Features:

  • The nerds, the rebels, and the jocks - Socializing with members of each group offers its own unique advantages, from unlocking dream jobs to an extra trait
  • Organize or attend protests, create murals and graffiti, and even cheat on exams
  • Learn outside the classroom through class activities, lectures at the student union, and joining in social activities
  • Reach top job in career path more easily with faster promotions and higher entry-level job for university grads
  • Requires Sims 3 starter software. Expansion pack will not play without it.
The Sims 3 University Life: It's all about studying, yeah right

This review is for the physical version of The Sims 3 University Life expansion pack. This University Life expansion pack met my expectations and I like it really well. There are different living arrangement options for your sims once they sign up and move to the University Life town. Your sims can rent a house for their college term(s) or they can move into a fraternity or a sorority house with other sims in it for free. I explored these options and chose a different option each term. Both of the options are good you just have to decide if you want your sims to be around other sims or by themselves. If you choose to live in a sorority or fraternity house you will want to make sure to claim your bed and possibly lock the bedroom door for the bed you claim. There are five or six degrees you can get which is good. The only complaint I have about the University Life town is that you can only stay there while you are in a college term. I would like to have my sims stay there for a while really. There are not any regular jobs available in the town though so that would be an issue if the sims could stay there after college terms.

I love this expansion pack

I love this expansion pack. I've always loved the Sims schooling expansion packs, but this one is extra nice in my mind. The University takes place in a different neighborhood than your main one so it really feels like actual college. I also like that it gives your sims credit for some degrees based on their skill set... It saves some time for sure! Each semester lasts a week and with credit for skills, you can complete a degree very quickly. There are also some nice additions like social groups. They even add a "juice" keg (come on, EA! We all know what it is!) so your sims can have the REAL college experience. A must expansion pack!

