I find university boring but would still like my sims to work toward a degree. So I have a couple of questions.

1. If I uninstall Uni can I still get the LTR "Honorary Degree"
2. Is there an online study mod so my sims can study whatever online. I don't want my sims to just accumulate LTR points then get a degree. They will have to earn it somehow?
3. Any imaginative ideas how I can go about doing this?

There's the Study Skills Online mod by JunJayMdM at MTS but it's obviously only for skills so not sure that's what you want. Apart from that, I have no other ideas, sorry.

Right there with you about TS3 uni being boring, littlelambsy. Such a shame, as in TS2 I really love that part of the game.

Pretty sure the LTR honorary degree wouldn't be available without the uni EP installed, unfortunately.

I've done away with playing EA-university in my main save and set up my own rules for which jobs require what skill and the level thereof to earn a fictional degree in a field. Right now I only have a small area in a regular world dedicated as a university, but I'm hoping to at least partly re-creating one or more of the TS2 unis and have it as a separate Traveler world eventually. Still tweaking the system, but right now how it works is besides the skills. I have other criteria as well as having reached the max level in a related part time career and tasks they have to do (mix of skill challenges and made up ones.)

I also decided some boss and top positions should require them going away for a short time to do some sort of management course/class but that's still only a theoretical plan at this point as I haven't set something like that up in the game yet. I'm thinking of maybe having them moving to a new world temporarily and work in the same field for just a little while. The idea behind it is to assignt at least some careers a headquarter in a specific world, so it's there a sim must go if they want to really advance in their field. For others I'm thinking they might have to visit and/or live in a specific set of places. That seems a good fit for careers like politics and journalism.

Looking forward to follow this thread to see what you and others come up with, to get some new ideas myself as well!

Another possibility I've worked on with a friend before is using Career-Type degrees. They're essentially custom careers, but designed to be like a degree course. They'd be full time and could be assigned to the University RabbitHole buildings (which could be placed in the home world, or use RH rugs) and therefore could have various opportunities to complete to further their degree progress.

The way I would work this would be to possibly halt career progression for those sims, because each level of the career would be for certain years (so the first, say 2 levels, would be for the First Year, then levels 3 and 4 could be for the Second Year, levels 5 and 6 for Third year etc.). These could also then be split for more specific 'degrees'. Plus, some further 'degree' careers could be implemented, and require certain skill levels before they become available.

I've toyed with a large series of these 'degree' Careers but not created them yet (although the planning is done). I simply haven't worked on them as I wasn't sure how 'needed' they'd be. However this thread is making me think they might not be such a bad idea after all.

If the EP is not in play, then there are no degrees to be had of any kind. Uni happens to be my favorite expansion of the lot for the huge amount of content it adds, and that's without even sending sims to EA's formal Uni World. I can't really imagine playing without bowling alleys, table tennis, the Science and Street Art skills, herbs, gourmet coffee beans, Murphy Beds, etc. in more everyday settings.

For formal education I still send my sims (not all of them) through EA's Uni World. I really have to try a Homeworld Uni or a dedicated Traveler mod connected homeworld that has one eventually. Most of my homeworlds don't really have the space that I would want to devote to a honking big campus in town...yeah, I know, things can be more compact than that and I have too many bowling alleys and gourmet coffee shops so it all comes down to priorities I guess. But I like the challenge of getting those sims through that experience and it doesn't all have to be about social groups, frat parties, keg stands, and dorm mates not doing laundry or tending to their own personal hygiene. Just like real life (shocking, I know), Uni is what we want to make of it. My real life twin nephew and niece are college freshmen now and I'm enjoying watching them, from a distance, learn all of this for themselves. I certainly never behaved the way EA apparently thinks Uni students do when I was there, so I don't see why my sims should either.

littlelambsy - Besides the potential shock of losing your gourmet coffee bean shops, which I thought you loved so much, didn't you resolve this storyline issue in at least one of your games by having your sims "study abroad" and then granting them honorary degrees when they fulfilled whatever requirements you set forth for them? Or sorry, am I thinking of a different player here?

For Genius and maybe even Ambitious Sims, I'd be inclined to grant them a University degree when they finish High School. I saw a headline recently about someone who's set to graduate from a big name University before she graduates from high school.

A similar thing happened when I got my IT degree, although that was only a two-year college. Which brings to mind the idea that you could grant up to 24 credit hours to some high school students to simulate the increasingly common practice of high school students being enrolled in College Transfer Associate Degree programs. With 24 credit hours, a Sim could finish University in a single double-length term. Though I guess if you genuinely hate University, two Sim weeks there could seem like a really long time. However if you only send one Sim, you can sped large chunks of that time at Speed 4.

Or you could just do what the game does with inactives and grant them a random degree.

This is wonderful, thanks everyone for the ideas and suggestions

Sarah, thanks for the link, although it's just skills it could work. Sims would at least be "studying" as if in class. I have a 60 x 60 lot in Riverview that can't be moved or deleted without the ground bleeding all over the road.... which sets of my OCD LOL. So, I may just put a fake uni there and have sims use the Study Online method. Perfect, thanks

WoolySmurf, you have some great ideas, thanks. I like the idea of doing part-time careers for field work for example.

Miss Hissy, I use a lot of your custom careers and love your work, so thank you for that. I think your idea for degree careers is great and I would certainly use them. Look forward to seeing what you do with this idea.

Igazor, You have a mind like an steal trap LOL, yes, I did have a time where I traveled with sims for degrees,... France for cooking, Monte Vista for Art etc, but the problem was, those worlds really needed to be set up for such a study program. Especially the WA worlds. I needed to remake them with city halls, restaurants etc for the degree programs to work. So, I didn't bother with it. But, now you've reminded me about it, I may just take the time to find other worlds that would work instead of using the Uni world or the WA worlds.

Now that you mention all the things I would loose, the coffee shops and the bowling etc, there's no way I would remove uni. Thanks

Tropical Insomniac, I also like your idea about granting either a degree or credits toward a degree for certain sim coming out of high school. That makes sense. It also gives me the idea of sending special teen sims to uni programs instead of high school.... if that can be done.

littlelambsy wrote: ↑

January 5th, 2019, 11:42 am

It also gives me the idea of sending special teen sims to uni programs instead of high school.... if that can be done.

I think you're secretly a mind reader. I did a series of Apprenticeships for teens back when Uni first came out. They're part-time jobs the teens can do alongside school but they transfer into adult careers at different levels, depending on how well they do. I recently thought about doing a different version of these where they're actual schools, rather than PT jobs. So these would be schools at different RabbitHoles (like Twallan's) but for teens only and would require skills, as well as homework. Worth a thought

Absolutely, they sound great. I'm going back over to your site and take another look around. Thanks. I built a series of little Ultimate Careers Lots and use one, a garage to built the Classic Car and assign your Mechanics career to that building.

@littlelambsy , the 'degree' careers I mentioned earlier. Roocheysims created some a while ago and she's given me a link to pass on. These use the same idea I mentioned above, so they're effectively careers but designed to be like University Degrees/Majors. They can be downloaded at SimFileShare.