like the CAS items. What should I do?!Sending sims to university is not mandatory. Nothing of consequence is going to happen if you don’t. You can still put them into the career of your choice and have them work their way up the ladder as we always did before. The pop is just kind of mor of a guidance counselor type notification that if you want to send them it’s time to make sure they have their grades and skills in order. You are free to ignore it entirely if you choose and your sim life will go on just as it always have, and your sims can still be safe and content university or no university. ? Please don’t let it upset you or ruin your enjoyment of your game.

You can send your sims to skill classes without having to enroll in university. They only last a few sim-hours, and you can treat it as them getting education part-time, or doing a course for their job.

Tbh, I can mildly relate, but I'm able to move past it and just close the pop up. I HATE that pop up though lol. It sorta feels like you are letting your Sims down by not sending them. I love the bikes, I won't disable the pack as that's what I bought it for, but most the game play in the pack is boring to me and I don't want to send them lol. I don't get anxious about it, but it does trigger "Something" for sure.

Oh that foolish "College Education" thing. Get the sim on the phone, get them a job as a "Manual Labourer".Work a few hours a week mowing lawns or gardening for $45 an hour and no more annoying University advertising.Real Life is proving the world already has enough Barista's with a PHD anyway.

Playing The Sims 4 Gives Me Anxiety Now

67 Replies

CaptainMe120
6 years ago
...Don’t send them to university. You’re not forced to go, or turn aging off so they won’t waste days of their lifespan
JanuaryGarnet08
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
"Simtown15;d-971863" wrote:

When TS4 Discover University came out, I bought it for the new CAS items, which imo are the best in any pack. However, I have an anxiety disorder, and I get triggered very easily. I don’t like sending sims to university, and I didn’t like it in TS3 either, because I prefer family play.

However, whenever I play a YA without sending them to university, a popup appears saying that they should consider further education, and this, for some reason, always triggers my anxiety. The only way I can continue playing the save without anxiety is to send the sim to university, even though I hate the whole thing.

After sending several generations of sims to university, setting the lifespan to long while they were there so they still had time to have a family afterwards, I got so frustrated that I killed off one of my sims so I wouldn’t have to send her to university. I saved over it and kept playing, but seeing her family constantly in tears over her death made me feel like a monster, so I deleted the save, and I haven’t played the game since.

At this point, I feel like I may never enjoy the game again. I don’t want to start a new save because, if I do, I’ll have to send more sims to university. I also don’t want to uninstall University because I like the CAS items. What should I do?!

Sending sims to university is not mandatory. Nothing of consequence is going to happen if you don’t. You can still put them into the career of your choice and have them work their way up the ladder as we always did before. The pop is just kind of mor of a guidance counselor type notification that if you want to send them it’s time to make sure they have their grades and skills in order. You are free to ignore it entirely if you choose and your sim life will go on just as it always have, and your sims can still be safe and content university or no university. ? Please don’t let it upset you or ruin your enjoyment of your game.
Karamazov123
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
You can send your sims to skill classes without having to enroll in university. They only last a few sim-hours, and you can treat it as them getting education part-time, or doing a course for their job.
SimAlexandria
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
Tbh, I can mildly relate, but I'm able to move past it and just close the pop up. I HATE that pop up though lol. It sorta feels like you are letting your Sims down by not sending them. I love the bikes, I won't disable the pack as that's what I bought it for, but most the game play in the pack is boring to me and I don't want to send them lol. I don't get anxious about it, but it does trigger "Something" for sure.
shorty943p
Seasoned Veteran
6 years ago
Oh that foolish "College Education" thing.
Get the sim on the phone, get them a job as a "Manual Labourer".
Work a few hours a week mowing lawns or gardening for $45 an hour and no more annoying University advertising.

Real Life is proving the world already has enough Barista's with a PHD anyway.
asimbsim
6 years ago
That sounds like a really tough thing to manage. What I would say is that generally the pop up to consider university options only seems to happen once per sim, so if you only have 1 teen then it should only happen once, quite soon after they age. I'm not sure if it's that that you mean triggers your anxiety and so you feel like you need to go to University, but if it is then maybe knowing that the pop up only happens once might help you to expect it, and then not have to think about it again, so you can try and not send them to university if you don't want to.

I'm not sure of any mods that prevent the pop-up completely, but maybe someone will come up with one.
Sharooonia
Seasoned Ace
6 years ago
I've been having my sims do their university courses from home and I find it much more enjoyable this way. I tried the dorms with a few sims when the pack first released but it got old fast. There's really no benefit to living at the university campus. The events are boring, roommates are annoying and if I keep my sims at home with the family I can still enjoy playing with multiple sims while my student takes care of all the boring homework tasks. I know university is seemingly a hit when it comes to expansions packs but for me personally it falls very flat.
simtown15
6 years ago
"SimAlexandria;c-17381828" wrote:
Tbh, I can mildly relate, but I'm able to move past it and just close the pop up. I HATE that pop up though lol. It sorta feels like you are letting your Sims down by not sending them. I love the bikes, I won't disable the pack as that's what I bought it for, but most the game play in the pack is boring to me and I don't want to send them lol. I don't get anxious about it, but it does trigger "Something" for sure.

That’s exactly what I feel like! Most people in this thread are like, “Oh, just ignore it!” But what they don’t understand is that my anxiety continues afterwards because my brain interprets it like this:

Sim: PLEASE SEND ME TO UNIVERSITY! I WANT TO LEARN AND HAVE A GOOD JOB!
Me: NO! YOU DON’T DESERVE AN EDUCATION!
elliebreton
Legend
6 years ago
I find that pop up annoying, thank goodness it does not trigger my anxiety but I can fully relate to how it could.

I'm not sure why they felt the need to include it. I mean, if a person has bought the uni pack I am sure they are fully aware of the option to send a sim to uni without getting a reminder.

Perhaps there is a small mod out there that stops it?
simtown15
6 years ago
I think I’ve figured out why this triggers my anxiety: it reminds me of my own life.

I was one of those “gifted and talented” kids and people always said how smart I was. I’m currently almost done with high school, which means I’m expected to go to college soon. I also want to be an epidemiologist, which is a high-level job, and probably impossible without going to university.

However, I don’t want to go to college. Due to my autism, I can barely take care of myself, much less an entire house or even a dorm, and my anxiety makes me feel like staying home in my pjs and playing Sims all day.

I usually play Sims to escape my anxiety, but now it’s a constant reminder at how I’m failing at life, not because I’m not smart enough, but because I simply hate the idea of going to college as much as I hate sending my sims.