Getting into university in Sullivan

For the whole time I've been playing Sullivan, I've been using the same system to decide which Sims will and won't be admitted into university. It's a fairly simple system. If a Sim earns 4 scholarships and has the want to go, they go and pay full tuition. If they earn 6 scholarships and have the want, they go and they pay half tuition. If they earn 8 and have the want, they go and tuition is completely waived.

I've been dissatisfied with that for quite a while though. It's not really realistic. In real life, I somehow gained entrance into university without earning any scholarships at all and I'd wager that's true of many of you as well. I wanted a new system but hadn't been motivated enough to develop anything. 

Last week, I read Starr's amazing post about her SPAT scores (she also posted an update and simplification several days later) and I was suddenly inspired to sit down and hammer out my own system. Starr was in turn inspired by Laurel Crossing, so credit should definitely go to her as well. 

I've decided to call it the Sullivan Aptitude Score (referred to from now on as the SAS). Calculating it requires nothing more complicated than addition, because I am a maths moron and avoid it wherever possible. 

This is how the SAS is calculated:

Hobbies - Sims earn 1 SAS point per enthusiasm point in any hobby. If they max out a hobby (whether it is their One True Hobby or not), they earn 1 additional point. 

Skills - Sims earn 1 SAS point per skill point in each skill. If they max out a skill, they earn one additional point. 

Grades - Sims earn 10 SAS points for an A grade, 5 SAS points for a B grade and 3 SAS points for a C grade. This will be checked only once, on the last day I play them before sending them off to university (or aging them up to adult, if they don't get in)

Badges - How come Sims can't get scholarships from badges? Some of them are really hard work to earn, so it seemed only right that teens who go through that should be rewarded in some way. With that in mind, a Gold Badge earns a Sim 10 SAS points, they earn 5 SAS points for a Silver and 3 SAS points for a Bronze. 

Extra skills - "Extra skills" are the ones added to the book case with Free Time and Apartment Life - Parenting, Fire Safety, Anger Management, Lifelong Happiness, Physiology and Couples Counseling. Sims will earn 1 SAS point for each extra skill they study. 

Teen jobs - If a Sim maxes out their teen career, they earn 1 SAS point. 

All of these things can be checked in your Sims' skill, hobby or memory panel. You can check it all in SimPE but I recommend doing it in game, because the badges and extra skills are sort of hidden away a little and not in any of the main tabs. 

Once I've added up all those points, I have the final SAS. I've decided on a few different ways to use the SAS:

1) As mentioned above, to decide who does and doesn't gain entrance into university

2) For admission into post-graduate university courses.

3) As the deciding factor for awarding the Governor's Grant, where there is more than one suitable candidate (as there is this round).

In the future, I may use a certain SAS score as a prerequisite for running for Governor, or for a position on the Hood Council. But that's not decided yet.

For university admission though, I've decided that a Sim will need a score of 40 to be able to enrol. If they manage to score 55, they will get half price tuition. If they achieve a score of 70, the Scholar's Grant EA scholarship plus consistent As during high school, they will earn a free ride.

As an example, here's one of Sullivan's resident brains, Declan.

Declan is a Knowledge/Family Sim and under my old system, he earned half-price tuition, because he earned six scholarships. Let's see how he does with the SAS.

Uh, not too fantastic on the hobby front, scoring a measly one point! I find it really hard for Sims to keep their science enthusiasm up. He also reached the top of his teen career, so that's 1 more point and he learnt Physiology and Fire Safety, so he gets two more points for that. So far, he's got 4.

Declan didn't earn any badges, so we'll ignore that category. Grades though? Awesome. He has an A+, so he gets 10 points. He is quite highly skilled and has a total of 44 skill points, which gives him another 44 SAS points. In total, that gives him an SAS of 58, meaning he'll pay only half-tuition. Just like it worked out under the old system.

I've checked the SAS scores for my Grade 12s, as well as all my college freshmen (as I write this, I haven't played them yet so they're exactly as they were on their last day of high school). The lowest score of these 10 kids was Austin Carmody, with 37. The highest was Justin Moretti with 64. Normally with that score, he'd pay half-tuition but seeing he's financially disadvantaged, his high SAS will award him the Governor's Grant this year and he won't pay anything at all.

Basically, Sims who didn't get into college under the old system wouldn't get in under this one either. Sims who did well under the old system still do well with the SAS. This works for me. I didn't really want to make it harder for Sims to get in as I'm satisfied with that. I just wanted to change up the method of how they actually enter.

I'm still reserving the right to change the entrance requirements or the way the SAS is calculated, if I play a bit more and find it's not working so well. But I think this might do the trick for me.

I'm happy to answer any questions or comments, as always. :)