University too hard/no fun ?

I enrolled my sim in Foxbury, but had her live at home. 4 classes.

I built an apartment in the basement, with desk, computer, bed, kitchen and bathroom.

Then I'd lock her in there until she'd finished her homework, papers, presentations, etc. No interruptions, and her sisters took turns watching her kids. (2 child daughters. I would not inflict toddlers on her family.)

She'd go off to class like she was going off to work: never late, no extended sloughing through the campus.

For her final semester, I had her live in a house on campus. For meals, I'd get several of the free ones from the commons, eat one, and put the rest in the refrigerator in the on-campus housing, This worked out well for morning when she'd awaken ravenous.

Her sisters occasionally came to visit and would partake of the myriad sweets her roommates so thoughtfully provided.

She graduated with an A+ average, and has done nothing with the degree. She just lazes around the house, playing with the telescope and microscope and painting masterpieces.

I have a lot of fun with Discover University.
My sims are active in extracurricular activities at their respective schools, they attend guest lectures, tutor other students, throw parties, and they get excellent grades in their classes.
I've found that making your sim "take notes" during their classes eliminates the need to be constantly studying. If you have time between classes, utilize this time to do homework for the previous class.
Additionally, I try not to overload my sims with classes. Either 3 classes that are specific to their degree or two degree classes and one elective. The times that I've made my sims take 4 classes, they always walk away with lower grades.

"ArcherDK;c-17426247" wrote:
Isn't the whole point of university is to study? I mean, sure - you can take less classes and all.
It should be difficult to not get flunked out. Otherwise what's the point?

Haha right! So why do they bother adding kegs, "organizations" and so many ways to get into trouble? >:)

"RavenSpit;c-17426443" wrote:
I usually give them 2 courses per term and never had a sim fail any, I think the lowest I got was a B-.
I make them do their homework immediately after the class and finish and refine any papers/presentations as soon as possible (I usually enroll them at a friday so they have the whole weekend for that), have them either study or do an activity that earns the skill of the classes in their freetime every now and then.
Yes, they have only little time for parties (but they do have them!) and are mostly occupied with study and course related stuff but hey, that's Uni!

I think the frustration here is that in real life, there is no way you can progress in Uni without taking a minimum of four classes per term. It's no fun to have to work as hard as that requires in the game. My Sims have no life outside of coursework unless they go in with almost maxed skills or only take a bare course load! I think the difficulty could be toned down just a bit - or add some kind of progress meter - and there would still be enough challenge, but actually fun. I need my Sims to be able to actually make friends or do something other than homework during college.

Additionally, I think that the amount of dedication it takes to pass a term makes rotational play almost impossible. I spend the entire term in one household, then lose scholarships if I don't immediately reapply? So then you end up staying in one household for an entire college career, making my other households inaccessible.

"nerdfashion;c-17448599" wrote:
First people were complaining about the game being too easy, now they're complaining about the game being too hard.

What do the devs have to do to make y'all happy?

Who knows. I happen to like this expansion pack fine and wish that some of the bugs present in the game could be resolved.

University is exactly what this pack presents. I like that it's a good challenge. Once you put through more Sims you get a better hang of it. University is not for everyone.

I've also worked out that if you raise a Sim from child to adult and you max out skills, it will fail them as they can't study as they are maxed out. Not great.

"drakharis;c-17426134" wrote:
I think a teen sim should be able to apply to the university they want so when they age up they can start immediately.

They can. Teens can start applying for university the week before they age into young adults.

Here we see a typical clash between Sim players. :)

And for once the shoe is on the other foot (not being smug!). Remember the community at large has demanded more challenging game play for quite some time; I am one of them, Sims 4 is so easy it is really no difference between playing with unlimited money or regular gameplay, you simply cannot fail at anything except if you do it on purpose.

And now the other 40% or so of players are complaining because the game is too hard. (again NOT being smug!).

1. I have found that 5 semesters, split either 3, 3, 2, 2 2 or 3, 2, 3, 2, 2 works best for me. It is still fairly realistic too, many people going to university study for 5 years.
2. I always pause aging while at Uni; if I couldn't do that i would not have bought the pack at all, YA is my favorite age for Sims (yes I am "One of those" players) and quickly lose interest in kids or elders.
3. ...Anyway, taking two classes makes it possible to juggle two organizations. I would go one that favors your Sim's general goal (Robot guys, Art society, Brainiacs) and then the Spirit Squad OR the Secret Society (tho I find it underwhelming, while the Spirit Squad is fun. Stink-spraying mascots is fun ;) ).