Why is the University "year" so short?

Each term is a week. So if you move to uni at the weekend it will finish on the Friday, but it depends how many classes your sim takes as to which day is their actual final exam.

I think it is plenty long enough, because you need to do at least 3 terms (if you are taking 4 classes each time). So that is quite a chunk out of your sims life span unless ageing is turned off.

Even more terms if you are only taking a couple of classes or one like you seem to have done.

My sim graduated in 4 sim weeks and was about 15 days to become an adult. (I have YA set to 40 days) For me, I think it's a sufficient amount of time although by 4th "semester" I was over it and ready to move on. I don't want my sims entire young adult span to be spent in university.

It's weird that they didn't link the termlength to lifespan, or let us choose how long one term is like we can choose the length of seasons.
That said now that I have gotten used to the system the length is actually fine for me, you kinda have control over the length of the entire Unitime just not the terms, with a minimum of 3 weeks and a max of 12 weeks.
If you also join one (or two, or three) organisations and get a scholarship that demands tasks too (like soccer or gamer), you got plenty to do too, plus there are events going on rather often.

I always pause aging during university because I stop playing Sims when they become elders, and even on long lifespan university takes too long otherwise.

If you consider a degree with a full course load takes 3 full sim weeks, this eats up almost the entire young adult life span if you play on normal. 4 weeks if you want your sim to have a life outside of classes. This is all provided too that you do not fail one course, otherwise this takes longer. I think this is plenty long enough personally and actually too long to play on normal or in a rotation.

My saves that are set to long lifespans, I leave it all alone, but in my saves set to normal spans, I do pause the aging while they are there.

I do like it this way though. 3-4 sim weeks playing through is enough for me. It's tedious but I wouldn't really want it any longer or shorter.

"FlamingoKicker1;c-17424087" wrote:
well, my sim failed out again. She left campus one day to go visit a friend and when she returned it was the next day? And she missed her Final which just happened to be on the FIRST day of class? What?

Finals are normally on the last day of your term, the fifth weekday of the term. This depends on the day of the week you enrolled, for example my Sim started her term on Wednesday so her final is the next Tuesday. But a sim who starts on Friday will have exams on the following Thursday. In my experience if a class is scheduled on your last day of term, it will be a final. If the last class is scheduled for the second last day you get a presentation or paper to do.
Usually sims have the same class every other day, so you should have had one or two regular classes before the final on the last day.
That is how it works for me, unfortunately I have no idea why it seems to be going wrong in your game.

Btw, my sim also left campus to visit other lots but that did not affect her class schedule or exams.

"Beardedgeek;c-17424404" wrote:

"Atreya33;c-17424227" wrote:

"FlamingoKicker1;c-17424087" wrote:
well, my sim failed out again. She left campus one day to go visit a friend and when she returned it was the next day? And she missed her Final which just happened to be on the FIRST day of class? What?

Finals are normally on the last day of your term, the fifth weekday of the term. This depends on the day of the week you enrolled, for example my Sim started her term on Wednesday so her final is the next Tuesday. But a sim who starts on Friday will have exams on the following Thursday. In my experience if a class is scheduled on your last day of term, it will be a final. If the last class is scheduled for the second last day you get a presentation or paper to do.
Usually sims have the same class every other day, so you should have had one or two regular classes before the final on the last day.
That is how it works for me, unfortunately I have no idea why it seems to be going wrong in your game.

Btw, my sim also left campus to visit other lots but that did not affect her class schedule or exams.

This is not my experience at all. Terms always start on Monday, final day is always on Friday. Your final CLASS is whenever your final class is (Thursday or Friday) but the final score is not given to you until 6pm Friday that week.

However in the case of Atreya above, is it possible she only had ONE day of class? Then it is also the LAST day of class as well as the first.
Also, missing a full day is a very bad move in general, your grade is guaranteed to fall from an A to a B just by missing one class. If you leave campus you better keep track of your clock!

Term can start on monday but it doesn't have to. There is even a discussion on this forum about starting terms on different days. The day you enroll decides the day your term starts. If you immediately re-enroll for the next term after your current term ends, then you can easily have all your terms start the same day.

My theory of finals only happening if the class is schedules on the last day of you term, well that is just a theory. I have not yet had enough students to be absolutely sure.
edit : just realised this is not correct

But so far my students always had one or two regular classes before the final exam.

I can't remember how long a term was or how many credits you needed in 2 or 3. But one week does seem short. I always have my Sims enroll on Tuesday, so classes start on Wednesday, they have the weekend to finish term papers, presentations and the the final homework. The first time I played I sent my Sim on a Sunday, with 3 classes, and she did horribly.

well, my sim failed out again. She left campus one day to go visit a friend and when she returned it was the next day? And she missed her Final which just happened to be on the FIRST day of class? What?

"Atreya33;c-17424227" wrote:

"FlamingoKicker1;c-17424087" wrote:
well, my sim failed out again. She left campus one day to go visit a friend and when she returned it was the next day? And she missed her Final which just happened to be on the FIRST day of class? What?

Finals are normally on the last day of your term, the fifth weekday of the term. This depends on the day of the week you enrolled, for example my Sim started her term on Wednesday so her final is the next Tuesday. But a sim who starts on Friday will have exams on the following Thursday. In my experience if a class is scheduled on your last day of term, it will be a final. If the last class is scheduled for the second last day you get a presentation or paper to do.
Usually sims have the same class every other day, so you should have had one or two regular classes before the final on the last day.
That is how it works for me, unfortunately I have no idea why it seems to be going wrong in your game.

Btw, my sim also left campus to visit other lots but that did not affect her class schedule or exams.

This is not my experience at all. Terms always start on Monday, final day is always on Friday. Your final CLASS is whenever your final class is (Thursday or Friday) but the final score is not given to you until 6pm Friday that week.

However in the case of Atreya above, is it possible she only had ONE day of class? Then it is also the LAST day of class as well as the first.
Also, missing a full day is a very bad move in general, your grade is guaranteed to fall from an A to a B just by missing one class. If you leave campus you better keep track of your clock!