Best EP! :D

This review was updated after further play. Asterisk's indicate new info! I bought the original Sims game the week it came out on a whim. I didn't leave my house for two days. I've been hooked ever since, and have bought every expansion pack for Sims, Sims 2, and Sims 3. I wouldn't call myself an addict as I don't play every day (and in fact don't play for months sometimes), but I would call myself a devoted fan. I come from the perspective of enjoying Generations, Ambitions, and World Adventures the most. I find Late Night and Pets to be pretty okay, and Showtime, Supernatural and Seasons to be somewhat annoying (though I love certain elements of all of them.) For someone who loves new interactions and new experiences more than new types of characters, you will love this ep. It is based on real life experiences with an exaggerated touch of whimsy as expected. For anyone that has gone to uni and tried to juggle a full academic schedule with a social life, this will be a friendly reminder and perhaps you can act out how you would have done it if you had a do-over :) Questions I had about the game: Is there a new life phase for college? No, you are eligible to go as a Young Adult or older, teens have no way to go early at this point. Is it expensive? Even for the most expensive semester, you will be paying less than 5000 simoleans, but I'll have to write down the exact number and update. Are there scholarships? Yes, you can get scholarships based on skill levels, and what your major is in relation to those skills. A mascot will arrive soon after starting the game and leave a college freebie pack, in it will be an aptitude test your sim can fill out to determine if they're eligible. You must fill this out BEFORE enrolling to get scholarships. ***edit*** Someone pointed out you can retake the aptitude test as many times as you want while you are a teen to try to get higher scores and more scholarship money.*** I had created fresh sims for this new EP so they were low on all skills. My girl with level 2 painting got a 1000 simolean scholarship for an fine arts degree, while my sim with level 3 fitness didn't get any scholarship money towards her physical education degree. ***edit*** The second time I went to university in game, I used an established sim. She had very high aptitude test restults, and received the highest possible scholarship at 2500 per term, for a total of 5000 (she went the maximum allowed, two terms @ 18 credit hours a term).*** ***Note on the mascot: He left my welcome basket in a bush so I couldn't find it for a while. If you don't see it, it might be hiding in your shrubs! :) How do I get to college? You enroll by phone or computer. The animation is pretty cute, you take your 70's style suitcase and get into a moving van. Then a World Adventures like experience takes over and you're transported to your college town. Does life continue back home? ***Edit 2*** I am more convinced than ever that life back home doesn't continue! I was corrected in the comments here that it did very slowly, but after going away the second time for two full terms, I came back the same birthday cake dishes were still on the table waiting to be cleaned and not "smelly" at all, and a person that there had been a "this person will die soon" warning a bit before I left didn't die until after I came back. Everyone was in the exact same place of life, and nobody had aged up. So perhaps a day or two passed, but I would say for all purposes valid towards game play, time basically does not pass. Do you graduate after one visit to college? If you are to go to college with no skills or even if you're skilled but choose not to take the aptitude test, the answer is no. You are going for terms and earning college credits towards degrees, which take 48 credit hours. The most you can possible earn in one visit is 36. If you go for the maximum credit hours and do the best you possibly can and focus on academics you will still have to go at least twice to get one degree. HOWEVER! This is where the aptitude test is very important. When you earn you scholarships, you also earn college credits towards your degree of choice. The most you can earn before going to uni is 18 credits. With that bonus, you can fully earn a degree in one go, if you select two terms and enough credit hours to do so. It's important to note that your scholarship and additional credits for skills are only applicable if you go for a degree that relates to that skill. For example, if you are a level 10 painter but you decide to go to school for Psysical Education, you obviously wont get any simoleans or credit from your painting skill like you would if you were to major in Fine Arts. Can you send more than one sim to college at a time? Yes you can. I sent two sisters together, but have not tried to send two from different households, not sure how that would work yet. For adult sims of the same household, you can select each sim individually on the enrollment screen and choose how long they will be there and what major they will have. Honestly, it was a bit difficult to successfully control two Sims here, so I don't think I'll do two at once again. How do the social groups work? You get points towards the social groups with different interactions and different actions. There is a social group window accessible through your smart phone that tells you exactly what those actions are, so you don't have to guess and see what happens. You get rewards based on which group you interact with, which include extra traits and job opportunities. ***Edit: You can be a part of more than one social group! My overachiever sim is in all three groups, maxxed out in one and close in the others. I have only played for a few hours, I will update my review with more accurate information as I go. I can tell you this, from this early taste, this expansion is definitely worth the money, and I would highly recommend it for all sims lovers. ***Edit*** Things I think are cool since playing a bit longer: -You get and additional trait for reaching the maximum level in a social group. -You get ANOTHER additional trait for graduating from college! -You can break up with sims back home via text if you click on their portrait. I didn't want to get a cheater reputation, but was still linked to my high school boyfriend! -You can send a "woohooty" text, and the sim you send it to will head straight for your bed when they arrive! -You CANNOT get pregnant while at uni. -From what I have seen, you cannot ask anyone to go steady/propose marriage. I have tried with a few different sims with no success. -You have a blog app on your phone which is actually really fun! You can post pictures and name the titles of your posts, gain followers and get money from sims who want to support your blog. It's pretty cool! -The new traits that I have noticed are "Irresistible", "Socially Awkward," and "Avant Garde" :D HA! Also, a side note for the people who keep complaining it crashes, I have not crashed even once. I play on a fairly new desktop PC that was built for gaming. I'll update if I start to have issues.

Great Expansion Pack

If you like the Sims3 you will like this expansion pack. I purchased the cd because I like to have the back up option if something happens to the computer. You can easily install the program on your computer without having to download anything from online. After you install this expansion pack you will need to play with this disc loaded in your computer until you update with a new expansion pack. So, if you have the game installed on different computers you would need to share the disc to play the game. Fun things about this expansion pack: * new Sims to interact with in their community * new skills to learn such as social networking and science * new social status options such as nerd, jock, and rebel * balance your Sims social and academic life - whether to study after school or hang out with friends * new world unlike any of other worlds

