University / Scholarship Application not random?

@EuphorialQueen I have read that guide. However, it says "You can take that a bit further by improving their skill levels a touch before they apply." And as far as my test results have proven up untill now this is not accurate, because the skills I gained after applying were making a huge difference in where my sim was accepted and where she wasn't.

I think there is a small chance you can get into any distinguished degree program, but it's very rare without building the skill. I thought this was the case when I sent a new Sim with zero skills who I hadn't played yet and I was surprised to see one distinguished degree option pop up for her, I can't remember which one. That's only happened to me twice with a zero or low skilled Sim though. Usually, they get only regular degree options. It's nice that those two Sims got a lucky chance at a good degree because I wasn't going to build their skills up, I just wanted to add them as students lol.

Does anyone know if your traits boost your chances at all?

The residency scholarship though, that's got to be totally random. My Sims who live in the same house don't all get that one. :/

I don't know about traits but I did see this. When my sim did not do any skill building she got undistinguished time and again. When I used those 24 hours (and some sleep replacement potions) to build her research skill as high as possible she got a regular 5 to 8 distinguished degrees to choose from.

That was skill building done AFTER application, because I had her apply in the first minute of gameplay and therefore she had 0 skills at the time. This means you don't have to waste time skilling, then applying and then waiting, but can apply and build the skills while waiting. I think thats a huge benefit, as I hate to waste sim time twiddling my thumbs for nothing.

@AlHollandiyah That's good to know. I didn't realize this. That will save time for sure. The wait is about 3 days I think, but it doesn't take that long to level a skill up to 3 or 4. What you said about the Research skill though, 5-8 degrees to choose from? :o That's interesting, maybe you don't even need to pick a related skill. Maybe if you're a high-level researcher you can do whatever you want? I'm going to try that too. I've never seen so many distinguished degree options to choose from.

@nerdfashion My game is very glitchy, so it could be a bug for me, but I think there is a rare chance. I checked the save that has these two students and one is in the distinguished degree for Art History. She's studying without a single skill in painting or anything remotely related lol. She has 2 cooking skill points and a few 1 point skills which came after she was waiting. She was mostly just sleeping and eating while waiting. I have no idea how she got into that program, but it makes me laugh. Actually, I found three low skilled Sims in distinguished degrees. My other two Sim are in Communications and Psychology, but one of them bribed his way in I just can't remember which one.

The reason I don't think it's a glitch is that if I level up to 5 points, I got multiple distinguished degree options, whereas these Sims just had only the one distinguished degree option.

The Carl Sims website seems to say that you start out with a small chance, 5/20 chance, for a distinguished degree and then your chances get multiplied or reduced, based on various things like high school grades, skill levels, fame etc.. So if you have a C or an F in high school, the multiplier drops below zero and drags your chances down a lot or if you fail at an action to improve your chance. If you level to 3+ points on a skill, your chances for the related degree double, which make sense why you then get a few options for related degrees.

Here's the chart if anyone is interested, the multiplier bonus is the same for all the degrees, but the skills are different per degree:

Requirements: Being accepted into one of the two schools for a distinguished degree in Art History is not guaranteed, but having the following skills and factors in your favor will make it more likely. You begin with a 5/20 chance. This is multiplied by:

Factors:
High School, "A" Student, 2x multiplier
High School, "B" Student, Flat, no gain or loss
High School, "C" to "F" Student, From 0.5 (C) to 0.25 multiplier to score with D-F.
SKILLS:
Archaeology 3+ x2
Selvadoradian Culture 3+ x2
Photography 3+ x2
Charisma 2-3 x2
Writing 2-3 x2
Painting 2-3 x2
Charisma 4-6 x4
Writing 4-6 x4
Painting 4-6 x4
Charisma 7-10 x8
Writing 7-10 x8
Painting 7-10 x8
Additionally, Sims can flaunt fame for a x2 multiplier (but will have it dropped to 0.25 on failure). Sims who donate can also see a big multiplier of x16, but a failure there is the worst of the bunch (0.125). Having a multiplier less than 1 is dropping the score a lot. Ultimately, your final score will determine if you are accepted into a distinguished program.

@Elliandre my sim has a high school A grade and so she has a 10/20 chance rather then a 5/20 one if you take it from Carls. However, without any skilling she landed none of the distinguished degrees every single time I tried.

When I am talking about a high level Research I actually mean anywhere between 7 or 10. It is interesting to try out what skill unlocks what, but I am currently running a lot of tests for another bug. If soneone has more data on this please share them with us.

Also you said that the wait is 3 days. I find that odd. I've had a lot of retries trying to kickstart my actual game and I've found that after exactly 24h of either the application or the scholarship form the computer will be able to tell you the result. The mail nearly always arrives at the first chance after that.

"AlHollandiyah;c-17391157" wrote:

Also you said that the wait is 3 days. I find that odd. I've had a lot of retries trying to kickstart my actual game and I've found that after exactly 24h of either the application or the scholarship form the computer will be able to tell you the result. The mail nearly always arrives at the first chance after that.

It's only 24 hours? Why does it feel like a few days to me lol, but I don't check the computer actually, I just wait for the letters. I didn't know you could check on the computer! I learn something every time I read this topic lol.

Maybe it's like the triplets? Have you ever had them? I have never got them even with adding all the lot and fertility traits, fertility massages, watching the kids channels etc, I followed all the rules but have never got them, but I've read elsewhere that it depends how many times you make Sims pregnant with twins, then the chances go up. So if you send off a lot of unskilled Sims to Uni, maybe then you see a few with the chance for a Distinguished degree? I don't know, but I hope it isn't a bug, it was a fun surprise to see the one distinguished degree option.

I actually read that on Carls guide. But for me the mail isn't much later. For example she moves in to her house on sunday at 8 am (fresh save). I make her apply for university in the first minute, and the next day at just past 8 the computer tells me the result.

Then at around 10ish or so the mail arrives. I waited for the mail a couple of times and only once it skipped a second day. The other times I just enrolled straight after checking at the laptop.

Offtopic, I did have triplets a number of times in my 100 baby challenge. I don't know what makes the scale tip though, there weren't even lot traits back then. You're bound to get them eventually. In TS3 it helps if you give the father the fertility trait too, but I don't know if the same goes for TS4.

"AlHollandiyah;c-17391271" wrote:
I actually read that on Carls guide. But for me the mail isn't much later. For example she moves in to her house on sunday at 8 am (fresh save). I make her apply for university in the first minute, and the next day at just past 8 the computer tells me the result.

Then at around 10ish or so the mail arrives. I waited for the mail a couple of times and only once it skipped a second day. The other times I just enrolled straight after checking at the laptop.

Offtopic, I did have triplets a number of times in my 100 baby challenge. I don't know what makes the scale tip though, there weren't even lot traits back then. You're bound to get them eventually. In TS3 it helps if you give the father the fertility trait too, but I don't know if the same goes for TS4.

I tried, I applied in the morning, but I didn't get the result until the 3rd day and for another Sim until after two days. I don't know maybe I should apply earlier in the morning, I'm not sure when the mail time cutoff is, but it doesn't matter really, 2 or 3 days is okay since I can work on the skills anyway. offtopic sorry, but I will try to add the fertility trait to the father too, I didn't think of that, thank you!!