The Sims 2: University was the first expansion pack for The Sims 2, released on March 1, 2005 in North America and March 11, 2005 in Europe. Developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, it sent Sims off to college for the first time in the series and introduced a new life stage to go with it.
What the pack adds
University's central addition is the young adult life stage, slotted between teenager and adult. Young adult Sims live in a separate university sub-neighborhood, attend classes on a semester schedule, and need to keep their grades up through studying, going to lectures, completing assignments, and writing term papers. They can WooHoo and get engaged, but can't marry or have children until they age up to adult.
Three pre-built university campuses ship with the pack: Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech, and Académie Le Tour. Each one is a self-contained sub-neighborhood with its own lots and community areas.
Housing and Greek life
For the first time in The Sims series, player-controlled Sims could live alongside NPCs. Dormitories house your Sim with several AI-controlled "dormies," which makes for chaotic and often hilarious living situations. Performance in large dorms could get rough on older hardware, but the social chaos was part of the appeal.
Beyond dorms, Sims can move into standalone rental houses or try to pledge a Greek house. Pledging works through a timed social challenge: three toga-wearing Greek members show up at your lot, and your Sim has six hours to build enough relationship with them to earn a spot. Greek house membership comes with social perks and a ready-made group of housemates.
Majors and careers
Students pick from 11 majors: Art, Biology, Drama, Economics, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, and Psychology. The major a Sim chooses affects which skills contribute most to their GPA.
Graduating opens four careers not available to Sims without a degree:
- Artist
- Natural Scientist
- Paranormal
- Show Business
These four offer better pay, shorter hours, and less strain on a Sim's needs compared to base game career tracks. Even outside those exclusive paths, having a degree lets Sims enter any career at a higher starting level.
Zombies, cowplants, and secrets
University introduced the series' first occult life state: zombies. Using the Paranormal career reward, the Resurrect-O-Nomitron, Sims can attempt to bring dead Sims back to life. Pay the full fee and they return normally. Cheap out and you get a shambling zombie with blue-green skin that can never die of old age.
The Natural Science career reward is the Cowplant, one of the most recognizable objects in the entire franchise. This carnivorous plant lures Sims with a dangling piece of cake, swallows them whole, and produces a glass of milk that extends the drinker's lifespan by several days.
The pack also added a Secret Society that Sims could discover and join, an influence system for directing other Sims to complete tasks on your behalf, and over 125 new objects including juice kegs, pool tables, and playable musical instruments. Mobile phones also made their first appearance.
How it was received
University earned an 81 on Metacritic and became the second best-selling PC game of 2005, behind only World of Warcraft. Reviewers praised the depth it added to the Sim life cycle, though some flagged performance issues in crowded dormitories and long loading times.
It's still regularly cited as one of the strongest expansion packs across the entire Sims franchise. Its influence shows up directly in both The Sims 3: University Life and The Sims 4: Discover University, though many players argue neither quite matched the original.
For more on this pack, check out our Nostalgia Sunday: The Sims 2 University feature.