University Expansion Pack to Prepare an Incoming University Freshman

Where do I begin? This expansion pack is loaded with so many new things! First of all, the University campus. Now, when I started up my game, I went to make a new character for a new game, and was confused as to whether this expansion pack actually had it's own town or not, and the answer to that is that it does, but the campus is a town that is only accessible through gameplay, and from having sent my Sim there twice thus far, assume that it is not possible to have a permanent residence in the town. The town is cute and has new features such as a bowling alley, café, and comic store and other places as well. What this town is lacking in is the stuff you see in other towns in Sims 3 that would make it a permanent residence such as a military base, office building, a school for Sims that are children or teenagers, and so on. This was a bit of a disappointment for me, but at the same time makes the University life so much more unique because of how exclusive it is. Back to the accessibility point I was making, you can't access it from the start menu where you start a game. To get enrolled you can do that one of two ways: the first way I found out was by enrolling at the primary school in town, where your Sim will go and take an "Aptitude Test", then soon enough leave. The other way to go is by using your new smartphone that comes in this expansion pack and enrolling via phone, in which you can do the test at home. This Aptitude Test is what determines the scholarship amount you qualify for, which that is based on your Sim's skill levels that usually have a correlation with the degree you choose (unfortunately unlike real life you cannot be undecided in your major at this university but at least you only got six to choose from). I did say usually have a correlation only because Jave (my Sim) took the test and qualified for a full ride scholarship to all major choices after her first one in Business including the Physical Education one, while Jace still after completing her second major does not have a single skill level in Fitness. Perhaps it's because she scored so well overall on the test? That I'm not sure about, but nothing of major importance. When you first get to campus, you get to pick whether you live in one of the three dorm houses, in the fraternity/sorority house down the road from campus, or you can choose to rent a house while on campus. The dorms and fraternity/sorority are free for you to house in (Jace has not lived in the sorority house but I assume there is no fee to join one like in real life), so the only reason you would pay for housing is if you rented a house. Jace lived in the same dorm both visits to the university (roommates change with each visit but there's a chance you may end up with a roommate or two you had previously), so I don't have a strong opinion on any other of the housing choices besides Abbot Hall dorms, which I won't go into detail here. Your Sim gets a premade schedule that shows all classes and classtimes. On a busy day your Sim starts at 8AM and ends at 6 PM, classes being two hours long and breaks in between two hours long. Because of the speed in which time passes in the Sims games, you're not gonna have time to go back to your dorm to make a meal before class and get there ahead of time still. For me, the in between time was when I improved Jace's new Social Networking skill made available through this expansion pack (which is a skill she mastered before leaving University the second time). Ah, yes, the new skills! Besides Social Networking, some new skills added include Street Art, Science, and Photography (which I hear you can get in World Adventures expansion pack too but I can't verify this). With new skills comes new interactive objects to increase your Sims skill levels in these new skills. All the new skills that are in the game also benefit certain degrees your Sim can achieve, and the degree in turn boosts your ranking and pay in working back in your Sim's home town in the specific field(s) the degree is geared towards. Like all expansion packs, University has new items for your Sim's home. You'll see these items on campus, but you can also buy them for your own home. One item that makes me excited is the bunk bed you can buy because I thought you could only get that in the Generations expansion pack (don't own it yet but assumed it from photos). This expansion pack is particularily full of new items, moreso than some other expansion packs too. Want a mini fridge? You got it! Want to get creative and have furniture made from other objects? Yeah, they got that, with a sofa made from crates and a mattress, and don't forget the matching chair. There's also shelving you can buy, so now you can put shelves in your home to display items your sims may collect (have yet to check but am hoping they'll fit the trophies one of my other Sim families earned from horse racing with the Pets expansion pack, though I believe it won't be a problem). New town? Check. New items? Check. New clothes? Got that too. Just like the items, there are many new options of clothes, and for both genders. From varsity jackets to a shirt and tie set that makes your Sim look like they come from boarding school, they got everything. New athletic wear, new shoes, new everything. There are some new hairstyles as well, though compared to the amount of new clothes and items this expansion pack contains it does seem to be lacking in hairstyles, of course nothing to make me dislike this expansion pack. A new feature of this expansion pack is a new unique kind of Sim species called PlantSims. I didn't learn of them until Jace went back to University for her second degree when one of her roommates was a PlantSim. PlantSims don't neeed to eat or use the bathroom, but like plants do need to stay hydrated. Though I have not played as one, I don't have complete information about them besides what I learned from interacting with one and reading the information the game gave about it. One thing I have come to understand (though am not completely sure on) is that PlantSims can bury themselves into the ground, where I've come to believe is where they can rest and gain their nutrients from. From what the game says, it seems that their children also are just pulled up from the ground when they want to have kids, and from