Forum Discussion

hmae123's avatar
5 years ago

Starting at such a high career level

I wanted my sim to be a major overachiever so she graduated with honors, but I think starting out at level 8 is a bit too high. It means we’re actually missing out on a lot of the career levels. I’d rather is be 5 or 6. I want my young adult to struggle a bit getting out of college and starting a career with loans to pay off and what not. I guess going forward I’ll have to not have them graduate with honors what level do the start at with a normal degree?
  • Sketch793's avatar
    Sketch793
    Seasoned Veteran
    I think it's a little disappointing that the highest we can start a career is level 8. I fondly remember starting careers at level 9 after TS2 University. Usually got a promotion the first day and maxed the career, too. My sims worked hard at university to get that kind of benefit and I was glad to make use of it.

    I feel the same way about Discover University's job placement as I did about TS2. My sims worked hard to get into a distinguished degree program and finish it with honors, so I am happy to see them benefit from it. The higher the benefit, the happier it makes me.

    There are several options if you prefer to start at a lower level. You could take the common degree instead of the distinguished degree. You could make sure that your sims don't earn honors. You could use cheats to demote your sims to level 6. Or, you could simply have them perform poorly at work in hopes of getting them demoted to the level you want. I think any of those options are preferable to having the developers nerf university for everyone.
  • "Sketch793;c-17338310" wrote:
    I think it's a little disappointing that the highest we can start a career is level 8. I fondly remember starting careers at level 9 after TS2 University. Usually got a promotion the first day and maxed the career, too. My sims worked hard at university to get that kind of benefit and I was glad to make use of it.

    I feel the same way about Discover University's job placement as I did about TS2. My sims worked hard to get into a distinguished degree program and finish it with honors, so I am happy to see them benefit from it. The higher the benefit, the happier it makes me.

    There are several options if you prefer to start at a lower level. You could take the common degree instead of the distinguished degree. You could make sure that your sims don't earn honors. You could use cheats to demote your sims to level 6. Or, you could simply have them perform poorly at work in hopes of getting them demoted to the level you want. I think any of those options are preferable to having the developers nerf university for everyone.


    No nerfing, please!
  • For me the high career level after uni makes sense. When you play with aging on and on normal lifespan, your sim stays minimum 21 days in uni. The young adult lifespan is 24 days only. So if you begin with a new sim, have to apply for scholarships and uni first, which already takes 3 days, then your sim will be an adult the day they graduate. But only if you do it in 3 terms. One of my sims has once had 4 courses in a term. NEVER AGAIN :sweat_smile: I was more exausted from playing a semester than actually doing a semester in the real world :joy: With 4 terms and 3 courses each it's okay to finish uni, I'd say. But with aging on your sim will be an adult by then for sure. And if my adult sim with - I'm not sure - 11 days left of the adult stage, I'd be frustrated to work from career level 5 or 6 up. Because then my sim would do better without uni.

    But that's just my opinion, mainly reffering to my play style :sweat_smile:
  • My Sim earned a normal degree in Psychology, graduating with an A or A- GPA (can't remember which).
    He started at Level 3.
  • My Sim graduated with a Biology degree with honors and went into Level 7 of the Medical career
    I wonder if the degree is factored into the level as well then, not just the grade?
    Looking at that link above though, it looks like it was for the Sims 3, so maybe it's a bit different in TS4
  • "daniellegarcia;c-17335785" wrote:
    My Sim graduated with a Biology degree with honors and went into Level 7 of the Medical career
    I wonder if the degree is factored into the level as well then, not just the grade?
    Looking at that link above though, it looks like it was for the Sims 3, so maybe it's a bit different in TS4


    Thanks for pointing out that, it's a lot smarter to share info on the correct game, LOL :) The link above was corrected, found another page with useful info.
  • That link is helpful and it does actually make sense since she went into the distinguished degree and graduated with honors she starts at the highest level. Looks like each career/degree is set a little differently. That’ll help going fwd this sim will just have it easier but I can make another who struggles paying back loans and only starts at a 3 or 4 or whatever.
  • "hmae123;c-17336152" wrote:
    That link is helpful and it does actually make sense since she went into the distinguished degree and graduated with honors she starts at the highest level. Looks like each career/degree is set a little differently. That’ll help going fwd this sim will just have it easier but I can make another who struggles paying back loans and only starts at a 3 or 4 or whatever.


    I think you have two options with some of the careers - my Sim got a Psych degree with honours from Britechester and had two education career options - one as a professor and one as a substitute teacher. I imagine the second option starts him at or near the bottom of the education career. (And keep in mind that there is also a career boost for Sims who accomplished certain goals as toddlers, kids and teens.)
  • Those career levels sound very high to me, many of my sims never get to level eight. But I think it will be something different for those who go to uni. I've also thought of studying something and then getting a career that isn't related... it can happen!