Graduation

College is completed after passing the final exam for the second semester of the fourth year.

Completing University


Hopefully your Sim will graduate. Graduating is as simple as passing every semester, and perhaps you have a Sim that wants to do nothing more than the bare minimum to get by. Either way, once you finish your last final exam, you'll be told if you graduated with any honors, and you'll be given 72 hours to pack up and leave.

During that 72-hour period, you can throw a special party via any phone called a graduation party. Your Sim and anyone else you invite will be decked out in graduation caps and gowns, but the party itself will be normal. Once the party concludes, or if you wait out all three days, you'll be ejected from the campus. Those university presidents just don't know how to have fun.

There are less prestigious ways of leaving college, though. At any time you want, you can call the registrar and select to drop out. Also, if you fail any semester, you'll be placed on academic probation. This forces you to repeat the semester (effectively extending your Sim's life span by another three days), and if you fail again, you'll be expelled.

Once out of college, your Sim will immediately become an adult, and will be prevented from going to college again. Unlike real life, Sims only get one shot, so make sure it counts.

If your Sim graduated, they'll have a diploma in his aspiration rewards panel. This can be hung on any wall, and it can be read for the details of his graduations (such as honors, if they had any). Once on a wall, the Sim can "re-pack" it. Basically, it's removed from the game but placed back in the Sim's aspiration rewards panel. That way, a Sim can take it with him if he moves.

If Nightlife or later is installed, the diploma will be in the Sim's inventory.

"Save the Sheep" Faux Sheepskin Diploma
Received by finishing University. It is a decorative object showing your achievements at university placed in your inventory automatically. Upon installation of the University Expansion, all Adult and Elder Sims automatically are given this, however they do not receive the benefits given to graduated Sims (Lock 2 wants, 6 Want slot, Unlockable careers, etc.).

"'This prestigious diploma bestowed by your Sim's University at graduation gives one more sheep another chance at life. Made of the finest faux sheepskin, this diploma tells the world that your Sim is educated, employable, and concerned about sheep conservation.'"

Honors

 * 1) Summa cum Laude - 4.0 GPA
 * 2) Magna cum Laude - 3.9 GPA
 * 3) Cum Laude - 3.7~3.8 GPA

Graduation Party
After the last exam your Sim is given another 72 hours to say goodbye and have a Graduation Party, complete with cap and gown. After the party, with the special event camera on, the graduated Sim will grab a close friend to take a picture with followed by the throwing of the caps in the air and the transition to an Adult. Without the special event camera, the Sim will just transition to an adult and go in the taxi cab back home.

Post-Graduation Jobs
Prior to the expansion pack, getting jobs from newspapers always put a Sim at level 1 of the career track. Getting a job from a computer, conversely, put a Sim at his appropriate level of the career track based on his job skills.

That still holds partly true, but college grads can now get very high and well-paying jobs through the newspaper. SimCity seems to favor any degree over no degree, so a graduate may even get a job at a high level in a career he's technically not suited for.

If you wondered what the point of college was, just look at the paychecks your Sim gets. You'll be earning several hundred per day pretty much from the beginning, which leads to speedy home expansion.

The Sims 3
Graduation returns in The Sims 3: Generations. There is no specific graduation party as there is in The Sims 2: University, however. Teen Sims can graduate either from Community High School or Boarding School if they are enrolled in either one.

Community High School Graduation
Teens' regular activity of going to school every morning in the school bus or doing homework as they arrive at home will end as soon they receive a graduation notification, which will happen approximately 4 days before their birthday. This notification is intended to make sure that teens have prepared as well as they can for those last days of school.

The graduation is usually held at City Hall, in the morning of the day after they become young adults. There will be another notification, and grads will change into a graduation robe. On the graduation day, all Sims in the household will get a day off, and all other child or teen Sims in the household will get a day off from school.

The grads will wait for all Sims in their household to get ready, then they will go to City Hall together. The player should wait until the graduation ceremony is over.

Grads can graduate either as a valedictorian or simply as a graduate, depending on their grades and achievement during school. If the Sim graduated with an A, they'd graduate with highest honor, B honor, C merit, D pass, and F fail. Valedictorian grads will receive the Valedictorian medal in their inventory and also the Valedictorian moodlet, which lasts 10 days. Regular grads will receive the I Graduated moodlet, which also lasts 10 days. In addition, all grads have the chance to get another medal, as they're nominated for things, such as "Most Likely to Take Over the World" or "Most Likely to Write Best-Selling Novels". Grads also get a framed graduation diploma and have the option to "Toss Diploma", which later can be found in their inventory.

After the graduation, grads' relatives will have option to "Give Graduation Gift". They will also receive graduation moodlets depending on their relation to the grads. Graduation Moodlets

Boarding School Graduation
Boarding School Teen Sims enrolled in Boarding School will also graduate right after they age up. They will go back home, wearing special graduation robes and a diploma to display in their inventory. The graduation robes they wear is determined by the types of Boarding School they're enrolled in.

Graduation Bugs
Some bugs with graduation have been reported. :


 * Sims won't have graduation ceremony after they age up.


 * Sims enrolled in Boarding School come back home before their graduation, and never graduate or they graduate from Community High School, not from the boarding school they were once enrolled in.

Disclaimer

 * Copied from Guides IGN:The Sims 2 University.
 * Some contents copied from Bright Hub