my understanding (not completely sure again) they do not actually need to have a partner to make children, just like plants in real life usually don't need one. The PlantSim Jace was roomed with and friends with had the Vegetarian trait, and I assume that other PlantSims have this trait too but again this is information I cannot confirm. You can't make a PlantSim in the "Create a Household" either, but rather if you want one in your family you have to get them into your family, and that I'm unsure as to how you can do that. Social life! This is important in University. There's three social groups: Jocks, Nerds, and Rebels. Like you'd expect, these are all very stereotypically portrayed. They help your Sim make friends though, get invited to parties, and so on. There's also certain skills that can boost your level of influence within certain social groups as well, such as Street Art being a skill that helps build your Rebel rep. Eventually, if you reach the top of the social ladder of a group, you get to pick an additional trait for your character, and you can pick from any trait available. However, if you reach the top of two or even all three social groups, you won't get to pick new traits each time. Rather, you can change the trait you earned the first time you reached the top of the social ladder, and of course you don't have to change it if you don't want to. You don't get three traits if you are the top in all three social groups though. As a note, while you have a Sim in University, you only play as the Sim(s) you sent to school, and time is frozen back home. If you leave Sunday morning at 8AM, your Sim will return that same Sunday morning at 8AM. Also, if you have the Pets Expansion pack like me, your pet cannot go with you and it stays home. At least if you do have pets you won't have to worry about them while trying to make sure your Sim isn't sleeping during lectures or going streaking at Juice Keggers. Juice Keggers? Oh, yeah, that's a party. Kegs are set up and the purpose is to socialize and get "Juiced". In Sims, getting Juiced is the equivalent to getting drunk, and there's three different levels of it that are equivalent to the types typically seen with people and how durnk they are in real life: tipsy, drunk, and very drunk. You can also buy a keg of your own for your house too, and with this expansion pack you can throw Juice Kegger parties as well, and if I'm not mistaken you can have them in your hometown as well. I, unfortunately, do have two negatives about this expansion pack: getting the degree and relationships. If you want that degree, you not only have to do well enough in class, but you have to get to graduation. By the time Jace got to the Annex for graduation, there were at least ten other Sims waiting to enter in a big random cluster, nd one at a time they'd change into their cap and gown and one at a time walk through the doors. By the time Jace got to go in, she walked back out almost immediately, and she didn't get the opportunity to get the extra trait Sims get when they get a degree and didn't get the diploma either. The second trip to University, I had her tour the Annex during the day before the ceremony and as soon as it said it was starting she ended that tour and went to the ceremony and got the trait and diploma. I wish that your Sim could find the diploma in their mailbox at home if they didn't make it to graduation at least because that's what most universities in real life do if you for some reason can't attend graduation. This made it as though going to university was for nothing because there was no diploma or trait the first time around. I therefore cannot verify whether or not receiving multiple degrees will allow you to gain multiple traits or not, but from the way the social groups work with getting extra traits, I don't think you can get more tha one, but rather get an opportunity to change that one you earned if you want. As a side negative that's not too important, your social standing in these groups can go down in your hometown if you don't do the things that keeps your rep up at Univeristy. Another main negative is the relationships you make at University do not transfer back home. Jace ended up getting a boyfriend at University, so when she came back home I tried to get her to call him, but he didn't show up in her contacts. In fact, none of the people she met at University were in her contacts. When she went back for her second degree, her relationship remained intact with her boyfriend and her other friends. I really wanted to be able to have him back in the town with her so they could date and possibly get married. In the second trip back to school she even ended up getting the permanent Faithful moodlet for being loyal to him in their relationship, but when she returned home that moodlet was gone and not in the contacts again. I wish that they made it possible for you to invite your friends you made at University to your town so that way you can continue the relationships you had with them. Othewise, you only get to see them as many times as you can go to University until you completed all your degrees. I hate that Jace made so many friends only for those friends to not be able to be contacted at all. Despite the few negatives that I have about the expansion pack, I didn't take any stars off because of the positives. There's so many positives that it outweighs the few negatives there are. Yeah, it sucks that Jace never truly received her first diploma, but now I can buy bunk beds for some of my other Sim families that have children, something that I really wanted. I have so many new objects and clothes and oppurtunities for my Sims that it all works out for the best. Right now, I don't have any photos to share, but I will update this to include photos of the game and the way I received it and also screenshots of Univeristy and Jace's third trip there. I hope to include screenshots of most of the things I talked about in this review. Overall, this is one great expansion pack for Sims 3. New items, new town, new clothes, new adventures. Yeah, there's some small problems that it has, but they can't get it perfect. Afterall, the imperfections are what make the game so great. The imperfections of not keeping friends from University makes you treasure going there more for your Sim. Now, I can't wait to get more Sims 3 expansion packs.

