Three Year Degrees, plus Master's Degrees

The Sims 2 University is designed around the North American education system, where Bachelor's degrees (the kind most people who go to university get) take four years.

But in a lot of the rest of the world, that's not what happens: Bachelor's degrees take only three years, and then you are done and have a degree.

Some people don't stop at a Bachelor's degree: many students taking professional degrees - subjects like Law, Architecture, Education, or Engineering - or anyone who is interested in research will stay on for a 1 or 2 year Master's Degree.

This mod lets your sims do the same. At the end of their third (Junior) year, sims with a GPA under 3.0 automatically graduate, and sims with better grades are asked whether they would like to graduate or continue studying.


Either way, sims get a degree and associated memories at the end of their third year, and if they continue to the end of their fourth year they will get a second degree certificate and memory for completing their Master's degree.


What do I need to download?
You need:

• One of:
  • "ThreeYearDegreesPlusMasters"
  • "ThreeYearDegreesPlusMasters_TermRequired" (if you want Ancient Highway's Harder Grades - Term Required mod)
  • "ThreeYearDegreesPlusMasters_preFT" (if you don't have any of FT, AL or M&G).
• The entire folder "Master's Degrees" (if you don't have Degrees for Doctors)
• Easy Token Check (if you don't already have it)
• Easy Memory Check (if you don't already have it)

If you want to update existing sims, or you have fourth year university students on install, also get "TYDUpdater".

What happens to existing sims?
The only sims that really matter are those in their Senior year of university when you install this mod. The Three Year Degree Updater is found under Decorative/Sculptor, costs $3 and looks like the cat statue.


Any other changes?
The text for graduation with honours memories has been updated to refer to three years rather than four years. Sims who drop out in their fourth year will have the graduate symbol as an adult rather than the dropped out symbol.

How can my sims actually use their Master's degree?
Try Doctors Need Degrees, the 3YD option, version 2-2 or higher where sims need a Master's degree to get to the top of some career tracks.

Modified code:


Conflicts

Name	Conflicts with	What to do
Harder Grades - Term Required	Function - Next Semester	Use the "TermRequired" version of my mod instead
Better Major Auto Selection	Dialog prim string set	Works provided my mod loads last
No Finals at Night by TwoJeffs	Dialog prim string set	Works provided my mod loads last
Semester Changes	Function - Next Semester	Not compatible
Three Year University Courses	Function - Next Semester	Not compatible
Faster University Education	No conflicts	Feel free to use both

Thanks to the makers of SimPE, mrcsthernr whose question about Master's degrees inspired this whole thing, and Pick'N'Mix mods, whose Three Year University Courses made me realise I could do the same but better (at least for the way I play).