Sharpen your multitasking skills! In a good way!

I have been playing this game for the last four days and I've definetly not been dissapointed. I read all of the comments before purchasing it and they are all very accurate and helped get an idea of how to begin playing the game. There are a lot of activities for you to balance, you have to mantain a certain reputation within the social group related to your major because once you graduate, those friends will help you out to get a job! So you have to balance your sim's needs (for some reason the sleeping tube fills up very slowly), the social networking and the classes. One thing I really love about this expansion pack is the fact that they give you a chance of not being in a rabbit hole while they are in classes with the "attend lecture" class. You can actually see your sim going to class and sleeping and taking notes and the teacher explaining and writing. It gives you a better feeling of "real life experience" and it's hilarious to see the sims falling asleep and if you really zoom in you can see their boring faces, the detail is amazing.

Flawless.

Absolutely fantastic. University is a great expansion that offers some impressive new features. The University grounds are perfect. Even more so if you have supernatural, as werewolves, fairies, vampires, and witches will be wandering all about campus. I've also encounter several ghosts, a couple plantsims, at least one simbot, and a mummy. All life-states of young adult or older can attend University. This also includes plumbots, which I find absolutely wonderful. There is a nice variety of majors, and the campus offers many activities, one of my favorite is protesting. Plantsims are a welcome addition to the life-states. They were always my favorite in the Sims 2, so I was immensely pleased to be able to enjoy them again. Dorms are also a neat new feature that actually works very smoothly. There are also a few new skills, which I am happy to see. I love the ability to have a blog, I spent a majority of my sim's free time blogging about random stuff happening at campus, at home, at work, etc. It's so simple and fun that it gets addicting.

FUN

This expansion pack is like World Adventures--you leave your town and travel to university, and live there while attending. This means your Sims can get as much education as they want and they don't age while they're there. It increases their career opportunities and they can pursue jobs otherwise unavailable to them. In the meantime they can party, make new friends, and take additional classes outside their degree ones, go bowling, visit the comic store, etc. The addition of the social networking skill and the apps available on the smart phone are great, too. There are also new skills they can develop, like bowling and table tennis. The one glitch that I found very irritating, however, was that there was always one student who had a party almost every night, but often they would leave their house during the time the party was supposed to be occurring. This resulted in my Sims not being able to attend the party but receiving texts asking them to come and when they couldn't, texts saying they were missed. Missing the party decreases the relationship with the Sim who invited you to the party. Some advice: Don't slam the vending machines. If one falls on your Sim, your Sim will die.

BEST EXPANSION PACK EVER

BEST EXPANSION PACK EVER!!! i only used to play sims 3. I was reluctant to buy one but this seemed very tempting. The sims basically live on a dorm, apartment, or house. The have to study and have a social status like real life. Also you loose contact with other sims you had that you didn't enroll in college. But their life is pretty much frozen till the end of the term and you go home. The can throw juice keggers, streak, and start Protests! You can become a jock, a reel, or a nerd. Also they give everybody a smartphone its really exciting!! The can cheat on exams, because exams are at the end of every term. Each term is 1 week or 2. You have to pay tuition. And then at the end of the day, you get a degree in your major and then higher pay in that job or career I strong recommend this game, and would ate 10 starts if i could.

It's fun!!

I didn't think I would like The Sims 3 University Life. Boy was I wrong. I love the added Social Groups and the new options for clothing and hair. I like that my Sim can sit through a lecture/class and not always just go through a rabbit hole. These are only a few of the fun things added to The Sims 3 University EP. You can YouTube LGR for a more complete review. Or you could just buy it and discover all the new fun things on your own. ;)

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